18. Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart served in USS Leviathan, a converted steamship used as troop transport during World War I. Spanish Flu ravaged the crew during one of its several crossings of the Atlantic, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt among its victims. He survived, as did the young Bogart. The latter went on to a career as an actor following the war. He developed the image, carefully crafted, of the tough, masculine, hero, unflappable and unbeatable. Among the iconic images presented by Bogart were the martini, a fedora, a trench coat, and an ever-present cigarette. Bogie smoked onscreen and off, seemingly continuously, a cigarette dangling from his lips, the smoke curling around his face. An indelible part of his image, the cigarettes led to cancer in the 1950s.
Diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1956, Bogart opted for an experimental surgery in an attempt to cure the disease. Surgeons removed his entire esophagus, attaching his stomach to the stub which remained. They also removed two lymph nodes and a rib. The surgery took over nine hours, and Bogie went home after follow-up chemotherapy. The experimental combination was not enough, and Bogart grew progressively weaker in the ensuing months. Another surgery in November, 1956, contributed little to his battle to beat cancer. Bogart died on January 15, 1957, cancer has spread to his throat and larynx. Life expectancies for esophageal cancer, including the experimental treatments suffered by Humphrey Bogart have improved four-fold since his death.