175 Tobacco Deaths

Allen, Gracie, 58, actress; heart attack (August 27, 1964)
The Burns and Allen Show
Allen lived with an George Burns, an inveterate cigar smoker, for 38 years; she had a long history of heart problems.

Armstrong, Louis, 74, musician, heart attack (July 6, 1971)
Armstrong, a smoker, advertised Camels.

Arnaz, Desi, actor, lung cancer (December 2, 1986)

Astor, Mary, 81, actress; emphysema (September 24, 1987)
The Maltese Falcon

Ball, Lucille, actress, aortic aneurism (Helen Gurley Brown claims cause of death was "smoking-induced lung cancer")
I Love Lucy Lucy & Ricky

Bankhead, Tallulah, 65, actress; lung cancer or emphysema (December 12, 1968)
The Blue Angel

Barger, Carl, President, Florida Marlins; aortic aneurysm (December 9, 1992)

Barker, George Granville, 78, English Poet; emphysema (October 31, 1992)

Basie, William "Count", 79 Band Leader; pancreatic cancer (1984) smoker; advertised camels

Becaud, Gilbert, 74 Singer; cancer (December 17, 2001)Et maintenant (What Now My Love?)

Benny, Jack, 80, comedian/violinist; lung cancer (December 26, 1974)

Benaderet, Bea, 62, TV actress; emphysema/lung cancer (October 13, 1968)
Beverly Hillbillies, Burns & Allen, Petticoat Junction, Betty Rubble's voice in The Flintstones

Bernstein, Leonard, 72, composer, conductor; heart attack due to lung failure (October 14, 1990)

Blake, Amanda, 60, actress; throat cancer complicated by a type of viral hepatitis brought on by AIDS, according to her physician, Lou Nishimura. (August 16, 1989)
Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke;
At 48, Blake, once a 2-pack a day smoker, had a malignant tumor removed from her tongue; she re-learned how to speak, toured for the American Cancer Society, and fought oral cancer until her death 12 years later. President Reagan presented her with the ACS's "Courage Award" in 1984. Dr. Nishimura contributed his information in a 1991 UPI item.

Blakey, Art,71, jazz drummer and band leader; lung cancer (1990)

Brand, Neville,71, actor; emphysema (1992)

Bogart, Humphrey, 57, actor; cancer of the esophagus (January 14, 1957)Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen

Brinegar, Paul, 77, actor; emphysema (March 27, 1995)
Wishbone, Rawhide

Brynner, Yul, 65, actor; lung cancer (Fall, 1985)
The King and I
Diagnosed in 1983

Buck, Frank, 66, writer/adventurer, lung cancer (1950)
Bring 'Em Back Aliv

Caen, Herb; SF columnist; lung cancer (February 1, 1997)

Calhoun, Rory, 76, actor; emphysema (April 28, 1999)
TV: The Texan, Capitol Calhoun's Chesterfield ad is PM Bates# 2023238532

Candy, John; actor; heart attack (March 4, 1994)
Second City TV; Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Cantineflas (Mario Moreno Reyes), 81, popular Mexican comedian; lung cancer (April 20, 1993)

Cassidy, Jack; 50, actor; died in a fire from smoking in bed (December 12, 1976)
Father of Patrick, Shaun and David Cassidy

Cipollone, Rose; housewife; lung cancer (1984)

Cobb, Ty, 74, baseball player; cancer, diabetes, chronic heart disease (July 17, 1961)

Cole, Nat "King", 45, singer, first African-American TV show host; died after surgery for lung cancer (February 15, 1965) The Christmas Song, Unforgettable

Cooper, Wilhelmina Behmenburg, 40, model; lung cancer

Connors, Chuck, 71; actor; lung cancer (November 10, 1992)
The Rifleman

Coward, Noel, 73, playwright, entertainer; heart attack (March 26, 1973

Cooper, Gary, 60, actor; lung cancer (May 13, 1961)
High Noon, Sgt. York Advertised Chesterfields

