Famous Faces With RA
Glenn Frey
This founding member of the legendary rock group the Eagles had RA, along with ulcerative colitis and pneumonia, when he passed away in January 2016 at age 67. His vocals on “Peaceful Easy Feeling” helped the band’s 1972 self-titled debut album take off, and he co-wrote many of the band's biggest hits. In the 1980s, his solo song “The Heat Is On” was featured in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. Another, “You Belong to the City,” was written for the TV series Miami Vice, on which he later appeared.
Lucille Ball
The legendary comedienne can still make viewers laugh, whether it's via YouTube clips or reruns of her famed 1950s show, I Love Lucy. But a severe bout with a painful condition in her late teens could have sidelined the icon's career before it began. She took a couple of years to get her health under control, then returned to show business. Though doctors at the time reportedly told her it was rheumatoid arthritis, we can’t be sure that’s what she had.
Tatum O’Neal
Once the highest-paid child star in history, Tatum O’Neal won an Oscar for her role in 1973’s Paper Moon when she was just 10. The actress/producer is upfront about her RA, posting on Instagram that her hands sometimes hurt too much to answer texts. O’Neal also shared that she takes prescription RA medicines and uses heating pads to ease her symptoms.
Christiaan Barnard
This South African surgeon earned his place in history when he performed the world’s first human heart transplant in 1967. But it isn't widely known that he lived with painful rheumatoid arthritis for much of his adult life. Barnard retired his scalpel in 1983 when the effects of RA on his hands became too severe.
Kathleen Turner
She lit up the big screen in Romancing the Stone, and her sultry voice gave life to Jessica Rabbit. Turner is also one of the first stars to let the world know about her RA. She regained her health and career pursuits, including stints on Broadway, with help from powerful medicines and exercise.
Camryn Manheim
This actress is best known for her role as Ellenor Frutt on the TV legal drama The Practice. For years, she also worked with the hearing impaired as an interpreter and teacher. When stiff hands prevented her from signing, she sought help, though it took months to discover she had RA. Since then, she has spoken out for early diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Aida Turturro
She's probably best known as the always-scheming Janice Soprano Baccalieri from The Sopranos, and she's lived with rheumatoid arthritis since she was very young. It wasn't until she was older that she began to see a doctor regularly and manage her disease. Turturro, who also has diabetes, turned to yoga and healthy eating to ease her symptoms.
Seamus Mullen
Hectic days with long hours on his feet: That's the life of this noted chef, who owns the Spanish eatery Tertulia in New York. And he does it all while managing rheumatoid arthritis. The Next Iron Chef finalist combines medication with exercise to keep his RA at bay.
James Coburn
His acting resume spanned five decades. At the peak of his career, Coburn was struck with RA, which left him unable to work, or even walk, at times for nearly 10 years. He credited an alternative medicine in helping him feel better and well enough to act again, leading to a supporting actor Academy Award in 1999.
Rosalind Russell
She dazzled on the stage and screen in classics like The Women and Gypsy. But her acting career came to an end shortly after she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1969. Upset by how little was known about RA, Russell worked to raise awareness and increase funding for research. Congress created the Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis in her honor in 1979.
Sandy Koufax
This powerful lefty dominated from the pitcher's mound for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s and '60s. A diagnosis of what doctors then called traumatic arthritis in his elbow forced him into early retirement in 1966 at the age of 30. Word spread that he had RA, but doctors today think he may have had a torn ulnar collateral ligament. This condition was made famous a few years later by another Dodger, Tommy John, who lent his name to the surgery that’s still used to repair it. In 1972, Koufax became the youngest player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Edith Piaf
The famed singer, known for such ballads as “La Vie en Rose,” was an icon for France during World War II. She also had severe RA, made worse by car accidents and reportedly heavy drinking. But pain never stood in the way of her singing career, and she kept performing until her death in 1963.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
He pioneered impressionist painting during the mid-1800s. And in his later years he kept at his craft, despite having rheumatoid arthritis in his hands.
Botticelli’s Venus
Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” may be one of the most recognized paintings in the world. Painted between 1482 and 1485, it may also be one of the earliest representations of rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors who've examined the painting, especially Venus’ hands, believe that Simonetta Vespucci, the 16-year-old model on whom Venus is based, may have had RA.
Sources Medically Reviewed on 10/08/2020 Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on October 08, 2020
(1) Getty Images
(2) Getty Images
(3) Wikimedia
(4) Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
(5) Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
(6) Getty Imiges for Fusion PR _LA
(7) WireImage
(8) Getty Images
(9) Getty Images
(10) Getty Images
(11) Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
(12) Redferns
(13) Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute at Williamstown, MA, USA
(14) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy
SOURCES:
Biography: "Lucille Ball."
Turner Classic Movies: "Lucille Ball."
Ball, L. Love, Lucy, Berkley, 1997.
People: “Tatum O’Neal Shares Candid Photo of Her Scars as She Talks About Living With Rheumatoid Arthritis.”
Arthritis Foundation: “Tatum O’Neal: On Top of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Feeling Lucky
Internet Movie Database: “Tatum O’Neal.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Christiaan Barnard."
New York Times: "Christiaan Barnard, 78, Surgeon For First Heart Transplant, Dies."
Biography: "Kathleen Turner."
Arthritis Today, November-December 2002.
USA Today: "Kathleen Turner Meets Challenge of Arthritis."
Arthritis Today, May-June 2006.
People: "Winning a Battle Against Pain."
USA Today: "Sopranos Star Battles Rheumatoid Arthritis."
Biography: "Aida Turturro."
The Food Network: "Seamus Mullen."
Arthritis Today: "Seamus Mullen: Chef-tastic."
Internet Movie Database: "James Coburn."
ABC News: "Holistic Treatment Relieved Coburn's Pain.
Internet Movie Database: "Rosalind Russell."
The Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis: "Thirty Years at the Forefront of Research."
Biography: "Sandy Koufax."
Sports Illustrated: "Doc Kerlan: Rx for Athletes."
ESPN: “Force of Habit."
Biography: "Edith Piaf."
The Telegraph: "A New Portrait of Edith Piaf."
NPR: "Renoir in the 20th Century: A Master's Last Works."
Pierre August Renoir: The Complete Works.
Uffizi Gallery: The Birth of Venus by Botticelli.
Paget, S. The Hospital For Special Surgery Guide to Rheumatoid Arthritis, John Wiley & Sons, 2002.
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on October 08, 2020
This tool does not provide medical advice. See additional information.
THIS TOOL DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and should not be relied on to make decisions about your health. Never ignore professional medical advice in seeking treatment because of something you have read on the WebMD Site. If you think you may have a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or dial 911.
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