Famous Faces of Breast Cancer
by John Doe
by John Doe
9 min readOctober breast cancer awareness campaigns remind us, each year, to think about the seriousness of this dreaded disease. Seeing the names and faces of the more than 95,000 people honored in our Breast Cancer Memorial reminds us that the disease touches all of us... and we are reminded of this, too, when we see the names of famous women and also men who have died of breast cancer. Today, we honor and remember some of those celebrities.
SARAH HARDING (1981 - 2021)
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SARAH HARDING (1981 - 2021) was a singer with Girls Aloud, a British girl group that dominated the U.K. pop charts in the 2000s with singles including "Sound of the Underground," "I'll Stand by You," and "The Promise." Harding was also a model for Ultimo lingerie, an actress, and a reality TV personality who won "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2017.
KELLY PRESTON (1962 - 2020)
ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images
KELLY PRESTON (1962 - 2020) was an actress known for roles in movies including “Jerry Maguire,” “Twins,” and “Sky High.” Her other memorable films include "Secret Admirer," "Citizen Ruth," and "What a Girl Wants." Preston met her husband, John Travolta, while they were working together on the 1989 film "The Experts," and they were married for 29 years.
ELIZABETH WURTZEL (1967 - 2020)
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ELIZABETH WURTZEL (1967 - 2020) was just 27 when she published her bestselling debut memoir, "Prozac Nation." It detailed her long-running battle with depression, beginning when she was a child, and it became a sensation for its candid, sometimes funny and sometimes soberly insightful look at Wurtzel’s own heavily medicated life, warts and all.
DIAHANN CARROLL (1935 - 2019)
Getty Images / Anthony Barboza
DIAHANN CARROLL (1935 - 2019) was a groundbreaking actress and singer whose 1968 TV show “Julia” was the first to portray a Black woman with a professional career. Never before had a television show starred a Black woman with a job other than the stereotypical maids and mammies. In later years, Carroll joined the cast of nighttime soap opera “Dynasty” in 1984, playing the diva Dominique Deveraux, and she had a recurring role on TV in “A Different World.”
SUZANNE WHANG (1962 - 2019)
Getty Images / FilmMagic / M. Tran
SUZANNE WHANG (1967 - 2019) was the host of HGTV’s “House Hunters” from the show’s debut in 1999 through 2007. She was also an actress and comedian, and she had a recurring role as Polly Nguyen on “Las Vegas.” She won the Best Up & Coming Comedian Award at the 2002 Las Vegas Comedy Festival and the Andy Kaufman Award at the 2004 New York Comedy Festival. Before her death, Whang had been battling breast cancer for 13 years.
COKIE ROBERTS (1943 - 2019)
Getty Images / Walt Disney Television / Heidi Gutman
COKIE ROBERTS (1943 - 2019) was a pioneering journalist known for her work on NPR’s “Morning Edition” as well as co-anchoring ABC News’ “This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts.” Along with Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Susan Stamberg, she was considered one of the “Founding Mothers” of NPR. Roberts was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress in 2008, and she won three Emmy Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award. American Women in Radio and Television named her one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.
DAPHNE SHELDRICK (1934 - 2018)
Getty Images / Alberto E. Rodriguez
DAPHNE SHELDRICK (1934 - 2018) was a prominent conservationist who gave new life to orphaned baby elephants. She received global attention for her work raising more than 200 orphaned baby elephants, many of which were able to go back to the wild and raise their own families.
View Daphne Sheldrick's obituary
NOREEN FRASER (1953 - 2017)
Getty Images / Michael Kovac
NOREEN FRASER (1953 - 2017) co-created the network TV special "Stand Up to Cancer." A veteran producer of TV shows including "Entertainment Tonight," "The Richard Simmons Show," and ABC's "Home Show," Fraser responded to her own diagnosis with breast cancer by founding the Noreen Fraser Foundation, which supports research into cancer treatment and prevention.
MARYAM MIRZAKHANI (1977 - 2017)
Getty Images
MARYAM MIRZAKHANI (1977 - 2017) broke new ground for women in mathematics when she won the prestigious Fields Medal in 2014. Sometimes called the Nobel Prize of mathematics, the award is given every four years to mathematicians under age 40. Mirzakhani was the first woman to win the award since its inception in 1936.
View Maryam Mirzakhani's obituary
BIMBA BOSE (1975 - 2017)
Getty Images
Italian-born model BIMBA BOSE (1975 - 2017), who graced the covers of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. In a 2016 interview with Lecturas writer Luis Nemolato, she characterized her illness as "something personal. It is to live an adventure." "I do not have to talk if I do not want to talk," Bosé told her interviewer. "I already said two years ago that I had cancer when I was diagnosed, and I never said I was cured ... That you look good on the outside does not mean ... that inside is fine."
MARNI NIXON (1930 - 2016)
David LEFRANC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
American singer and actress MARNI NIXON (1930 - 2016) famously ghost sang for leading actresses in films including "The King and I" and "West Side Story."