Cooper, Wilhelmina Behmenburg, 40, modeling agency pioneer; lung cancer (1980)

Crosby, Gary, 61, author, son of Bing Crosby; lung cancer (August 24, 1995)
Going My Own Way (1983)

Davis, Bette, 81, stroke (1989)

Davis, Jr., Sammy, 64, entertainer; throat cancer (May 16, 1990)

Dederich, Charles E., 83, addiction counselor, heart and lung failure (March 4, 1997)
Founder and head of Synanon, Dederich in 1971 decided not only to stop supplying his community of ex-heroin addicts cigarettes without charge but also to ban smoking on Synanon property. The next year is one of the most tumultuous in Synanon's history to that point. About 100 people left. At least one member told the New York Times that quitting tobacco was much harder than quitting heroin.

Dewhurst, Colleen, 67, actress, lung cancer (1991)

Diamond, Selma, 64, actress; lung cancer (May 14, 1985)
Night Court, My Favorite Year, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Disney, Walt, 65, animator, producer; lung cancer (acute circulatory collapse following an operation to remove a tumor) (December 15, 1966)

Dorsey, Jimmy, 53, musician, bandleader; lung cancer (June 12, 1957)
So Rare, Tangerine

Downey, Morton, Jr. , 67, talk show host, actor ("The Mouth"); lung cancer (March 11, 2001)
The Morton Downey Jr. Show.

Eliot, T.S., 76; author, poet; emphysema (January 4, 1965)
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Hallow Men, Murder in the Cathedral

Fari�a, Mimi, 56; singer, activist; complications from lung cancer (July 18, 2001)
Reflections in a Crystal Wind, Bread and Roses founder; sister of Joan Baez, wife of Richard Fari�a

Ellington, Duke, 75; composer/band leader; lung cancer/pneumonia (May 24, 1974)
Sophisticated Lady, It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got that Swing

Fenneman, George, 77; announcer, actor; emphysema (May 19, 1997)
Groucho Marx sidekick, You Bet Your Life

Finks, Jim, 65; football team president/manager; lung cancer (1993)
Much-admired New Orleans Saints football team president and general manager. Credited with helping to bring about the return of the Chicago Cubs and New Orleans Saints. From Tobacco News, 6/10/93: There is no smoking anymore on the grounds of the New Orleans Saints' mini camp. Signs went up on orders of owner Tom Benson, after . . . Jim Finks was diagnosed with lung cancer April 30. "There's no smoking anywhere on the Saints property," Coach Jim Mora said. "And I mean anywhere."

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 44, writer; heart attack (December 21, 1940)
The Great Gatsby

Fleming, Ian, 56, author; heart attack (August 12, 1964)
James Bond novels

Flynn, Errol, 50, actor; heart attack (October 14, 1959)
Robin Hood, Captain Blood
Sidelight: In his youth, Flynn ran a tobacco plantation in New Guinea

Fosse, Bob, 60, dancer/choreographer, smoked 4 packs a day; heart attack (1987)

Freud, Sigmund, 83, cancer of the jaw (1939)

Gable, Clark, 59, actor; heart attack (November 16, 1960)
The Misfits

Gargan, William, 73, actor; heart attack (February 17, 1979)
50s TV detective series, Martin Kane
Gargan would hang out at Happy McMann's Tobacco shop, touting his sponsor's products. His career ended when he lost his larynx to cancer in 1960. He became the spokesman for the American Cancer Society, speaking out against smoking.

