Dead Cool Smokers 1

Dead Cool Smokers

dead cool smokers

Again, nothing to do with the Thames.

Just a list of really cool people who died of smoking-related diseases. Plus some current celebrities who have been photographed smoking.

There are currently three pages of them—this is page one.

The moral is: even if you think you look really cool being photographed smoking, there have been lots of other dead cool smokers before you.

Click here for Dead Cool Smokers 2

There are good reasons for listing the people on these pages.

If you smoke, you have a greater than 50% chance of dying from lung cancer, emphysema, heart attack, stroke or mouth, throat or stomach cancer.

Once you start smoking, it’s very hard to give up (but not impossible). Though when you do quit, the risk of dying from a smoking-related disease reduces dramatically.

There are far too many images of famous people smoking—photographs in newspapers and magazines that make it look really cool to smoke.

And there are still plenty of examples of films and TV dramas where people smoke for no good reason except to look tough, glamorous or cool.

Well, it isn’t cool. If you smoke, you will probably die prematurely and painfully.

So take a look at the people on these pages and think of the consequences of smoking.

And in case you are interested, yes I was a smoker for 10 years. Then I gave up for 10 years. Then smoked for another five. I stopped about 10 years ago—oh dear, looks like a cyclical pattern.

Anyway, this website is one way of reminding myself how unwise it was to smoke in the first place.

	Jennifer Aniston 1969- Actress famous for Friends
	Mary Astor 1906-1987 Actress from the 1920s to 1960s Famous for The Prisoner of Zenda and The Maltese Falcon Emphysema
	Beryl Bainbridge 1934- Novelist Famous for The Bottle Factory Outing and Sweet William
	Stanley Baker 1927-1976 Actor and film producer of the 1940s to 1970s Famous for Hell Drivers, The Guns of Navarone and Zulu Lung cancer
	Lucille Ball 1911-1989 Film and TV star of the 1930s to 1980s Famous for I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show Acute aortic aneurysm
	Tallulah Bankhead 1902-1968 Stage, film TV actress from 1920s to 1960s Pneumonia and emphysema
	Ronnie Barker 1929-2005 Comedian Famous for The Two Ronnies, Porridge and Open All Hours Retired in 1986 because of heart trouble Heart attack
	Trevor Baylis 1937- Famous for inventing a clockwork radio Member of the Supporters Council for the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Tobacco (FOREST)
	Leonard Bernstein 1918-1990 Conductor, composer and pianist Famous for the music for West Side Story Lung cancer
	Humphrey Bogart 1899-1957 Actor Famous for Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo and The African Queen Cancer of the oesophagus
	Richard Boone 1917-1981 Actor in the 1950s and 1960s Famous for The Alamo, The Shootist and Have Gun, Will Travel Throat cancer
	Jacques Brel 1929-1978 Songwriter, singer and actor from the 1950s to 1970s Lung cancer
	Nigel Bruce 1895-1953 Stage and film actor from 1920s to 1950s Famous for Treasure Island, The Scarlet Pimpernell, Lassie Come Home, Hitchcock’s Suspicion, and for playing Dr Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes films alongside Basil Rathbone Heart attack
	Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1806-1859 Civil engineer Designer of railways, stations, tunnels and ships. Famous for the Great Western Railway and ships like the Great Eastern, Great Western and Great Britain Smoked up to 40 cigars a day Stroke
	Yul Brynner 1915-1985 Stage and film actor of the 1940s to 1970s Famous for The King and I, and The Magnificent Seven Lung cancer
	Julie Burchill 1959- Tabloid columnist
	Anthony Burgess 1917-1993 Novelist and critic from 1950s to 1990s Famous for A Clockwork Orange, Inside Mr Enderby and Earthly Powers Lung cancer
	Johhny Carson 1924-2005 Comedian and chat show host Famous for The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 Emphysema
	Lon Chaney, Senior 1883-1930 Silent movie actor in the 1920s Famous for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom of the Opera Haemorrhage following throat cancer operation

	Graham Chapman 1941-1989 Monty Python member and star of Life of Brian Spinal cancer spread from throat cancer
	Winston Churchill 1874-1965 Journalist and politician A heavy cigar smoker, Churchill nearly died several times during WW2 – two pneumonia bouts and two heart attacks in 1943, pneumonia in 1945 and a stroke in 1953, before dying from a stroke in 1965
	Nat King Cole 1919-1965 Pianist and singer Famous for songs like Mona Lisa and When I Fall In Love Lung cancer
	Billy Connolly 1942- Singer, comedian and actor Famous for Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Man Who Sued God
	Gary Cooper 1901-1961 Actor from 1920s to 1950s Famous for The Virginian, A Farewell to Arms, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, Beau Geste, and High Noon Lung cancer
	Russell Crowe 1964- Actor Famous for Gladiator and Master and Commander
	Sammy Davis Jr 1925-1990 Singer and actor from the 1930s to 1980s Famous for Porgy and Bess, Ocean’s Eleven, Robin and the 7 Hoods and The Cannonball Run Throat cancer
	Johnny Depp 1963- Actor Famous for Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
	Walt Disney 1901-1966 Animator, film producer and director, head of entertainment corporation Famous for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disneyland Lung cancer
	Pete Doherty 1979- Musician Famous for being in the Libertines and Babyshambles, for getting caught in possession of cocaine and heroin, and for banging on about being a heroin addict and self-harmer
	Edward VII 1841-1910 King and Emperor Bronchitis
	Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor 1894-1972 King for a year Throat cancer
	T.S. Eliot 1988-1965 Poet and playwright from 1910s to 1950s Famous for The Waste Land, Four Quartets, Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party Emphysema
	Duke Ellington 1899-1974 Jazz composer and bandleader Lung cancer
	Joe Eszterhas 1944- Screenwriter famous for Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct and Showgirls Started smoking at 12, and smoked 60-80 cigarettes a day. His films often featured close-ups of actors smoking (e.g. Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct) Had 80% of his larynx removed in 2001 because of cancer Now campaigns against smoking in movies
	F Scott Fitgerald 1896-1940 Novelist and scriptwriter Famous for The Great Gatsby Second heart attack
	Ian Fleming 1908-1964 Journalist, intelligence specialist and novelist Famous for creating James Bond and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Pleurisy and heart attack
	Errol Flynn 1909-1959 Film star of the 1930s to 1950s Famous for The Dawn Patrol, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and The Charge of the Light Brigade Heart attack
	Sigmund Freud 1856-1939 Founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology Cancer of the jaw
	Stephen Fry 1957- Comedian and actor Famous for Blackadder and Gosford Park