Dead is dead

After watching too many old movies where people blithely smoked cigarettes, Rico says he went looking, just out of curiosity, and found a website for a lot of people who died from smoking:

Allen, Gracie, 58, actress; heart attack (27 August 1964), The Burns and Allen Show.
Allen lived with George Burns, an inveterate cigar smoker, for 38 years; she had a long history of heart problems.
Ambrose, Stephen E., 66, historian; lung cancer (13 October 2002)
Armstrong, Louis, 74, musician, heart attack (6 July 1971). Armstrong, a smoker, advertised Camels.
Arnaz, Desi, actor, lung cancer (2 December 1986)
Astor, Mary, 81, actress; emphysema (September 24, 1987). The Maltese Falcon
Baldwin, James, 63, author, esophageal cancer.(November 30, 1987). Go Tell it on the Mountain; The Fire Next Time
Ball, Lucille, actress, aortic aneurism (Helen Gurley Brown claims the cause of her death was “smoking-induced lung cancer”) I Love Lucy
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, British 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)
Bel Geddes, Barbara, 82, actress; lung cancer (August 8, 2005)
Benny, Jack, 80, comedian/violinist; pancreatic cancer (December 26, 1974)
Benaderet, Bea, 62, television actress; emphysema/lung cancer (October 13, 1968)
Blake, Amanda, 60, actress; throat cancer complicated by a type of viral hepatitis brought on by AIDS, according to her physician.
Blakey, Art, 71, jazz drummer and band leader; lung cancer (1990)
Blass, Bill, 79, fashion designer; throat cancer (June 12, 2002)
Brand, Neville, 71, actor; emphysema (1992)
Bogart, Humphrey, 57, actor; cancer of the esophagus (January 14, 1957)
Boone, Richard, 64, actor; throat cancer (January 10, 1981)
Brand, Neville, 69, actor; decorated World War Two soldier; emphysema (April 16, 1992)
Brinegar, Paul, 77, actor; emphysema (March 27, 1995)
Brynner, Yul, 65, actor; lung cancer (October 10, 1985)
Buck, Frank, 66, writer/adventurer, lung cancer (1950)
Butler, John, 56, general manager of the San Diego Chargers football team, lung cancer (April 11, 2003)
Caen, Herb; San Francisco Chronicle columnist; lung cancer (February 1, 1997)
Calhoun, Rory, 76, actor; emphysema (April 28, 1999)
Caldwell, Erskine, 83, author; lung cancer (April 11, 1987)
Candy, John, 43, actor; heart attack (March 4, 1994)
Cantineflas (Mario Moreno Reyes), 81, popular Mexican comedian; lung cancer (April 20, 1993)
Carson, Johnny, 79, talk show host; emphysema (January 23, 2005).
Carr, Allen, 72, British-based, world-wide quit-smoking guru; lung cancer (November 29, 2006).
Carver, Raymond, 50, author; lung cancer (August 2, 1988)
Caruso, Enrico, 48, opera singer; absesses from pleurisy of the lungs (August 2, 1921)
Cassidy, Jack, 50, actor; died in a fire from smoking in bed (December 12, 1976)
Cervone, Ed, 56, artist; lung cancer (2001)
Cipollone, Rose, 58, housewife; lung cancer (1984)
Clooney, Rosemary, 74, singer, actress; lung cancer (June 30, 2002)
Cobb, Ty, 74, baseball player; cancer, diabetes, chronic heart disease (July 17, 1961)
Cole, Nat “King”, 45, singer, first African-American television show host; died after surgery for lung cancer (February 15, 1965)
Cooper, Wilhelmina Behmenburg, 40, model; lung cancer
Connors, Chuck, 71; actor; lung cancer (November 10, 1992)
Coward, Noel, 73, playwright, entertainer; heart attack (March 26, 1973
Cooper, Gary, 60, actor; lung cancer (May 13, 1961) advertised Chesterfields
Cooper, Wilhelmina Behmenburg, 40, modeling agency pioneer; throat cancer (1980)
Crawford, Victor, 63, tobacco lobbyist-turned-tobacco-control-advocate; lung cancer
Crosby, Gary, 61, author, son of Bing Crosby; lung cancer (August 24, 1995)
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 with 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 a hundred people left, and at least one member told The New York Times that quitting tobacco was much harder than quitting heroin.*

Desmond, Paul, 52, musician, composer, bon vivant; lung cancer (May 30, 1977)
Dewhurst, Colleen, 67, actress, lung cancer (1991)
Diamond, Selma, 64, actress; lung cancer (May 14, 1985)
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)
Downey, Morton, Jr. , 67, talk show host, actor (aka The Mouth); lung cancer (March 11, 2001) The Morton Downey Jr. Show.