Gassman, Vittorio, 77, Actor, author; heart attack (June 29, 2000)
Bitter Rice, Mambo, Scent of a Woman (1974)
"Suffering chronically from emphysema, bronchitis, high blood pressure and depression, the cigar-smoking Gassman abandoned stage acting in February, telling his final audience ruefully: 'Death does not obsess me--it disgusts me.'"--LA Times, 7/1/00

Giacometti, Bart; baseball commissioner; heart attack (1990)

Gleason, Jackie, actor; lung cancer
The Honeymooners

Godfrey, Arthur "Smoke 'em by the carton"; lung cancer (diagnosed in 1959)

Goizueta, Roberto, 65, Coca-Cola CEO, lung cancer (October 18, 1997)

Grant, General Ulysses S., 63, throat cancer (July 23, 1885)
18th President of the US

Grable, Betty, 56, "pin-up" girl, actress; lung cancer (July 2, 1973)
How to Marry a Millionaire

Guardino, Harry, 69, actor; lung cancer (July 17, 1995)

Gzowski, Peter, 67, Radio host ("The Voice of Canada"); COPD/emphysema (January 24,, 2002)

Hammett, Dashiell, 67, writer; lung cancer (January 10, 1961)
The Maltese Flacon; The Thin Man

Harrison, George, 58, musician; lung cancer (November 29, 2001)
The "Quiet Beatle." He had been battling various forms of the disease for at least three years: In 1998, he underwent radiation therapy for throat cancer, which he attributed to years of smoking.

Haynes, Lloyd, 52, TV actor; lung cancer (December 31, 1986)
General Hospital, Mr. Dixon in Room 222

Hayward, Susan, 55, actor; lung cancer metastized to her brain (March 14, 1975)
I'll Cry Tomorrow, I Want to Live!

Hellman, Lillian, author; lung cancer
The Little Foxes

Hellman, Lillian, author; lung cancer

Henderson, Joe, 64, jazz tenor saxophonist; heart failure following a long bout with emphysema. (June 30, 2001)

Hobbs, Elsbeary, singer; throat and lung cancer (May 31, 1996)
Bass singer with The Drifters
Under the Boardwalk, On Broadway, There Goes My Baby

Holliday, Judy, 43, actress; throat cancer (June 7, 1965)
Born Yesterday

Humphrey, Hubert, Vice-President under Johnson, 66, bladder cancer (1978)

Huntley, Chet, actor, news commentator; lung cancer (1974)

Huston, John, 81, director; emphysema/pneumonia (1987)

Howard, Mo, 77, actor; lung cancer
The "boss stooge" of The Three Stooges

Ives, Burl, 85, actor; oral cancer (April 14, 1995)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Big Country

James, Dennis, 79; announcer, actor, game show host; lung cancer (June 5, 1997)
Voice of Old Gold Cigarettes when they danced died of lung cancer 30 years after quitting smoking. Had spurned lucrative tobacco contract after SG's report.

Jones, Lindley Armstrong ("Spike"), 53; comedic composer/band leader; emphysema (May 1, 1965)
Smoked 5 packs a day

Karloff, Boris, 81, actor; heart and lung disease (February 2, 1969)
Frankenstein

Kaufman, Andy, 35, lung cancer (1984)(Kaufman only smoked in-character, but played for years in smoky clubs.)

Kieslowski, Krzystof, 54, film director; heart attack (March 13, 1996)
Blue, White, Red
Retired to a house in 1994: "There is a veranda and a chair. I'll have lots of books, lots of cigarettes, lots of coffee. Don't you sometimes dream of the same thing?"

King Edward VII of England, 69, pneumonia; he suffered for years from chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
As the Prince of Wales he helped make smoking, and particular cigar smoking, fashionable.

King George V of England, 70; he suffered from bronchitis and numerous lung problems; his death was thought to be from a viral respiratory infection.
Father of Queen Elizabeth II

King George VI of England, 56; a lung cancer sufferer who had had part of his lung removed, he died of a massive heart attack. (February 6, 1952)
Father of Queen Elizabeth II

Keaton, Buster, 71, deadpan silent film actor; lung cancer (February 1, 1966)
The General

Kendrick, Eddie, 52; singer; (1992)
The Temptations
Asked kids not to smoke.

