# Hollywood actors of yore and illnesses **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883 "2009-07-31T17:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/1 "2009-07-31T17:14:07Z")
I know Vivien Leigh suffered from bipolar disorder, and Howard Hughes had OCD and quite possibly syphilis. Who else, from the Golden Age, suffered from what are now very treatable illnesses/mental disorders? ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/2 "2009-08-01T01:13:48Z")
Tallulah Bankhead had an advanced case of gonorrhea that eventually required a hysterectomy. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/3 "2009-08-01T01:55:23Z")
Jean Harlow died of kidney failure. Nowadays, she could have gotten a transplant or dialysis, but back then, it was a death sentence. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/4 "2009-08-01T02:11:29Z")
Possibly Harry Houdini. Peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/5 "2009-08-01T06:24:47Z")
Gracie Allen died from, what would now be a very treatable heart ailment. I imagine a lot of the heart aliments stars died from would be treatable now. ---
**Author:** ![daygecko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/91b2a8/32.png) [@daygecko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daygecko)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/6 "2009-08-01T12:12:57Z")
Bogart and Bacall have a syndrome named after them for voice strain caused by speaking too deeply. Though that could’ve been cured with a “Stop doing that!” Rudolph Valentino. Also peritontitis. Or initially, stomach ulcers. Mabel Normand. Tuberculosis. Douglas Fairbanks. ADHD? : ) Buster Keaton lost the hearing in one ear during WWI from an extended cold/ear infection. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/7 "2009-08-01T18:00:25Z")
Raymond Griffith, a silent film star, had lost his voice when he was a child actor (on stage – he screamed as part of his role and afterward couldn’t speak above a whisper). This wasn’t a problem in silent films, but when sound came in, he retired (with one exception where he was only required to whisper). Harold Lloyd lost a couple of fingers when a prop bomb went off in his hand. He wore glove and prosthetics through most of his career – including filming **Safety Last** Rudolph Valentino died of complications from appendicitis and ulcers; if antibiotics had existed, they probably could have saved him. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/8 "2009-08-01T22:35:19Z")
I think Sammy Davis, Jr. died of throat cancer. Also, I believe Joseph Cotten died of pneumonia, (as a complication from throat cancer.) I think he even underwent a total laryngectomy as well. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/9 "2009-08-01T22:45:32Z")
Freddie Mercury, Rock Hudson, Liberace and someone else that I’m forgetting died from complications of HIV ( or AIDS) before all the drug cocktails came along to help out. I was just reading about an actress of the 30’s, incredibly beautiful woman, who had major depression issues and probably bipolar. (Triggered because of a severe retarded/disabled daughter who contracted rubella when she was pregnant. ) She died in the 80’s, I think, maybe mid 90’s. She was gorgeous in her day. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/10 "2009-08-01T23:01:31Z")
[Clara Bow](http://www.moviemaidens.com/profile.asp?i=1010&e=1&ct=1&r=2&f=Clara&l=Bow) had mental issues and was put in a sanitarium at one point. [Frances Farmer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Farmer) was another who had issues. There was an actress (30’s-40’s, IRRC) who was a favorite, made GOBS of money and retired/quit/something. Ended up destitute and working for a church cleaning the rectory or something. I want to say some mental issues were a big factor. I thought it was Doris Day, but it isn’t. It’s driving me nuts and my google-fu is failing. I hate being vague. [Ed Wood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood) suffered from depression. He was a transvestite in a time when that was a big fat no-no. If he were around today, I would like to think he would be in the forefront of it all. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/11 "2009-08-02T00:44:32Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > There was an actress (30’s-40’s, IRRC) who was a favorite, made GOBS of money and retired/quit/something. Ended up destitute and working for a church cleaning the rectory or something. I want to say some mental issues were a big factor. I thought it was Doris Day, but it isn’t. It’s driving me nuts and my google-fu is failing. I hate being vague. [Betty Hutton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Hutton) Another actress of the same era whose career was eventually ended due to alcohol and mental problems was [Veronica Lake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Lake). ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/12 "2009-08-02T03:52:11Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > … > > I was just reading about an actress of the 30’s, incredibly beautiful woman, who had major depression issues and probably bipolar. (Triggered because of a severe retarded/disabled daughter who contracted rubella when she was pregnant. ) She died in the 80’s, I think, maybe mid 90’s. She was gorgeous in her day. Is this a whoosh or have you really not seen the “Gene Tierney, Rubella…” thread in mpsims? Sorry I had a link but the iPhone screwed it up. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/13 "2009-08-02T14:16:38Z")
Robert Donat had asthma which caused him to retire young. Ronald Colman suffered from lung inflammation from his time in the trenches in World War II; it bothered him all his life and led to his death from pneumonia. Vivien Leigh also had tuberculosis. Enrico Caruso died of perotinitis caused by an abcess from botched surgeries and bad diagnoses. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/14 "2009-08-02T14:29:34Z")
[Rondo Hatton](http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/h/rondohatton/creeper.htm) died probably from acromegaly complications. Maybe treatment in his case would have helped, and maybe not. It’s also worth noting that he apparently attributed his condition on being gassed in The Great War. Makes for an interesting story, but I don’t think any medical evidence supports it. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/15 "2009-08-02T19:45:14Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Is this a whoosh or have you really not seen the “Gene Tierney, Rubella…” thread in mpsims? > > Sorry I had a link but the iPhone screwed it up. It’s Gene Tierney. I saw the MPSIMS thread and it all came back to me. Betty Hutton was the other one I couldn’t grasp. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/16 "2009-08-03T08:12:49Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Another actress of the same era whose career was eventually ended due to alcohol and mental problems was [Veronica Lake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Lake). And another one was the lovely [Gail](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751149/) [Russell](http://content7.flixster.com/photo/65/39/49/6539497_tml.jpg), who died of alcoholism at 36. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/17 "2009-08-03T09:13:45Z")
If the Betty Ford Center had opened ten years earlier, Judy Garland would probably have benefited for a while. Tough call. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hollywood-actors-of-yore-and-illnesses/504883/18 "2009-08-03T12:48:59Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Ronald Colman suffered from lung inflammation from his time in the trenches in World War II; it bothered him all his life and led to his death from pneumonia. Correction; it was World War I. Sorry, my error.