Duisenberg, Wim , 70, heart attack, July 31, 2005 Former European Central Bank chief who helped create the euro currency. Duisenberg “died a natural death, due to drowning, after a cardiac problem.”
Eliot, T.S., 76; author, poet; emphysema (January 4, 1965)
Ellington, Duke, 75; composer/band leader; lung cancer/pneumonia (May 24, 1974)
Fariña, Mimi, 56; singer, activist; complications from lung cancer (July 18, 2001); sister of Joan Baez, wife of Richard Fariña
Fenneman, George, 77; announcer, actor; emphysema (May 19, 1997) Groucho Marx sidekick
Finks, Jim, 65; football team president/manager; lung cancer (1993)
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 44, writer; heart attack (December 21, 1940); wrote The Great Gatsby
Fleming, Ian, 56, author; heart attack (August 12, 1964) wrote the James Bond novels
Flood, Curt, 59, baseball player/free agent advocate; throat cancer (January, 1997)
Flynn, Errol, 50, actor; heart attack (October 14, 1959); Robin Hood, Captain Blood
Fosse, Bob, 60, dancer/choreographer, smoked foue 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
Gainsbourg, Serge, 63, poet, actor and director; heart attack (March 2, 1991)
Gargan, William, 73, actor; heart attack (February 17, 1979); 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); Scent of a Woman “Suffering chronically from emphysema, bronchitis, high blood pressure, and depression, the cigar-smoking Gassman abandoned stage acting, telling his final audience ruefully: ‘Death does not obsess me, it disgusts me.'”; Los Angeles Times
Giamatti, Bart, 51, baseball commissioner; heart attack (1990)
Godfrey, Arthur, 80, radio/television entertainer; emphysema (diagnosed with lung cancer in 1959, then recovered after surgery) (March 16, 1983) Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts “Smoke ’em by the carton”; also advised people not to smoke, but if they did, to smoke Chesterfields.
Goizueta, Roberto, 65, Coca-Cola CEO, lung cancer (October 18, 1997)
Gotti, John, 61, Mafia don, throat cancer (June 10, 2002). The once-powerful boss was a hundred pounds when he died, and hadn’t eaten solid food in a year.
Grant, General Ulysses S., 63, throat cancer (July 23, 1885);18th President
Grable, Betty, 56, “pin-up” girl, actress; lung cancer (July 2, 1973)
Gray, Les, 57, singer, heart attack. (February 21, 2004) The lead singer of 1970s chart-topping band Mud had been battling throat cancer, and opted for chemotherapy over removal of his voice box.
Gzowski, Peter, 67, radio host of The Voice of Canada; COPD/emphysema (24 January 2002)
Guardino, Harry, 69, actor; lung cancer (July 17, 1995)
Hamilton, Carrie, 38, writer, producer; lung cancer (January, 2002) Daughter of Carol Burnett
Hammett, Dashiell, 67, writer; lung cancer (January 10, 1961); The Maltese Flacon
Hansberry, Lorraine, 34, playwright; lung cancer (1965) A Raisin in the Sun
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, television actor; lung cancer (December 31, 1986) General Hospital
Hayward, Susan, 55, actor; lung cancer spread to her brain (March 14, 1975)
Heckart, Eileen, 82, actress, cancer (December 31, 2001) Butterflies Are Free
Hellman, Lillian, 79, author; lung cancer (June 30, 1984) The Little Foxes
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) Singer with The Drifters
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 Three Stooges
Ives, Burl, 85, actor; oral cancer (April 14, 1995)
James, Dennis, 79; announcer, actor, game show host; lung cancer (June 5, 1997)
Jennings, Peter, 67, newscaster; lung cancer (August 7, 2005) ABC News
Jones, Lindley Armstrong (“Spike”), 53; comedic composer/band leader; emphysema (May 1, 1965) Smoked five packs a day
Jones, Etta, 72; singer; lung cancer (Oct. 16, 2001)
Karloff, Boris, 81, actor; heart and lung disease (February 2, 1969) Frankenstein
Kaufman, Andy, 35, lung cancer (1984) (He only smoked in-character, but played for years in smoky clubs.)
