Jack Lemmon Died of Cancer in 2001: A Plain Guide to Bladder Cancer

A correction before anything else

Jack Lemmon, the two-time Academy Award winner known for Some Like It Hot, The Apartment and Glengarry Glen Ross, died on June 28, 2001, at the age of 76. The Guardian's obituary said he had died of cancer. Its news report the same day said sources suggested he died of complications from cancer, that he had been ill for several years, and that he had undergone gall bladder surgery the previous month.

It did not say which cancer. Nor did any other contemporary report we could verify.

This page is filed under bladder cancer, and pages naming that cancer type for him are common online. We could not confirm it from a reputable source, so we do not state it. He kept his illness private, which was his right, and it stayed private.

What follows is about the disease, not about him.

What bladder cancer is, and the split that governs everything

The bladder is a hollow, balloon-shaped organ in the lower abdomen that stores urine. NCI states that almost all bladder cancers are urothelial carcinomas, also called transitional cell carcinomas, which begin in the cells lining the inside. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the bladder are rare.

The division that matters is depth. The bladder wall has a muscle layer. A cancer that has not reached it is called non-muscle-invasive; one that has is muscle-invasive. Most bladder cancers are non-muscle-invasive at diagnosis, and the two situations are treated very differently.

Grade sits alongside stage. It describes how abnormal the cells look and how fast they are likely to grow. Our page on bladder cancer stages explains how the two combine.

The numbers

For 2026 the American Cancer Society projects 84,530 new US bladder cancer cases and 17,870 deaths, a projection SEER carries. SEER data show it is diagnosed most often in people aged 65 to 74, with a median age at diagnosis of 73.

Five-year relative survival, for people diagnosed between 2016 and 2022, tracks depth almost exactly. It is 98.0% for cancer still in the layer where it started, 73.0% once confined to the bladder proper, 41.8% once it reaches nearby lymph nodes, and 9.6% once it has spread further. Half of cases, 50%, are found in that first category. Across all stages it is 79.1%.

These are group averages from past years. They cannot predict any individual course.

What treatment involves

NCI describes surgery as the main treatment, in three forms of increasing scale.

Transurethral resection, or TUR, goes in through the urethra with a lighted tube called a cystoscope. A small wire loop cuts the tumor out or burns it away with electricity, a step called fulguration. Nothing is cut open from outside. This is the usual approach for non-muscle-invasive disease.

A partial cystectomy removes part of the bladder. NCI notes it may be an option for a low-grade tumor that has grown into the wall but sits in one area, and that people usually urinate normally afterward.

A radical cystectomy removes the whole bladder, along with nearby lymph nodes and organs containing cancer. In men that means the prostate and seminal vesicles; in women the uterus, ovaries and part of the vagina. It is used for muscle-invasive disease, or when non-muscle-invasive cancer involves a large part of the bladder.

When the bladder is removed, the surgeon builds a urinary diversion, a new route for urine to be stored and passed. That may mean redirecting urine into the colon, using catheters, or creating an opening in the abdomen that drains into an external bag.

Chemotherapy may be given before surgery to shrink a tumor, or after it to reduce the chance of return, alongside radiation, immunotherapy or targeted therapy. Our guide to bladder cancer treatment covers the sequence.

When to get checked

Blood in the urine is the symptom that matters most. NCI makes two points about it that people get wrong.

First, it can come and go. You may see blood once and then not again for weeks, which is exactly when people decide it must have been nothing. Second, it can be present in amounts too small to see, and found only on a urine test.

Take these to a doctor:

• Blood in the urine, even once, even if it does not return
• Urinating more often than usual, or often at night
• Pain or burning when urinating
• Feeling the need to urinate when the bladder is not full
• Being unable to urinate
• Lower back pain on one side, or pain in the abdomen
• Bone pain, unintended weight loss, swelling in the feet, or fatigue

NCI notes that urinary infections, kidney or bladder stones and other kidney problems cause most of these. A urine sample is usually the first test. Visible blood in urine, in an adult, is worth an appointment the same week. Our list of bladder cancer symptoms has more.

What this does not mean

• We do not state which cancer Lemmon had, because contemporary reporting did not. Pages that name one are going beyond what the record supports.
• Blood in the urine usually means something other than cancer. It still needs checking every time.
• A 79.1% all-stages survival figure does not mean bladder cancer is minor. Half of cases are caught at the earliest possible point, which lifts the average.
• Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer often comes back, which is why follow-up cystoscopy is part of care even after successful treatment.
• Nothing here describes anyone's individual outlook.

Sources

• The Guardian, Obituary: Jack Lemmon — https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jun/29/guardianobituaries.filmnews2
• The Guardian, Oscar-winning Jack Lemmon dies at 76 — https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jun/28/news.xanbrooks
• NPR, Jack Lemmon Obit (Morning Edition, 28 June 2001) — https://www.npr.org/2001/06/28/1125073/jack-lemmon-obit
• NCI PDQ, Bladder Cancer Treatment (Patient Version) — https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/patient/bladder-treatment-pdq
• NCI, Symptoms of Bladder Cancer — https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/symptoms
• SEER Cancer Stat Facts, Bladder Cancer — https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/urinb.html

How this article was prepared

An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.

The National Cancer Information Foundation publishes Cancer Explained. This page is for learning. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.

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