That blows. My favorite role of his was in the music video for Kesha’s “Blow.” He went by James Van Der Douche in that one.
Incredibly sad, though unfortunately not totally unexpected. When I saw the video he sent in to that Dawson’s Creek reunion, I knew that the situation was quite grim. He was so very gaunt in appearance.
Varsity Blues is starting to look like a cursed movie. This is now four cast members of the movie that have died at young ages. Van Der Beek and Ron Lester died of natural causes while Paul Walker and Joe Pichler did not (Walker of course died in a car accident; Pichler, who played Van Der Beek’s character’s little brother, disappeared in 2006 and is widely believed to have committed suicide).
I watched Dawson’s Creek when I was in college. Perfect background while doing homework. He died at 48. I turn 48 tomorrow. Gives me a lot to think about.
I’ll always enjoy his cameo in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back as himself, playing Jay in the film-within-the-film .
Had no idea he was sick. I not too long ago rewatched all of Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, where he played James Van Der Beek.
I did too and it was such a great show and I really admired that he could mock himself so well.
His Screen Actors Guild insurance must have been dropped, because someone started a Gofundme that has raised more than $1.5 million. Stephen Spielberg and Kate Capshaw donated $25k.
His wife said on the GoFundMe page that his cancer fight exhausted the family’s money.
I would have thought that a movie star like him would have had the best insurance available, with small maximum-out-of-pocket caps.
Anyhow, though, a whole lot of people are getting colon cancer these days much earlier than the original 50/60 years or older age. Microplastics or not, many folks need colonoscoping. I know fellow Millennials with it.
Someone in my organization also had cancer and wanted to pursue some sort of unconventional treatment that wasn’t covered by insurance so there was a request for contributions. Perhaps James Van Der Beek also tried treatments that weren’t covered by insurance?
James was on Masked Singer not that long ago, and while he was healthy enough to compete on that show, he didn’t look like himself. (I mean, even when he took the costume off.)
As others said, it was known that he was sick, so this isn’t unexpected, but it’s still too young and shocking because of it.
My wife is a huge Dawson’s Creek fan and has been very sad. I liked him as an actor, particularly the Jay and Silent Bob film previously referenced in this thread.
One thing I didn’t know is that Alfonso Ribeiro (originally known for Silver Spoons, later for being Carlton on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and more recently being a host on America’s Funniest Home Videos and Dancing with the Stars), he was very close with James. He is even a godfather to one of his kids. He was there with him at the end of his life too.
Parade - Alfonso Ribeiro Mourns James Van Der Beek’s Death: ‘I’m So Broken Right Now’
Alfonso and James used to go camping with RVs, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris of Saved by the Bell) would join them. That just seems so weird to me.
“[Gosselaar and I] became friends with James Van Der Beek and we convinced [him and his family] to buy the same RV,” he shared. “So, the three of us can go to an RV park and we roll up as ‘tripsies.’”
RIP James.
I’ve read in multiple places that he chose unconventional and uncovered treatments for a significant period of time before eventually returning to conventional treatments. I don’t know the veracity of those reports.
Earlier today I wrote the following on the Bud Cort thread….
According to IMDB, the fourth best episode of Criminal Minds is Mosely Lane (and one of my favorite episodes). Bud Cort was one of the bad guys in the episode.
For this thread….
According to IMDB, the third best episode of Criminal Minds is Revelations (and one of my favorite episodes). James Van Der Beek is the bad guy in the episode.
I did see that. Plus, 6 kids aren’t exactly cheaper by the half dozen to raise.
I, too wondered if he pursued “unconventional” treatment. Not blaming anyone here, but one may remember that Coretta Scott King died in a Tijuana “cancer” clinic.
Perhaps the doctors said, “We’ve done all we can.” At that point, one might turn to unconventional or alternative medicine treatments.
That does happen a lot, unfortunately. It can mean that the family has, among other things, nothing left for the funeral.
That was reportedly what Andy Kaufman did.
He was a reasonably well-known actor, though he worked largely in television. His IMDb entry shows that he worked steadily, but he hadn’t been a lead actor in a series since CSI: Cyber, ten years ago.
That probably put him in the top 1% of working actors, but probably not pulling in the kind of enormous money that a bankable, “leading man” movie star would be making. I’m sure that he worked regularly enough to qualify for health insurance through the Screen Actors Guild, but I would be very surprised if he had “money is no object” level health insurance.
Apparently his wife (now widow) is a vocal anti-vaxxer with some aspects of conspiracy theories similar to RFK Jr. It’s not a big leap from that to pursuing alternate medical treatments when faced with cancer.