Kovacs, Ernie, 43; TV personality; skull fracture from an automobile accident caused while he was trying to light his trademark cigar (January 11, 1962)

Landon, Michael, 54, actor, smoked 4 packs a day; cancer of the pancreas and liver (July 1, 1991)
Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie; I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)

Lerner, Alan Jay, 67, playwright, lyricist; lung cancer. (June 14, 1986)
My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, An American In Paris, Gigi, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Camelot

London, Julie, 74, singer, actress; complications from stroke (October 18, 2000)
Cry Me a River (1956), Emergency (70s TV series), "The Marlboro Song" (early 60s)

Maris, Roger, 51, baseball player; lung cancer [disputed; some say he died of lymphoma].
The home-run record holder appeared in Camel ads in the 60s

Martin, Dean, 78, singer; acute respiratory failure. (December 25, 1995)
Ocean's Eleven

Marvin, Lee, 67, actor; heart attack. (August 29, 1987)
Cat Ballou

Marx, Groucho, 86, actor/entertainer; lung cancer. (Aug. 19, 1977) (Disputed: cause of death may have been pneumonia. Groucho had been ailing since he had a heart attack and several strokes in 1971)
A Day at the Races; You Bet Your Life

Matthau, Walter, 79, actor; heart attack. (June 30, 2000)
The Fortune Cookie, The Odd Couple, Grumpy Old Men
While making "The Fortune Cookie" in 1966, he suffered a serious heart attack. His doctor attributed it to smoking three packs a day and constant worry about gambling and told him to give up both. Matthau stopped smoking. In 1976, he underwent heart bypass surgery.

Maxwell, Marilyn, 49, actress/performer; heart attack (March 20, 1972)

McLaren, Wayne, 51; model; lung cancer (Summer, 1992)
"Marlboro Cowboy". At a Philip Morris shareholders meeting, he asked the company to limit their advertising.

McLean, David, 73; Former TV "Marlboro Man," actor/model; lung cancer (Oct. 12, 1995)

McLure, Doug, 56; TV actor; lung cancer (February 5, 1995)
The Virginian

McQueen, Steve, actor; lung cancer

Meadows, Audrey, 71, actress; lung cancer (Feb. 3, 1996)
The Honeymooners

Mercouri, Melina, 68, actress; lung cancer (March 6, 1994)
Never on Sunday

Merrill, Gary, 74, actor; lung cancer (March 5, 1990)
All About Eve, Dr. Gillespie on Young Dr. Kildaire Husband of Bette Davis

Millar, David, model; complications from emphysema.
According to his sister, Millar was the first Marlboro Man.

Mitchum, Robert, 79, actor; emphysema, lung cancer (July 1, 1997)
The Night of the Hunter, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, Cape Fear, The Big Sleep, That Championship Season

Moore, Gary, 78, game show host; emphsema, November 28, 1993
I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth

Muller, Heiner, 66, playwright; throat cancer (Dec. 30, 1995)
Revered German playwright, poet, director, translator

Murrow, Edward R., newscaster; lung cancer
Host of The Camel News Caravan

O'Neal, Patrick, 66, actor; lung cancer (August, 1994)
The Kremlin Letter

Owens, Jesse, 66, track star; lung cancer
1936 Gold Medal winner at the Berlin Olympics

Patchett, Jean, 75, fashion model; emphysema (January 22, 2002)

Palladin, Jean-Louis, 555, chef; lung cancer (November 25, 2001)

Parks, Bert, 77, actor/singer; lung cancer (February 2, 1992)

Patterson, Jennifer, 71, TV cook; lung cancer (August 10, 1999)
Two Fat Ladies (UK)

Peppard, George, actor; "complications arising from the treatment of cancer"; Peppard had smoked 2 packs a day until 1993, when he had a cancerous tumor removed from his lung (May 8, 1995)
Breakfast at Tiffany's, A-Team

Powell, Dick, 59, actor; lung cancer (1963)

Price, Vincent, actor; lung cancer (October 26, 1993)
The Tingler, The Fall of the House of Usher

Princess Margaret, 71, UK Royal Family; stroke/heart attack (February 9, 2002) (February 9, 2002)
During her life, she suffered migraines, laryngitis, bronchitis, hepatitis and pneumonia. In 1985, tissue taken from her left lung proved to be benign. This did not stop her smoking; nor did the fact that four monarchs - Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and the Princess's own father, George VI - died of smoking-related illnesses. Within months of the biopsy operation she was smoking 30 cigarettes a day. She had apparently given up smoking when she suffered her first, mild stroke in 1998.