Kieslowski, Krzystof, 54, film director; heart attack (March 13, 1996) Blue, White, Red
King Edward VII of England, 69, pneumonia; he suffered for years from a series of heart attacks, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. (May 6, 1910) As the Prince of Wales he helped make smoking, particularly cigar smoking, fashionable. He smoked twelve large cigars and twenty cigarettes a day. In 1876, he gave Benson & Hedges its first royal warrant. Edward VII became king on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, at the age of 59. Legend has it that he said to his friends in Buckingham Palace, upon his mother’s death: “Gentlemen, you may smoke.”
King Edward VIII of England, 77, throat cancer. May 28, 1972 Later titled the Duke of Windsor after he abdicated the throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson.
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. (January 20, 1936)
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, silent film actor; lung cancer (February 1, 1966) The General
Kendrick, Eddie, 52; singer; (1992) The Temptations; asked kids not to smoke.
Knapp, Caroline, 42; writer; lung cancer(2002) Drinking: A Love Story, in which she attends a stop-smoking session, but decides alcohol is her real problem; is puzzled when her dying mother asks her to give up smoking.
Knotts, Don 81, actor; lung cancer (February 24, 2006) The Andy Griffith Show
Kovacs, Ernie, 43; television personality; skull fracture from an automobile accident caused while he was trying to light his trademark cigar (January 11, 1962)
L’Amour, Louis, 80, author; lung cancer. (June 10, 1988) Hondo, Sackett
Landon, Michael, 54, actor, smoked four packs a day; cancer of the pancreas and liver (July 1, 1991) Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie
Lerner, Alan Jay, 67, playwright, lyricist; lung cancer. (June 14, 1986) Camelot
London, Julie, 74, singer, actress; complications from stroke (October 18, 2000)
Marchand, Nancy, 71, actress; lung cancer (June 18, 2000) Lou Grant
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 1960s
Martin, Dean, 78, singer; acute respiratory failure. (December 25, 1995) Ocean’s Eleven
Marvin, Lee, 67, actor; heart attack. (August 29, 1987) The Professionals
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
Matthau, Walter, 79, actor; heart attack. (June 30, 2000) The Odd Couple; 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 brought on by high blood pressure and a pulmonary ailment” (March 20, 1972)
McLaren, Wayne, 51; model; lung cancer (Summer, 1992)
McLean, David, 73; former television Marlboro Man, actor/model; lung cancer (Oct. 12, 1995)
McLure, Doug, 56; television actor; lung cancer (February 5, 1995) The Virginian
McQueen, Steve, actor; lung cancer; did Viceroy commercials
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) 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 Big Sleep
Moore, Gary, 78, game show host; emphsema, November 28, 1993 I’ve Got a Secret
Moorehead, Agnes, 73, actress; lung cancer (April 30, 1974) Bewitched
Morton, Gary, 74, actor, stand-up comic, producer; lung cancer (March 30, 1999) The Lucy Show
Muller, Heiner, 66, playwright; throat cancer (Dec. 30, 1995) German playwright, poet, director, translator
Murrow, Edward R., 57, newscaster; lung cancer. ( April 27, 1965) Host, Camel News
Nixon, Pat, 81, First Lady of the US, 1969-74; multiple conditions. ( June 22, 1993) The wife of Richard M. Nixon suffered strokes in 1976 and 1982. Had mouth cancer, emphysema and lung cancer.
