50 Celebrities who have / had Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive degeneration of the brain, with symptoms of memory loss, disorientation and other intellectual impairment, which claims about 23,000 American lives a year, making it the eighth leading cause of death among the elderly in the United States of America.
Early onset Alzheimer’s can develop in people as young as forty, but most victims of this affliction develop it after the age of sixty-five. This form of dementia is particularly insidious, as it robs those with it of their mental faculties and memories.
Celebrities have become quite the “royal line” in our country. When a celebrity has a particular disease or health problem, we tend to discover all we can. Here is a list of 49 (plus 1) famous people/ celebrities that succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease.
1- Joe Adcock
American first baseman and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball, known for his years with the famous Milwaukee Braves teams of the 1950s.
2- Mabel Albertson
An American actress, best know for her role in the television sitcom “Bewitched”.
3- Dana Andrews
An American film actor, best know for his role in the Oscar winning movie “The Best Years of Our Lives”.
4- Sir Rudolph Bing
An Austrian-born opera impresario and a General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
5- James Brooks
An American muralist and abstract painter who won the Logan Medal of the Arts.
6- Charles Bronson
An American film actor, best known for his role in classic films such as “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Dirty Dozen” and “The Great Escape”.
7- Abe Burrows
An American author, humorist and director for radio and the stage.
8- Carroll Campbell
A U.S. Republican Party politician, best known as a Governor of South Carolina.
9- Joyce Chen
A Chinese chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur.
10- Perry Como
An American singer and television personality who was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
11- Aaron Copland
An American pianist and film score composer.
12- Willem De Kooning
A Dutch abstract expressionist artist.
13- James Doohan
A Canadian character and voice actor, best known for his role in the Star Trek series.
14- Thomas Dorsey
A gospel music legend.
15- Tom Fears
A Mexican-American footballer.
16- Louis Feraud
A French fashion designer and artist.
17- Arlene Francis
An American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist, best know for her role as a panelist on the television game show “What’s My Line?”
18- Mike Frankovich
An American film producer (right).
19- John Douglas French
A famous physician for whom “John Douglas French Alzheimer’s Foundation” is named after.
20- Barry Goldwater
U.S. Republican Party politician, best known as a five-term United States Senator from Arizona.
21- Rita Hayworth
An American film actress, professional dancer and a sex symbol, best known for her role in the classic movie “Gilda”.
22- Raul Silva Henriquez
A Chilean Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Human Right advocate.
23- Charlton Heston
An Oscar awarded American actor of film, theater and television, best know for his heroic roles in “The Ten Commandments”, “El Cid” and “Ben-Hur”.
24- Mervyn Leroy
An Academy Award-winning American film director, producer and actor.
25- Jack Lord
An American television, film, and Broadway actor, best known for his role in the American television program “Hawaii Five-O”.
26- Ross MacDonald
Kenneth Millar; a crime fiction writer famous for his widely read series of hardboiled novels set in southern California and featuring private detective “Lew Archer”.
27- Burgess Meredith
A two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, best known for portraying Rocky Balboa’s trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky films and The Penguin in the television series Batman.
28- Iris Murdoch
An Irish-born English author and philosopher, best known for her work regarding ethical and sexual themes.
29- Edmond O’Brien
An American film actor best known for his role in D.O.A.
30- Arthur O’Connell
An American stage and film actor who appeared in 1941 film Citizen Kane.
31- Marv Owen
An American third Baseball player.
32- Molly Picon
An American actress and lyricist.
33- Otto Preminger
Legendary Austrian-born Jewish film director.
34- Bill Quackenbush
A Canadian ice hockey star.
35- Ronald Reagan
The 40th President of the United States of America.
36- Harry Ritz
An American comedian of the famous “Ritz Brothers”.
37- Sugar Ray Robinson
Legendary American Boxer.
38- Norman Rockwell
An American painter and illustrator, best known for his work for “The Saturday Evening Post”.
39- Daniel Simon Scott
An American Artist.
40- Irving Shulman
An American author and screenwriter.
41- Betty Schwartz
The First woman who won an Olympic gold medal in track events.
42- Kay Swift
An American composer of popular and classical music, probably the first woman to compose a complete musical score.
43- Alfred Van Vogt
A Canadian-born science fiction author widely known as the most prolific and complex writers in his genre.
44- E.B. White
Legendary American writer.
45- Harold Wilson
A Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970.
46- Maurice Ravel
Classical French composer and pianist.
47- Ferenc Puskas
Legendary Hungarian footballer.
48- Adolfo Suárez
Spain’s first democratically elected prime minister after the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
49- Terry Pratchett
An English novelist, best known for his critically acclaimed comical work in the fantasy genre.
50- Auguste Deter
Well – she is not a celebrity- but the first person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. RIP.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
My uncle had this strange disease. He would not remember my name. RIP
May 14th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Its astonishing here that most of these people were intellects of their times. Its just that this bloody disease ate their mind…
May 14th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Great compilation by the author. Its interesting to see Rita Hayworth in this list. I wonder how far this disease affected Ronald Regan given the worst decisions he made during his 8 years of presidency. World is still suffering from his catastrophic policies in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Latin America. Its only USA that can elect presidents regardless of their mental health or moral stature…What a pity!!!
May 29th, 2009 at 1:32 am
In #18 you identified the man standing next to John Wayne as “Mike Frankovich.” I believe that it’s actually Jimmy Stewart.
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:11 am
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting.
June 21st, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Yeah that looks a lot like Jimmy Stewart to me too. I always wondered what happened to Jack Lord .
July 5th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
It ‘s a shame that Charles Bronson has been pictured here apparently in the midst of his suffering this terrible disease.How about substituting with a more dignified photo ?
December 19th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Number 18 is Jimmy Stewart and Please take that terrible picture of Mr.Bronson off-It’s very degrading-I dont want to remember him this way.