History FaceDeathWithDignity / LiveActionTV

--->'''Ethros Demon''': I know you bring death; I do not fear it. [[EnfanteTerrible The only]] thing [[HorrifyingTheHorror I've ever feared]] is in that house.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]]: When Anita realizes that she has two shadows, meaning the Vashta Nerada have locked on to her, she's very calm about it. So calm, in fact, that it's very hard to determine when exactly she dies and they start posing as her.

* In the finale of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', Sharon Valerii accepts her fate after returning Hera to Helo and Athena, allowing Athena to execute her. She also warned the party, including Starbuck, that their Raptor had been destroyed, though Helo implied they had a plan for that contingency.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Cold Equations", Marilyn Lee Cross is devastated when she learns that she must be [[ThrownOutTheAirlock jettisoned into space]] because of the Emergency Dispatch Ship's precise fuel requirements. However, she is extremely dignified and even seems resigned to her fate when the time comes.

-->'''Stringer''': Well, get on with it, motherfu- (Gets shot.)

-->'''Bodie''': Yo, this is my corner. I ain't runnin' nowhere!

-->'''Snoop''': How my hair look, Mike?
-->'''Michael''': You look good, girl. (Shoots.)

* In the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Still", Beckett accidentally steps on a pressure-plate, tripping a bomb that will go off in 30 minutes, or until she moves off the plate, whichever comes first. Ultimately she orders the bomb squad and Castle to leave, believing that there's no hope of defusing the bomb and not wanting anyone else to die, especially Castle. After [[DyingDeclarationOfLove Beckett tells Castle she loves him]], he reluctantly leaves...only to come back with the detonator, refusing to let Beckett die alone, especially if there was even a MillionToOneChance of saving her.

--->'''Ethros Demon''': I know you bring death; I do not fear it. The only thing I've ever feared is in that house.

** Londo Mollari welcomes mutual death at the hands of his [[EnemyMine beloved arch-nemesis G'Kar]] [[AndIMustScream as a release from the enslavement of a mind-controlling parasite]]. [[spoiler:And for his death is needed to distract his keeper's master from stopping his friends who will come back to help save his people.]]

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Although he initially tries to thwart Louis and Claudia's plans to murder him, once Lestat realizes he's been outsmarted and is already poisoned, he's resigned to his fate and allows Louis to slit his throat, saying he was glad it was Louis with him "''à la fin.''" [[note]]French for "at the end."[[/note]]

** Regent Virini.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "[[Recap/AngelS01E14IveGotYouUnderMySkin I've Got You Under My Skin]]":

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''

-->'''[[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Tyr]]''': So, don't you tell me that I'm going to die here today, because the sun has not yet risen on the day when Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarossa, will face death graciously. I will kick, and claw, and bite, and scratch, and spit my last breath in its face, and as long as you are with me, you will do the same.

--->"I have been many things in my life, Mollari. I have been silly. I have been quiet when I should have spoken. I have been foolish. And I have wasted far too much time. But I am still ''Centauri'', and I am not afraid."
** In the episode ''Passing Through Gethsemane'', we eventually learn that one of the friendly monks living on the station used to be a serial killer. He was caught years before the series started, his memories wiped by telepath(s) and given a new personality, essentially becoming a new person. Eventually, he is tracked down by the friends and families of the people he murdered, who set up a complex plot to force him to remember his old personality. The monk eventually learns of his old persona and is horrified. He fully embraces his new life and knowing he is walking into a trap, he faces his tormentors. Needless to say, the monk dies at the hands of a friend of one of his victims, but not before knowing the answer to a question which cements his faith in Jesus. For full reference, look up the episode title mentioned above to soak in the full meaning. Facing death with dignity indeed.
** Londo Mollari welcomes mutual death at the hands of his [[EnemyMine beloved arch-nemesis G'Kar]] [[AndIMustScream as a release from the enslavement of a mind-controlling parasite.]] [[spoiler:And for his death is needed to distract his keeper's master from stopping his friends who will come back to help save his people]].

