Bruce Campbell delivered some sobering news that he only has five years left to live. The news that he was diagnosed with a treatable but not curable form of cancer came earlier this year. The Evil Dead star revealed in March that he had cancer and there was no cure for him. He has been using this time to take on some dream projects, including directing a movie that he really wanted to make and spending time at his home in Oregon with his wife. However, the news has gotten a little worse as Campbell announced in a recent podcast interview that he only has around five years left to live.
Campbell, 68, appeared on The Adam Carolla Show this week, and he revealed the timeline in the interview. “The current thing is a five-year deal,” Campbell said. “Give or take.” The video below begins when Campbell starts talking about his diagnosis.
Campbell said in the interview that he wants to live with the news and not die from it. In fact, Campbell deals with death in his new movie Ernie & Emma, which tells the story of a widower (Campbell) who sets out on a journey to scatter his late wife’s ashes in locations she specified, giving him a chance to confront his grief and find a renewed sense of purpose. Campbell not only starred in the movie, but he also wrote, directed, and produced it with his wife, Ida Gearon. The movie is a comedy-drama, with Campbell exploring death, but not in a morbid way at all.
Campbell also said that when his father died, he had his kids go to the hospice to watch their grandfather die, and they were okay watching it as a beautiful moment. Campbell understands this, as he said in the interview, “People die, and we have to get over that.” Campbell also said that he wasn’t going to let this news kill him, and he was going to live life until the end. He refused to stop promoting Ernie & Emma despite the diagnosis.
Campbell, who has been one of the most popular convention circuit stars for the last four decades, said he will cut back on public appearances, but he isn’t going to stop living his life. He did admit that five years from now, there is a chance they could find something to help him, but he wasn’t going to stop living his life. “I have decided to live with it, and not die from it,” Campbell said to Carolla. He admitted that it is something that messes with his head, and he won’t let it bring him down.
Campbell is best known for his role in The Evil Dead, the Sam Raimi horror movie that started a franchise that is still going today. Evil Dead II remains known as one of the best horror movies ever made, and that was followed by Army of Darkness and a television series that followed Campbell’s character, Ashley Williams. Campbell also appeared in movies as varied as Maniac Cop, Darkman, The Hudsucker Proxy, Congo, The Quick and the Dead, Escape from L.A., and Bubba Ho-Tep. Campbell also had fan-favorite roles in all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies, playing different roles in each one, and returned in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