Ramsey, Anne, 59, actress; throat cancer (August 11, 1988)
Throw Mama from the Train

Rand, Ayn, author/philosopher; lung cancer (March 6, 1982)
The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged

Ray, Aldo, 64, actor; complications from throat cancer, pneumonia (March 27, 1991

Reasoner, Harry, newscaster; lung cancer, pneumonia (August 6, 1991)
60 Minutes

Reese, Pee-Wee, 81, baseball player; lung cancer (August 14, 1999).
Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop

Remick, Lee, 55, actress; lung and liver cancer (July 2, 1991)
A Face in the Crowd, The Long Hot Summer, Anatomy of a Murder

Reinach, Jacquelyn, 70, writer; lung cancer (September 30, 2000)
Sweet Pickles (Children's book classic); Know the Facts: Keep Your Power A young person's anti-smoking program which won an Emmy in 1993

Reynolds, R.J. Sr., 67, founder of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., pancreatic cancer (1916)

Reynolds, R.J. Jr., 58, emphysema

Reynolds, R.J. III, 60, emphysema, (1994)

Ripken, Cal Sr., 83, baseball player, lung cancer(1994)

Ruff, Patsy, 56, one of the world's first successful double-lung transplants, kidney failure (October 21, 2000)
After her 1987 transplant, Ruff worked for the American Lung Association, warning about smoking. . . the anti-rejection drugs Ruff took led eventually to kidney failure.

Ruth, Babe, 53, baseball player. Naso-pharyngeal cancer. (August 16, 1948)

Sayre, Nora, 68, author; emphysema (August 8, 2001)
"Sixties Going on Seventies" (1973), "Running Time: Films of the Cold War" (1982), "Previous Convictions: A Journey Through the 1950s" (1995), and "On the Wing: A Young American Abroad" (2001) "Known for her chain-smoking and irascible personality"

Scott, George C., 71, actor; ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (September 22, 1999)
Scott suffered several heart attacks over the years. He claimed he got his gravelly voice from "smoking too many cigarettes."
Patton, Dr. Strangelove, The Hustler, Anatomy of a Murder, The Hospital

Scotti, Vito, 78, actor; lung cancer (June 5, 1996)
The Aristocats, The Godfather, Get Shorty

Serling, Rod, 51, writer/director; smoked 4 packs a day; heart disease. (1975)

Seyrig, Delphine, 58, actress; lung disease (October 15, 1990)

Shaw, Robert, 51, actor; heart attack (August 28, 1978)
Jaws, From Russia With Love, The Sting

Shirley, Anne, 75, actress; lung cancer (July 4, 1993)
Anne of the Green Gables, Stella Dallas

Sinatra, Frank, 82, singer, heart attack (Dec. 12, 1915 to May 14, 1998)
Sinatra was also suffering from bladder cancer, early Alzheimer's and the effects of a stroke.

Shamseddine, Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi, 64, spiritual leader of Lebanon's Shiite Muslims and a staunch advocate of Christian-Muslim coexistence; lung cancer (January 10, 2001)

Shostakovich, Dmitri, 69, musician (August 9, 1975)

Smith, "Sonic" Fred, 45, rock musician; heart failure (November 4, 1994)
Guitarist with MC5

Soo, Jack, 63, actor; cancer of the esophagus (January 11, 1979)
Barney Miller

Stander, Lionel, 86, actor; lung cancer (November 30, 1994)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Max in Hart to Hart

Stanwyck, Barbara, 82, actress; congestive heart failure (January 20, 1990)
Stella Dallas, Double Indemnity

Stevens, Woody, 84, horse trainer (August 22, 1998)
Trained winners in all three Triple Crown races, including five straight Belmont winners during the 1980s.

