Throat cancer, no less. Probably brought about by his several decades of heavy drinking. Such a loss, though.
Noooo! That's terrible. I loved Larry Hangman. At least he lived long enough to see Dallas become a hit again.
Agree 110%. R.I.P. Major Tony Nelson [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQahXWWiEXw&feature=relmfu[/yt]
More likely it was his smoking--or perhaps a combination of the two. The news said he was a heavy smoked until 1995, when he was diagnosed with liver cancer and had a transplant. He'd been in frail health for years, poor man. He was quite the character, though. Saw this from MSNBC: Now THAT sounds like one hell of a wake.
As an unabashed fan of Dallas, this is of course very sad news to me and while altogether not as shocking as I thought it might have been, still very sad nonetheless. It will be interesting to see what the writers of Dallas do now, and how long the show will be able to continue without him.
Yeah, too bad he didn't die of a heart attack or stroke or liver failure instead. Then this would be good news. But, seriously, the man was 80 years old. Cancer at that age is simply one of the possible side effects of aging and the body shutting down. It's sad for his family but it's no more tragic than other way someone can die of old age.
Hagman had been diagnosed with throat cancer, and received treatment during filming of the first season of the new Dallas, and had finished treatment with an excellent prognosis, so yes this was surprising.
Sad. Very sad. Wonder how much filming of season two he had done ? Hope they can use it - I can't think of a better tribute. I'll have a bourbon and branch please darlin'. Here's to you Larry !