# List of people with ovarian cancer

This is a list of notable people who have or had ovarian cancer, whose illness attracted publicity.
Ovarian cancer is a cancer that forms in or on an ovary. It results in abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. When this process begins, there may be no or only vague symptoms. Symptoms become more noticeable as the cancer progresses. These symptoms may include bloating, pelvic pain, abdominal swelling, and loss of appetite, among others. Common areas to which the cancer may spread include the lining of the abdomen, lymph nodes, lungs, and liver.

## Acting

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Evelyn Ankers | 1918 – 1985 | American film actress |
| Kathy Bates | 1948 – | Oscar-winning American actress (later treated for breast cancer and lymphedema), surviving |
| Laurie Beechman | 1953 – 1998 | American actress/singer |
| Marcheline Bertrand | 1950 – 2007 | American film actress; mother of Angelina Jolie and James Haven |
| Diem Brown | 1980 – 2014 | American reality TV star (The Real World and Road Rules; died at age 34, nine years after diagnosis) |
| Márcia Cabrita | 1964 – 2017 | Brazilian actress |
| Ann Carter | 1936 – 2014 | American child actress (The Curse of the Cat People) |
| Veronica Castang | 1938—1988 | British film, stage and television actress |
| Carol Channing | 1921 – 2019 | American stage and musical comedy actress |
| Cayle Chernin | 1947 – 2011 | Canadian actress, writer, and producer |
| Caitlin Clarke | 1952 – 2004 | American actress |
| Sandy Dennis | 1937 – 1992 | Tony Award and Oscar-winning American theater and film actress |
| Diana Dors | 1931 – 1984 | British actress, also known as Diana d'Ors |
| Susan Fleetwood | 1944 – 1995 | British film actress |
| Lovette George | 1961 – 2006 | American actress and singer |
| Lynda Gibson | 1956 – 2004 | Australian comedian and actress |
| Marjorie Gross | 1956 – 1996 | Canadian comedian and television writer/producer (Seinfeld) |
| Dolly Haas | 1910 – 1994 | German-American actress and singer |
| Joan Hackett | 1934 – 1983 | American actress |
| Cassandra Harris | 1948 – 1991 | Australian actress; first wife of Pierce Brosnan (died at age 43; Cassandra Harris's mother, Mrs. Roma Waites, and Harris' daughter, Charlotte Brosnan (aged 41), also both died of the disease) |
| Cecilia Hart | 1948 – 2016 | American television and stage actress |
| Dianne Heatherington | 1948 – 1966 | Canadian film and television actress |
| Madeline Kahn | 1942 – 1999 | American actress, singer and comedian |
| Tomoko Kawakami | 1970 – 2011 | Japanese voice actress |
| Grace Keagy | 1921 – 2009 | American musical theatre, soap opera and television actress |
| Manisha Koirala | 1970 – | Bollywood actress and political activist, surviving |
| Joyce Kulhawik | 1952 – | American film critic and Boston television personality; former TV co-host of movie critic Leonard Maltin; surviving |
| Marjie Lawrence | 1932 – 2010 | British actress |
| Sinnamon Love | 1973 – | African American former pornographic film actress and director, surviving |
| Janet Margolin | 1943 – 1993 | American film, stage, and television actress |
| Mariann Mayberry | 1965 – 2017 | American actress |
| Marin Mazzie | 1960 – 2018 | American actress and singer |
| Heather Menzies | 1949 – 2017 | Canadian-American actress and model; widow of actor Robert Urich. Menzies-Urich died on December 24, 2017, aged 68, from brain cancer |
| Mary Millar | 1936 – 1998 | British actress, most famous as "Rose" from Keeping Up Appearances |
| Helen Simpson Morosini | 1933 – 2005 | mother of the late American singer/actress/activist Dana Reeve |
| Anita Morris | 1943 – 1994 | American actress, singer and dancer |
| Akemi Negishi | 1934 – 2008 | Japanese film actress |
| Kate O'Mara | 1939 – 2014 | English actress |
| Beverley Owen | 1937 – 2019 | American actress |
| Julie Parrish | 1940 – 2003 | American film, stage and television actress |
| Alice Pearce | 1917 – 1966 | American comedic stage, film and television actress |
| Gilda Radner | 1946 – 1989 | American actress/comedian (Saturday Night Live) |
| Rachel Rockwell | 1969 – 2018 | American actress, theater director and choreographer |
| Candida Royalle | 1950 – 2015 | American pornographic actress, producer and director |
| Janet Seidel | 1955 – 2017 | Australian cabaret singer, jazz vocalist, pianist and music teacher; Bell Awards (2006) winner |
| Linda Smith | 1958 – 2006 | British actress/comedian; head of the British Humanists' Association |
| Cobie Smulders | 1982 – | Canadian actress and model; surviving |
| Smita Talwalkar | 1954 – 2014 | Indian Bollywood actress, director and producer |
| Jessica Tandy | 1909 – 1994 | Oscar-winning (Driving Miss Daisy) British-born American stage, film and television actress |
| Tera Wray | 1982 – 2016 | American pornographic actress, died of an apparent suicide |
| Celeste Yarnall | 1944 – 2018 | American actress |
| Loretta Young | 1913 – 2000 | Oscar-winning (The Farmer's Daughter, 1947), American film and television actress |