Nye, Carrie, 69, stage actress; lung cancer (July 14, 2006) Wife of Dick Cavett, who said, “she tried to quit a couple of times but smoking became part of her early persona; perhaps based on Tallulah Bankhead or Marlene Dietrich.”
Oliver, Susan, 53, actress, author; lung cancer (May 10, 1990) Vina in Star Trek
Orbison, Roy, 52, singer, heart attack (December 6, 1988) Only the Lonely
Onassis, Jackie, 64, First Lady 1961-63; non-Hodgkins lymphoma (May 19, 1994)
Reputedly a three-pack-a-day chain-smoker (variously reported as Salem, Newport, L&M, Pall Mall, Marlboro, and Merit), who concealed the habit from the public, and quit when she received the cancer diagnosis.
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; first cigarette pitchman to target blacks (Lucky Strike)
Palladin, Jean-Louis, 555, chef; lung cancer (November 25, 2001)
Palmer, Robert, 54, British rock star; heart attack (September 26, 2003)
Parks, Bert, 77, actor/singer; lung cancer (February 2, 1992)
Patchett, Jean, 75, fashion model; emphysema (January 22, 2002)
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 two packs a day until 1993, when he had a cancerous tumor removed from his lung (May 8, 1995) A-Team
Powell, Dick, 59, actor; lung cancer (1963)
Price, Vincent, 82, actor; lung cancer (October 26, 1993) The Fall of the House of Usher
Puccini, Giacomo, 65, opera composer; throat cancer (1924) La Boheme, Tosca
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowden, 71, UK Royal Family; stroke/heart attack (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’ own father, George VI, died of smoking-related illnesses. Within months of the biopsy operation she was smoking thirty 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, 78, author/philosopher; heart failure/lung cancer (March 6, 1982)
The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged
Rawls, Lou, 72, singer; lung cancer (January 6, 2006)
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
Reeve, Dana, 44, actress, singer, author, advocate against lung cancer (March 6, 2006).
Many news reports noted that the non-smoking widow and caregiver of actor Christopher Reeve had spent a lot of time performing in smoky nightclubs.
Remick, Lee, 55, actress; lung and liver cancer (July 2, 1991) Anatomy of a Murder
Reinach, Jacquelyn, 70, writer; lung cancer (September 30, 2000)
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)
Richards, Ann, 73, Texas governor, esophageal cancer (September 14, 2006)
Ripken, Cal Sr., 83, baseball coach, lung cancer(1994)
Rogers, Stan, 33, Canadian folksinger, airliner fire caused by smoking(1983) This was instrumental in the later ban on airplane smoking.
Ruff, Patsy, 56, first successful lung transplant, kidney failure (October 21, 2000) After her 1987 transplant, Ruff worked for the American Lung Association, warning about smoking, but the anti-rejection drugs Ruff took led eventually to kidney failure.
Rugova, Ibrahim, 61, writer, first President of Kosovo (2002-2006); lung cancer (January 21, 2006)
Ruth, Babe, 53, baseball player. Naso-pharyngeal cancer. (August 16, 1948)
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 74, philosopher (existentialism), author; After two heart attacks (1971, 1973), his health was never the same; his sight failed almost totally and his production diminished; In March of 1980, he was hospitalized for edema of the lungs, and died a few weeks later. (April 13, 1980) 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature
Sayre, Nora, 68, author; emphysema (August 8, 2001) Known for her chain-smoking and irascible personality
Schiavelli, Vincent, 57, actor (December 26, 2005) One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Schippers, Thomas, 47, conductor, musical director; lung cancer (December 16, 1977)
Co-founder of the Spoleto, Italy arts Festival
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
Scotti, Vito, 78, actor; lung cancer (June 5, 1996) The Aristocats, The Godfather
Serling, Rod, 51, writer/director; smoked four packs a day; heart disease. (June 28, 1975)
The Twilight Zone (1959-64)
Seyrig, Delphine, 58, actress; lung disease (October 15, 1990)
Shaw, Robert, 51, actor; heart attack (August 28, 1978) Jaws, From Russia With Love
Shirley, Anne, 75, actress; lung cancer (July 4, 1993) Stella Dallas
Sinatra, Frank, 82, singer, heart attack (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 Shi'ite Muslims and a staunch advocate of Christian-Muslim coexistence; lung cancer (January 10, 2001)
Shostakovich, Dmitri, 69, composer; lung cancer (August 9, 1975)
Smith, “Sonic” Fred, 45, rock musician; heart failure (November 4, 1994) Guitarist with the MC5.
