Sunday, March 30, 2008

Not as sick as Dark Victory

I've been laid up with a nasty cold the past 36 hours or so, barely making it through TCM's showing of The Great Escape. But being sick, I thought to myself, "What actors have made movies knowing that they're dying?" Not much of a blog topic, to be sure, but like I said, I'm sick and don't particulary feel like posting.

Edward G. Robinson was dying of cancer when he made Soylent Green, and as I understand it, he did not live to see the movie released. It's a shame, because his is probably the best performance in the movie.

Legend has it that another actor dubbed some of the lines for Humphrey Bogart in The Harder They Fall, since he, too, was dying at the time. But as far as I know, that's just an urban legend.

Finally, Spencer Tracy was in very poor health on the set of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. And even more than Robinson or Bogart, he looked it, too.

Any other good sick-actor movies?

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