Crew member on Tom Hanks’ 'Mister Rogers' film set dies after two-story fall

Fred Rogers, who died in 2003, appeared on the television series "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" from 1968 to 2001. (Getty Images)

Authorities say a crew member working on a movie about Mister Rogers has died after he suffered an apparent medical emergency and fell two stories off a balcony in western Pennsylvania.

Allegheny County say James Emswiller fell around 7:30 p.m. Thursday during a break in filming. The 61-year-old Pittsburgh man died later at a hospital.

Emswiller had gone to take a smoke break on the balcony of an apartment building in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb about eight miles outside Pittsburgh, between filming scenes for “You Are My Friend,” local station WPXI-TV reported. Nearby crew members reportedly heard a noise and discovered the man had fallen over the balcony’s brick wall.

Tom Hanks, portraying Rogers, was reportedly at the site, but left after the incident, according to the Associated Press.

The film, directed by Marielle Heller, stars Hanks as the beloved children’s TV host, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The biopic will focus on the experience of a journalist who profiled Rogers for a 1998 Esquire magazine article and the ensuing bond that develops between the men, according to the Tribune-Review.

Rogers, who died in 2003, was the subject of the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” released earlier this year.

The Hanks film is set to be released in October 2019 by TriStar Pictures.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.