## Arts

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Rita Angus | 1908 – 1970 | New Zealand artist and painter |
| Nancy Graves | 1939 – 1995 | American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and filmmaker |
| Sally Gross | 1933 – 2015 | American dancer, choreographer and teacher of dance |
| Barbara Hammer | 1939 – 2019 | American filmmaker |
| Denise Jefferson | 1944 – 2010 | American dancer/director of the Ailey School |
| Tamara Natalie Madden | 1975 – 2017 | Jamaican artist |
| Stephenie McMillan | 1942 – 2013 | British set decorator |
| Suzanne Mizzi | 1967 – 2011 | British-Maltese glamour model, singer, interior designer and abstract artist |
| Miriam Mone | 1965 – 2007 | County Armagh-born Irish fashion designer |
| Meryl O'Loughlin | 1933 – 2007 | American casting director and talent executive |
| Mary Oppen | 1908 – 1990 | American activist, artist, photographer, poet and writer |
| Melinda Camber Porter | 1953 – 2008 | British artist, author, poet, journalist and filmmaker |
| Beau St. Clair | c. 1952 – 2016 | American film producer |
| Margi Scharff | 1955 – 2007 | American artist |

## Business

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Dorothy Brunson | 1939 – 2011 | American businesswoman; first African American woman to own radio and television stations |
| Patricia C. Dunn | 1953 – 2011 | American businesswoman and former Hewlett-Packard executive |
| Evelyn Lauder | 1936 – 2011 | Vienna-born New York businesswoman, breast cancer awareness activist, and philanthropist |

## Music

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Marcia Barrett | 1948 – | Jamaican-born British singer, surviving |
| Eileen Barton | 1924 – 2006 | American singer |
| Alma Cogan | 1932 – 1966 | English singer/entertainer |
| Kartina Dahari | 1941 – 2014 | Malaysian singer |
| Holly Dunn | 1957 – 2016 | American country music performer |
| Lorraine Ellison | 1931 – 1983 | American soul singer |
| Susan Fernandez (aka Susan Fernandez Magno) | 1956 – 2009 | Filipino singer, activist and academic |
| Frances Ginsberg | 1955 – 2010 | American operatic soprano (died at age 55 from ovarian cancer; had previously been treated for breast cancer) |
| Joyce Hatto | 1928 – 2006 | British pianist |
| Olga Jackowska | 1951 – 2018 | Polish rock singer |
| Shizuko Kasagi | 1914 –1985 | Japanese jazz singer and actress |
| Dixie Lee | 1911 – 1952 | American singer; first wife of Bing Crosby (died three days before her 41st birthday) |
| Valisia LeKae | 1979 – | American singer and musical theatre actress, surviving |
| Vange Leonel | 1963 – 2014 | Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, journalist, blogger, novelist, playwright, feminist/LGBT activist |
| Connie Needham | 1959 – | American dancer and former actress, surviving |
| Laura Nyro | 1947 – 1997 | American singer-songwriter (died at age 49; her mother, Gilda Nigro, also died of ovarian cancer at age 49) |
| Dinah Shore | 1916 – 1994 | American singer and actress |
| Hikaru Utada | 1983 – | Japanese-American singer-songwriter, surviving |
| Angela Winbush | 1955 – | American rhythm and blues vocalist; surviving |

