In March of 1961, after filming scenes of his documentary
Mondo cane (1962) in Las Vegas, Cavara and his fellow Italian writer/director
Gualtiero Jacopetti, along with Jacopetti's paramour actress
Belinda Lee (who was not in the picture) traveled by car from Las Vegas to Los Angeles for more filming. Near San Bernardino, California, on US 91, their Italian driver, who was driving too fast, lost control on a winding road after blowing a tire. The car flipped, killing actress Lee immediately when she was thrown from the vehicle and fractured her skull and broke her neck. All the others escaped with minor injuries.
