Bruce Campbell reveals cancer diagnosis

Bruce Campbell as Ash from Evil Dead

On Monday, Bruce Campbell, best known as the iconic character Ash from Evil Dead, shared on social media that he has a "treatable" but not "curable" form of cancer. The 67-year-old actor broke the news in a post on X that reads, "Hi folks, when someone is having a health issue, it's referred to as an 'opportunity,' so let's go with that - I'm having one of those. It's also a type of cancer that's 'treatable' not 'curable.' I apologize if that's a shock - it was to me, too."

In the same post, the actor stated he wasn't going to go into additional details, but he did say that a few things will have to change for him professionally. He noted that appearances, conventions, and work in general "need to take a back seat to treatment." Because of the diagnosis and required treatment, Campbell will have to cancel several convention appearances this year.

Campbell said that he's not looking for sympathy or advice, but rather, he wanted to get ahead of any false information. Despite the news, Campbell announced that he wants to "get as well as possible over the summer so that I can tour with my new movie Ernie & Emma this fall."

The movie is a comedy drama about a retired pear salesman, Ernie (Campbell), who's tasked by his late wife, Emma, voiced by Robin McAlpine, to spread her ashes at designated spots that held meaning to both of them during their decades together. Campbell wrote and directed the film. In a recent interview with Forbes, Campbell said he planned to screen the film at about 20 Alamo Draft House Cinemas throughout the fall and partake in Q & As.

Meanwhile, Campbell has long been a fixture at horror and comic book conventions, drawing massive autograph lines. It's quite common to see fans dressed up as Ash in various cosplay. Campbell burst onto the scene in 1981's low-budget horror classic The Evil Dead, directed by Sam Raimi and produced by Robert Tapert, two of Campbell's longtime and closest friends. The movie became a major hit, leading to two sequels and a spinoff TV series, Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Campbell, Raimi, and Tapert also produced the 2013 remake and 2023's Evil Dead Rise. The next movie, Evil Dead Burn, is slated for release this July. Over the years, Campbell continued working with Raimi and Tapert, along with Sam Raimi's brother, Ted Raimi, who has a supporting role in Ernie & Emma, as does Sam Raimi's daughter, Emma Raimi.

Campbell assured fans in his X post that he plans to stick around for a while, writing, "Fear not, I am a tough old son-of-a-bitch and I have great support, so I expect to be around a while."

Here is Campbell's full statement about his diagnosis.