Though show business links these men, they share another connection. Each has died of prostate cancer. The American Cancer Society says prostate cancer will strike 334,500 U.S. men in 1997, twice the number of male lung cancer cases. Some 41,800 will die. One out of every five American men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime.
Public notice is something new to prostate cancer.
For years, men didn't worry much about the disease. They typically thought of it as a slow-moving condition that affects men well past retirement, when they are likely to die of something else before succumbing to cancer. In many cases, that's still true. Most cases are in men 65 and older. But like Bixby, who was 59 when he died, and Zappa, who was 52, younger men also can fall victim.