# Early mentions of 'cancer' in film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454 "2015-06-25T17:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/1 "2015-06-25T17:56:22Z")
It’s implied, but never mentioned in “The Babe Ruth Story” (1948). Even in “Love Story” (1970), they never say the word ‘cancer’ or ‘leukemia.’ But surely there are some movies out there in the old days (eh, pre-1970) where the word \*cancer is actually used. \*Or something that is by definition cancer, like leukemia or lymphoma. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/2 "2015-06-25T18:15:04Z")
I remember a discussion of cancer in _Rebecca_. It played a part in the death of the first Mrs. de Winter, but wasn’t what ultimately killed her. Film date: 1941 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/3 "2015-06-25T18:24:52Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I remember a discussion of cancer in _Rebecca_. It played a part in the death of the first Mrs. de Winter, but wasn’t what ultimately killed her. > > Film date: 1941 Cool, what did they say? ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/4 "2015-06-25T18:30:24Z")
The original Ocean’s Eleven with the Rat Pack had one of the characters (in a plot that wasn’t part of the remake) becoming ill. He asks his doctor “Is it the Big Casino?” I took that to be a euphemism for “the Big C,” cancer. The doctor’s reply isn’t shown, but it’s implied to be yes. ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/5 "2015-06-25T18:34:17Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Cool, what did they say? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cf0-GsXDzI) start at 1:57:00 In the book the doctor didn’t use the c word - talked about a ‘growth, deep seated’, but a character in the next chapter did. Doctor uses word ‘cancer’ in film. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/6 "2015-06-25T18:42:55Z")
I just noticed how I never hear anyone these days say the word aids very often if at all. It’s like the topic everyone avoids. Perhaps people back in the old days or at least hollywood wanted to avoid discussions regarding cancer ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/7 "2015-06-25T18:47:37Z")
In the TV movie “[Brian’s Song](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068315/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt)” (1971), “cancer” is used at least a few times, according to these quotes from the movie: > **[Quotes from "Brian's Song"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068315/quotes)** > > Gale Sayers: I'd like to say a few words about a guy I know, a friend of mine. His name is Brian Piccolo. And he has the heart of a giant, and that rare form of courage which allows him to kid himself and his opponent: cancer. He has a mental... Doesn’t exactly fit the “pre-1970” of the OP’s question, however. And, it’s based on a true story, the details of which may have already been known by many viewers. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/8 "2015-06-25T19:01:59Z")
IMDB search, movies with keyword “cancer”, ordered by date. > **[Sort by Release Date - Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "cancer"...](https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=cancer&sort=release_date,asc&mode=detail&page=1)** > > IMDb's advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. Find exactly what you're looking for! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/9 "2015-06-25T19:12:12Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > The original Ocean’s Eleven with the Rat Pack had one of the characters (in a plot that wasn’t part of the remake) becoming ill. He asks his doctor “Is it the Big Casino?” I took that to be a euphemism for “the Big C,” cancer. The doctor’s reply isn’t shown, but it’s implied to be yes. Wasn’t that Richard Conte’s illness in that show? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/10 "2015-06-25T19:40:50Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > I just noticed how I never hear anyone these days say the word aids very often if at all. It’s like the topic everyone avoids. Perhaps people back in the old days or at least hollywood wanted to avoid discussions regarding cancer I know that for at least some people from older generations there was a certain stigma attached to having cancer, a guilt that it was because you’d done something wrong. It amazed me when I encountered this but several I’ve known over the years when they learned they or someone else had cancer said _"Don’t tell anybody!_ Unbelievably there was an embarrassment, a quiet shame. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/11 "2015-06-25T20:28:43Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > IMDB search, movies with keyword “cancer”, ordered by date. > > [Advanced search](http://www.imdb.com/search/keyword?keywords=cancer&sort=release_date,asc&mode=detail&page=1) Wow. Truly fascinating to see just how few times it shows up in US films / TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/12 "2015-06-25T22:42:36Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Wasn’t that Richard Conte’s illness in that show? His symptoms certainly seem more heart-related – perfectly healthy, clutches his chest and drops dead. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/13 "2015-06-25T22:46:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Wow. Truly fascinating to see just how few times it shows up in US films / TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s. One of which is a Mr Magoo cartoon… In Dark Victory, Bette Davis has a kind of Hollywood-cancer. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I don’t think they use the “c” word, just “brain tumor” – and a particularly wonderful kind, where you have no symptoms for a year, but then you go blind and an hour later you die peacefully and painlessly. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/14 "2015-06-25T22:51:48Z")