MORAG SILLER (1969 - 2016)
Daily Mail
"Coronation Street" stars were 'completely devastated' after Scottish actress MORAG SILLER (1969 - 2016), who played Reverend Esther Warren in the ITV1 soap, died of breast cancer. The Edinburgh-born actress, who last year appeared alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in the Barbican Theatre's production of "Hamlet," was diagnosed with cancer five years ago.
MARTI FRIEDLANDER (1928 - 2016)
Fairfax NZ
In October 2016, New Zealand photographer MARTI FRIEDLANDER (1928 - 2016) revealed that she was suffering from late-stage breast cancer. When she died, social media was flooded with tributes to the iconic artist from political figures, photographers, artists, writers, and her many friends.
View Marti Friedlander's obituary
JACKIE COLLINS (1937 - 2015)
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Best-selling novelist JACKIE COLLINS (1937 - 2015), who thrilled millions of readers with her scandal-soaked tales of Hollywood, mobsters, and L.A. private investigators, died of breast cancer at 77. Her daughter Rory was later treated successfully for stage 1 breast cancer.
YVONNE CRAIG (1937 - 2015)
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
American actress YVONNE CRAIG (1937 - 2015) played the sexy, crime-fighting Batgirl in the 1960s TV hit "Batman." She began her career as a ballet dancer, the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, with which she toured for three years.
ANNE KIRKBRIDE (1954 - 2015)
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Actress ANNE KIRKBRIDE (1954 - 2015) was a star of British soap opera "Coronation Street" for more than 40 years. She played the long-suffering, much-married Deirdre Barlow.
View Anne Kirkbride's obituary
MARY ANN MOBLEY COLLINS (1939 - 2014)
Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
MARY ANN MOBLEY COLLINS (1939 - 2014) graduated from Ole Miss in 1958, the same year she won the Miss America crown. She became an actress a few years later, with credits including such TV shows as "General Hospital" and "Perry Mason," and films such as "Girl Happy" with Presley, and "Three on a Couch" with Jerry Lewis. It was on that film that she met her husband, actor Gary Collins, who died in 2012.
View Mary Ann Mobley Collins' obituary
MARCIA STRASSMAN (1948 - 2014)
Getty Images / WireImage / Gregg DeGuire
Actress MARCIA STRASSMAN (1948 - 2014) played Julie Kotter in the U.S. TV sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter" and also starred in the movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and its sequels.
View Marcia Strassman's obituary
BERNIE NOLAN (1960 - 2013)
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BERNIE NOLAN (1960 - 2013) was lead vocalist of musical sister act the Nolans, who had an international hit in 1979 with "I'm in the Mood for Dancing." Nolan later achieved success as a television and stage actress in the UK. Nolan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010.
CHRISSY AMPHLETT (1959 - 2013)
Patrick Riviere/Getty Images
CHRISSY AMPHLETT (1959 - 2013) is known best as the singer of the 1990s hit "I Touch Myself," recorded with her rock band, the Divinyls. Seen here during her run in the musical "The Boy From Oz," she remained popular in her native Australia until her death from breast cancer and multiple sclerosis in 2013.
View Chrissy Amphlett's obituary
PATRICIA BLAIR (1933 - 2013)
Everett Collection
In the 1960s American actress PATRICIA BLAIR (1933 - 2013) played leading roles in television Westerns such as "Daniel Boone," opposite Fess Parker, and "The Rifleman" with Chuck Connors.
View Patricia Blair's obituary
YVONNE BRILL (1924 - 2013)
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
YVONNE BRILL (1924 - 2013) was a pioneering rocket scientist who invented a more efficient thruster to keep satellites in orbit. When she died in 2013, a New York Times obituary ignited controversy when it lead with Brill's "mean beef stroganoff" and her devotion as a wife and mother, rather than her brilliant accomplishments as a scientist.
JANICE VOSS (1956 - 2012)
NASA
Engineer and astronaut JANICE VOSS (1956 - 2012) flew five space shuttle missions, tying the record for U.S. women in space.
RAYLENE RANKIN (1960 - 2012)
The Chronicle Herald
Canadian singer RAYLENE RANKIN (1960 - 2012) was one of the mothers of contemporary Celtic music and a founding member of the Rankin Family. She died in Halifax after a long battle with cancer.
View Raylene Rankin's obituary
COLLEEN WALKER (1956 - 2012)
AP Photo
A successful LPGA Tour player from 1982 to 2004, COLLEEN WALKER (1956 - 2012) was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. Here she is seen celebrating her victory in the Women's Senior Golf Tour's Hy-Vee Classic in 2001.
View Colleen Walker's obituary
EVA EKVALL (1983 - 2011)
AP Photo
EVA EKVALL (1983 - 2011) became Miss Venezuela in 2000 at age 17. In 2010 she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer after the birth of her only child. She documented her fight against the disease in a book, "Fuera de Foco" (Out of Focus), before her death.
Visit the Breast Cancer Memorial Site
Breast Cancer Memorial Site
Visit the Breast Cancer Memorial Site to read about tens of thousands who lived with breast cancer. Sign a special book of condolence dedicated to all who have died.
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