## Politics

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Professor Dora Nkem Akunyili | 1954 – 2014 | Nigerian politician and academic |
| Maryam Babangida | 1948 – 2009 | Nigerian first lady |
| Pam Brown | 1952 – 2011 | American politician (died at age 58) |
| Tina Brozman | 1952 – 2007 | American lawyer and judge |
| Anita Connick | 1967– | American lawyer, judge and Louisiana Supreme Court justice |
| Rosa DeLauro | 1943 – | US congresswoman (D-CT), surviving |
| Jeannie Ferris | 1941 – 2007 | Australian politician |
| Ella Grasso | 1919 – 1981 | American politician; first woman ever to be elected a state governor in the United States in her own right |
| Judy Kennedy | 1944 – 2018 | American politician, Mayor of Newburgh, New York from 2012 to 2018 |
| Laura Knaperek | 1955 – 2016 | American politician, public official, and member of the Arizona House of Representatives |
| Lim Bee Kau | | Malaysian politician, MP for Padang Serai from 1999 to 2009 |
| Mary I of England, née Mary Tudor | 1516 – 1558 | (died from either uterine cancer or ovarian cancer, aged 42) |
| Nancy McDonald | 1934 – 2007 | American politician |
| Helen W. Milliken | 1922 – 2012 | wife of former Michigan governor William Milliken and one-time Michigan First Lady |
| Natalie "Nan" Cornell Rehnquist | 1924 – 2005 | wife of US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist |
| Ruth Samuelson | 1959 – 2017 | American politician, member (2007–15) of the North Carolina General Assembly |
| Linda Scheid | 1942 – 2011 | American activist, lawyer and politician (died at age 68, the day before what would have been her 69th birthday) |
| Joanna Strathdee | 1954 – 2015 | Scottish politician (died at age 60) |
| Susan Tolchin | 1941 – 2016 | American political scientist |
| Haydee Yorac | 1941 — 2005 | Filipino public servant, law professor and politician |

## Science and medicine

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Dr Barbara Mary Ansell | 1923 —2001 | British scientist and paediatric rheumatologist |
| Dr Nadia Chaudhri | 1977 – 2021 | Pakistani-Canadian neuroscientist |
| Vicky Clement-Jones | 1948 – 1987 | Hong Kong-born English physician |
| Dr. Rosalind Franklin | 1920 – 1958 | British chemist and crystallographer, linked to discovery of the shape of the double helix of DNA |
| Hasri Ainun Habibie | 1937 – 2010 | Indonesian physician and wife of President B. J. Habibie; served as First Lady of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999 |
| Gisela Mosig | 1930 – 2003 | German-American molecular biologist |
| Janet Rowley | 1925 – 2013 | American cancer researcher |

## Sports

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Marina Baiul | 1977- | mother of Ukrainian Olympic figure skater Oksana Baiul |
| Raelene Boyle | 1951 – | Australian athlete, surviving |
| Maureen Connolly | 1934 – 2011 | tennis great; first woman to win four grand slam titles in one year |
| Chris Evert | 1954 - | American former world No. 1 tennis player. 7-time year-end world no. 1 singles player. Evert won 157 singles titles and 32 doubles titles. Stage 1c ovarian cancer; surviving |
| Myra Nathalie Kraft | 1934 – 1969 | wife of businessman and owner of the New England Patriots football team, Robert "Bob" Kraft |
| Sarabeth Kusick | 1948 – 2006 | wife of American baseball player Craig Kusick (died at age 56); her husband died from leukemia (aged 57), nine months following her death |
| Shannon Miller | 1977 – | American Olympic gold-medalist gymnast; surviving |
| Roberta "Bobbi" Olson | 1936 – 2001 | wife of retired Hall of Fame baseball coach Lute Olson |
| Bernardine Portenski | 1949 – 2017 | New Zealand long-distance runner |