* One episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' has a CharacterOfTheWeek, a terminally ill patient who's projected life expectancy was, at best, barely a full day. J.D. and Turk, the patient's attending physician and surgeon, are quickly reminded of their own mortality and fear death much like the patient. However, the three of them spend the last few hours having a quiet, philosophical conversation on the matter, ending with the patient rolling over to take a nap. This is after J.D. has informed him that his body will gradually become more fatigued until he falls asleep, never to wake up again. The patient is sober but extremely calm, even saying he'll see J.D. and Turk when he wakes up, even though all three of them know that's not going to happen.

** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Half a Life", Timicin does this when he faces Resolution, his species' suicide ritual when they reach 60 years of age, after a brief conflict as he had just fallen in love with Lwaxana Troi. Troi also accepts it, and is even ready to attend the ceremony to give him support.
** In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Quickening", Bashir and Dax discover a planet that the Dominion blighted with a plague that has no cure and is passed down genetically. Because it's become a fact of life for the inhabitants, they prepare for their deaths by bathing, putting on their finest clothes, and having a last meal with their loved ones before taking poison to die before the pain becomes unbearable.
** In the ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' episode "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", knowing his end would be coming shortly, Data spends his final moments alive in his simulation relaxing on a chair, sipping a red wine, listening to one of his favorite songs, "Blue Skies". He then sets up a cushion on a sofa like a pillow, and lays down, waiting for the end to come. When it comes, he is touched when an apparition of Captain Picard, in his ''Enterprise-D'' uniform, sits beside him and takes his hand. While the real Picard unhooks the chips to his simulation, Data [[RapidAging rapidly shifts to old age]], then closes his eyes and takes his last breath before he, the apparition of Picard, and the entire room in the simulation dissolved into a starfield.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''

* In "Yellow", one of the few episodes of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' not to feature any supernatural elements, a lieutenant (Eric Douglas) in the trenches in World War I is found guilty of cowardice in a court-martial after abandoning men under his command to die, and sentenced to death by firing squad. His father, a general (played by Douglas' real-life father, Creator/KirkDouglas), tells him that he will order the guns loaded with blanks and leave a pack in the trench into which he should fall after being "shot" so that he can leave the army, as he wishes. He is, therefore, able to face his firing squad with quiet dignity. At least until he sees his father close his eyes and turn away on the word "Aim", and realizes a split second before the guns fire that they are actually loaded with live ammunition, and the "escape" plan was a ploy by his father to get him to face death with dignity in the only brave act of his life.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': [[spoiler: Merle]], having suffered a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from [[BigBad the Governor]] and facing down his gun, merely says that [[DefiantToTheEnd he isn't going to beg]].

** Despite being killed while on the privy, Tywin Lannister shows great composure and remains as belligerent and arrogant as ever throughout the tense scene leading up to his death. Though he initially tries to talk his way out of death, he grimly accepts his fate after Tyrion fatally wounds him but not without cursing his son one last time, though Tyrion gets the last word in:

** The last we see of Gus Fring, he walks out of the room, ''where a bomb has just exploded'', calm and composed as ever, and adjusts his tie. You'd think he somehow miraculously survived the explosion until the camera pans and shows that half of his head ''is a churned skull''.

** The Thirteenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor "The Power of the Doctor"]] goes out at peace, going on a final date with Yaz and calmly welcoming her next incarnation with a cheeky [[FamousLastWords "Tag, you're it!"]]

* Zig-zagged in ''Series/TheSopranos'' with Big Pussy's death. He first tries to talk his way out of being killed, but once he realizes it's not working, he calmly has a few drinks and banters good-naturedly with his former buddies before walking to the middle of the room allowing the men to shoot him, only politely requesting that they don't shoot him in the face. However, after they pull out their guns he starts to lose his composure and begins to panic, asking that he be allowed to sit down first; at that point the men just shoot him. (They do spare his face as he had requested, though it's unclear if they were intentionally honoring his wishes.) His death is an exception, however; throughout the series a lot of the people die in thoroughly undignified ways, sometimes blubbering and begging beforehand.