•Soo, Jack, 63, actor; cancer of the esophagus (January 11, 1979) Barney Miller
Stander, Lionel, 86, actor; lung cancer (November 30, 1994) Max in Hart to Hart
Stanwyck, Barbara, 82, actress; congestive heart failure (January 20, 1990) Stella Dallas Stevens, Woody, 84, horse trainer (August 22, 1998) Trained winners in three Triple Crown races.
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) Played DA Hamilton Burger in the Perry Mason television series When he came down with lung cancer, Talman was the first actor to do a television commercial on the danger of smoking. He died before the commercial aired.
Tarbox, Barb, 42; the former Canadian model became a tobacco control activist, lung cancer (18 May 1968) You are all so much above this. You’re intelligent. You’re energetic. You have the world before you in the palms of your hands. Any dream you have is possible. But if you walk the path I walked, this is the path you will walk. And I don’t want any of you ever to walk this walk.
•Taylor, Robert, 57, actor; lung cancer (June 8, 1969) Saddle the Wind
Thaw, John, 60, actor; throat cancer (February 21 2002) The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Thomas, Ross, 69, author; lung cancer (December 19, 1995) Espionage author; wrote the screenplay for Bad Lieutenant
Thornbury, Will, 57, model; lung cancer (1992) Modeled for Camel television ads
Tierney, Gene, 70, actress; emphysema (November 6, 1991) Laura, Leave Her to Heaven
The squeakiness of her voice in her first film, The Return of Frank James, impelled her to take up smoking cigarettes.
Tone, Franchot, 63, actor; lung cancer (September 18, 1968) Mutiny on the Bounty
•Tracy, Spencer, 66, actor; lung congestion; heart attack (June 10, 1967) 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
•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) Falcon Crest, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Vander Pyl, Jean, actor; lung cancer (April 13, 1999) Voice of Wilma Flintstone, The Flintstones. Fred & Wilma’s Winston ad. “Everybody on the Flintstones smoked, and all of them ended up dying of smoking-related diseases. That little cute laugh that Betty and Wilma did with their mouths closed? They came up with that because when they normally laughed, because they were smokers, they coughed.”
Michael O’Meara, son of Jean Vander Pyl. Lung cancer (1990) Broken-hearted Melody
Varney, Jim, 50, actor; lung cancer (February 10, 2000) Played 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, Varney had one last message for those kids: Don’t smoke.
Walker, Nancy, 69, actress; lung cancer (March 25, 1992)
•Wayne, John, 72, actor; after exposure to nuclear radiation during the filming of The Conqueror, cancer took a lung in 1963; he 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, and a Camel commercial
Wells, Mary, 49, singer; larynx cancer (1992)
Wheeler, Bert, 72, comedian; emphysema (January 18, 1968)
Wilcoxon, Henry, 79, actor; cancer and COPD (March, 1984)
Wild, Jack, 53, actor; oral cancer (March 1, 2006)
Wilson, Bill, 76, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, emphysema (1971)
Wilson, Carl, 51, musician with the 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
Woodbury, Joan, 74, actress; COPD, lung cancer (February, 1989). She was the original Brenda Starr.
Yennimatas, George, Greek 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”– The New York 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)
•Zevon, Warren., 56, singer/songwriter. Mesothelioma (an asbestos-related lung cancer; smoking greatly increases the risk) (September 7, 2003) Werewolves of London.

Rico says that killing three members of the Reynolds family (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), doesn't make up for what they did to everyone else on this list... (The bulleted people are ones that Rico particularly liked, and misses.)

*Rico says he was a non-addict who attended the 'Game' at Synanon for awhile with his father.