## Writing

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Andrea Adams | 1946 – 1995 | English BBC broadcaster, journalist and anti-bullying activist |
| Glenda Adams | 1939 – 2007 | Australian novelist and writer |
| Judith Appelbaum | 1939 – 2018 | American editor, consultant and author |
| Carol Bly | 1930 – 2007 | American essayist and short-story writer |
| Clare Boylan | 1948 – 2006 | Irish writer |
| Zenobia Camprubí Aymar | 1887 – 1956 | Spanish-born (of Catalan and Puerto Rican descent) writer, poet and translator |
| Bonnie Christensen | 1951 – 2015 | American children's book author and illustrator |
| Claudia Cohen | 1950 – 2007 | American socialite and journalist |
| Helen Cresswell | 1934 – 2005 | British writer and author |
| Sara Douglass | 1957 – 2011 | Australian fantasy writer |
| Catherine Gaskin | 1929 – 2009 | Irish-Australian novelist |
| Martha Gellhorn | 1908 – 1998 | American war correspondent, novelist, journalist (committed suicide, aged 89, after ovarian cancer metastasized to her liver) |
| Debbie Goad | 1954 – 2000 | American journalist and magazine publisher |
| Josephine Hart, Lady Saatchi | 1942 – 2011 | Irish-born British-based novelist |
| Pagan Kennedy | 1963 – | American author, surviving |
| Francess Lantz | 1952 – 2004 | American librarian, novelist and writer |
| Clarice Lispector | 1920 – 1977 | Brazilian prose writer |
| Norah McClintock | 1952 – 2017 | Canadian author |
| Ursula Nordstrom | 1910 – 1988 | American book editor |
| Barbara Park | 1947 – 2013 | American author of children's books |
| Doris Pilkington Garimara | 1937 – 2014 | Australian author |
| Mary Raftery | 1957 – 2012 | Irish investigative journalist, filmmaker and writer |
| Amy Krouse Rosenthal | 1965 – 2017 | American author, filmmaker, and radio show host |
| Liz Tilberis | 1947 – 1999 | British-born American-based fashionista; editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar |
| Joyce Wadler | 1948 – | New York journalist and New York Times columnist; surviving |
| Mari Yonehara | 1950 – 2006 | Japanese translator, essayist, non-fiction writer and novelist |
| Yvonne Zanos | 1950–2010 | American television journalist (at KDKA-TV) |

## Miscellaneous

| Name | Lifetime | Comments |
| Christiane Amanpour | 1958 - | Journalist |
| Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara | 1940 – 2009 | World's oldest mother |
| Jill Chaifetz | 1964 – 2006 | American lawyer and children's right advocate |
| Doris Dungey | 1961 – 2008 | American blogger and analyst on economic and finance issues |
| Ann Dunham | Uterine Cancer 1942 – 1995 | American anthropologist; mother of U.S. President Barack Obama |
| Robert Eads | 1945 – 1999 | American female to male transsexual who was denied medical treatment for the cancer in the US state of Georgia |
| Johanna Silver Gordon | 1942 – 2000 | American schoolteacher (died at age 58 in 2000), for whom "Johanna's Law" was named |
| Linda Grover | 1934 – 2010 | American peace activist, founder of Global Family Day |
| Sharon Tyler Herbst | 1942 – 2007 | American chef and cookbook author |
| Margaret Juntwait | 1957 – 2015 | American radio host, host of Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts from 2004 to 2014 |
| Amy Kass | 1940 – 2015 | American academic and educator at the University of Chicago |
| Coretta Scott King | 1927 – 2006 | American civil rights activist; widow of Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Fay Honey Knopp | 1918 – 1995 | Quaker minister, peace and civil rights advocate, and prison abolitionist. |
| Wangari Muta Maathai | 1940 – 2011 | Kenyan environmental and political activist |
| Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner | 1953 – 2019 | American military aviator; one of the first six women to earn their wings as a United States Naval Aviator in 1974 |
| Monique Leroy Martinot | d. 1984 | French cause célèbre for cryostasis |
| Elly Mayday | 1988 – 2019 | Canadian model, advocate, and writer |
| Bess Myerson | 1924 – 2014 | American model (crowned Miss American 1945), television personality and political appointee; survived → died of natural causes at age 90 in 2014 |
| Dawn O'Donnell | 1927/1928 – 2007 | Australian LGBT rights activist, campaigner, and entrepreneur |
| Patsy Ramsey | 1956 – 2006 | Garnered notoriety (with her husband) following the 1996 murder of their daughter, JonBenét |
| Susan, Lady Renouf | 1942 – 2016 | Australian socialite |
| Jolie Christine Rickman | 1970 – 2005 | American feminist, social activist and musician |
| Judith Merkle Riley | 1942 – 2010 | American academic, educator and novelist |
| Lou Halsell Rodenberger | 1926 – 2009 | American educator, professor, and journalist |
| Jemera Rone | 1944 – 2015 | American human rights activist, who served as Human Rights Watch of East Africa Coordinator |
| Gillian Rose | 1947 – 1995 | British academic |
| Urairat Soimee | 1968, 1970, or 1971 – 2006 | Thai human trafficking victim who sued her traffickers and sought justice for victims |
| Sheila Varian | 1937 – 2016 | American horse breeder |
| Margaret Mary Vojtko | 1930 – 2013 | American academic and educator (died of a heart attack; had been receiving treatment for ovarian cancer) |
| Nina Wang | 1936 – 2007 | Chair of Chinachem Group, Asia's richest woman at the time of her death |