This is a bit later than the OP intended, but “The Shootist” (1976) had a scene where Jimmy Stewart as the doctor tells John Wayne, **You have _A_ cancer**. The movie was set some time around 1900, I believe. The best they could do: sweet, sweet laudanum. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/15 "2015-06-25T22:52:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Wow. Truly fascinating to see just how few times it shows up in US films / TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s. I’ll bet most of those early keywords come from the plot description instead of quotes from the movie itself. For example, in _Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_ (1958), Big Daddy is diagnosed with terminal cancer (the plot hinges on the doctor not telling him or his wife, due to “professional ethics”) but while the doctor confides to his family that his condition is “malignant and terminal”, the actual word “cancer” is never uttered. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/16 "2015-06-26T02:51:08Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > This is a bit later than the OP intended, but “The Shootist” (1976) had a scene where Jimmy Stewart as the doctor tells John Wayne, **You have _A_ cancer**. The movie was set some time around 1900, I believe. The best they could do: sweet, sweet laudanum. Duke: “Can’t you…cut it out of me?” JS: “I’d have to gut ya like a fish just to get at it.” ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/17 "2015-06-26T03:06:34Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Wasn’t that Richard Conte’s illness in that show? Yup. You know, this talk about never mentioning the word “cancer” reminds me of one of my favorite bits in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs. Eugene is describing his uncle’s death from (whisper)…_cancer._ He explains that the adults in his life never say the word out loud–they only whisper it, as if they’re afraid that saying it too loudly will cause God to say, “I heard that! You said the dread disease! Therefore, I smite you down with it!” When I mentioned the bit to my mother, she told me that in the thirties when this took place, there were nowhere near the medical advances there are today, so basically, if you said “cancer” you said “death”. That could explain why movies were so reluctant to even say the word. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/18 "2015-06-26T03:11:32Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > The original Ocean’s Eleven with the Rat Pack had one of the characters (in a plot that wasn’t part of the remake) becoming ill. He asks his doctor “Is it the Big Casino?” I took that to be a euphemism for “the Big C,” cancer. The doctor’s reply isn’t shown, but it’s implied to be yes. Hmm…I’ve heard the terms Big and Little Casino (coming, of course, from the game Casino) used as euphemisms for STDs, with “big” being the really bad ones (say syphilis or hepatitis–or these days, HIV) and “little” being say chlamydia or gonorrhea. Any chance that’s more likely than cancer? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/19 "2015-06-26T22:50:23Z")
It’s a Japanese Film, but Kurosawa’s 1952 “Ikiru” is about a man who’s dying of stomach cancer who uses his remaining time to get a park built for local children. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-mentions-of-cancer-in-film/723454/20 "2015-06-27T04:53:15Z")
Some examples I found on QuoDB _Murder, My Sweet_ (1944) > [@](#): > > 01:08:35 - - What do you mean, “Does Helen stop?” - I don’t know. > 01:08:38 - If I always knew what I meant, I’d be a genius. > 01:08:40 - But I know this. A cancer doesn’t stop growing just because you ask it to. > 01:08:44 - You’re vicious. You take some horrible sort of satisfaction… > 01:08:49 - in seeing people torn apart! _Brute Force_ (1947) > [@](#): > > 00:19:22 - Thanks. > 00:19:26 - - Doc. - Yeah? > 00:19:28 - How quick will cancer kill somebody? > 00:19:31 - Well, that’s the wrong way to put the question. > 00:19:34 - These days, cancer doesn’t have to mean death at all. Why? _The Big Knife_ (1955) > [@](#): > > 00:26:43 - Fifteen minutes under a cold shower before l could remember my name. > 00:26:46 - -Did you hear about Joe Ackerman? -No. What? > 00:26:50 - Cancer. > 00:26:52 - Poor Joe, poor Martha. l saw them only yesterday. > 00:26:56 - l’ll have to call there tonight. _Idiot’s Delight_ (1939) > [@](#): > > 00:38:43 - I must go into neutral territory to continue my experiments. > 00:38:45 - I’m a scientist. A servant of the whole stupid human race. > 00:38:49 - I’m working on a cure for cancer, a disease of civilization. > 00:38:52 - If I delay, my experiments are ruined. > 00:38:54 - I am deeply sorry, but I have no choice. _The Americanization of Emily_ (1964) > [@](#): > > 01:39:21 - They’re going to put up a monument on his grave. > 01:39:23 - What on earth for? All he did was die. > 01:39:28 - Dear me, we should be celebrating cancer and automobile smashups next. > 01:39:32 - He didn’t just die. He sacrificed his life. > 01:39:34 - That was very pagan of him.