Sullivan, Ed, 72, entertainer; lung cancer (1974)

Taglioni, Fabio, 80, Ducati motorcycle engineer and designer; throat cancer (July 18, 2001)

Talman, William, actor; lung cancer (August 30, 1968)
D.A. Hamilton Burger, Perry Mason TV Series
When He came down with lung cancer.

Thaw, John, 60, actor; throat cancer (February 21 2002)
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse

Thomas, Ross, 69, author; lung cancer (December 19, 1995)
Espionage author; wrote the screenplay for Bad Lieutenant, his Briarpatch won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel (1985)

Thornbury, Will, 57, model; Lung Cancer (1992)
Modeled for Camel TV ads

Tierney, Jeanne, 70, actress; emphysema (November 6, 1991)
Laura, Leave Her to Heaven

Tone, Franchot, 63, actor; lung cancer (September 18, 1968)
Mutiny on the Bounty, Lives of a Bengal Lancer

Tracy, Spencer, 66, actor; lung congestion; heart attack (June 10, 1967)
Captains Courageous (1937), Boys' Town (1938), San Francisco (1936), Father of the Bride (1950), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Old Man and the Sea (1958), Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Tubb, Ernest, 70, singer; emphysema (September 6,1984)
"The Texas Troubador"-- Waltz Across Texas, I'm Walking the Floor over You

Tucker, Forrest, 67, actor; lung cancer and emphysema (October 25, 1986)
Sands of Iwo Jima, The Yearling, Gunsmoke

Tucker, Sophie, 78, entertainer; lung cancer (February 9, 1966)

Turner, Lana, actress; throat cancer (June, 1995)

Vaughan, Sarah, singer; lung cancer (1990)
Broken-hearted Melody

Varney, Jim, 50, actor; lung cancer (February 10, 2000)

"Ernest P. Worrell"
Though hopelessly hooked on cigarettes, he wouldn't allow himself to be photographed smoking, for the sake of all the kids who loved Ernest. And, though he entertained them by clowning, sprawling, grinning and cutting up, the talented Mr. Varney had one last message for those kids: Don't smoke. --Lexington Herald-Leader 2/11/00

Walker, Nancy, 69, actress; lung cancer (March 25, 1992)

Wayne, John, 72, actor; After exposure to nuclear radiation, cancer took a lung in 1963; had many battles with heart disease and other cancers. (June 11, 1979)
Stagecoach; Red River; Fort Apache; Rio Grande; She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; The Searchers

Wells, Mary, 49, singer; larynx cancer (1992)
My Guy

Wheeler, Bert, 72, comedian; emphysema (January 18, 1968)

Wilson, Carl, 51, musician (Beach Boys); complications from lung cancer (February 6, 1998)

Williams, Tex, country-western singer; lung cancer (October 13, 1985)

Wolfman Jack, 57, radio personality, actor; heart attack (July 1, 1995)
American Graffitti

Yennimatas, George, Greek National Economy Minister, 55; complications from lung cancer (April 25, 1994)
Yennimatas was one of Greece's most beloved politicians. When he presented the 1994 budget to reporters in November, he announced a new tax on tobacco, saying the revenues would be earmarked for an anti-smoking campaign.

York, Dick, 63, actor; emphysema (1992)

Young, Faron, 64, country-western singer; self-inflicted gunshot wound. (Dec. 10, 1996). Young "had been depressed recently about emphysema and other health problems"--NY Times, 12/11/96.
Goin' Steady; Sweet Dreams; Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young

Young, Coleman A., 79, Detroit, Michigan's longest-serving mayor. Emphysema. (November 29, 1997)