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Actor Ramses Shaffy dies from cancer

Tuesday 01 December 2009

Dutch singer and actor Ramses Shaffy has died of cancer of the oesophagus at the age of 76, his manager said on Tuesday.

Shaffy was born near Paris in 1933. His Egyptian diplomat father and Polish noble mother separated before he was born and he was adopted by a Dutch family at a young age. He became popular during the 1960s and made a theatre comeback from alcoholism in the early 1990s, playing Don Quichotte in the musical The Man of la Mancha.

His most famous songs include Zing, vecht, huil, bid, lach, werk en bewonder (Sing, fight, cry, pray, laugh, work and admire), We zullen doorgaan (We will go on), and Laat me (Leave me be). He frequently collaborated with Dutch singer Liesbeth List.

His website describes Shaffy as 'a Dutch-Franco-Polish-Russian-Egyptian mixture of Tom Waits and Frank Sinatra'.

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Readers' comments

Everyone can get cancer. Even the well known actor also attacked by the cancer. Leading a good healthy lifestyle may reduce the risk of getting cancer.

By Kok Siong Chen | December 2, 2009 3:20 AM

Sad to hear. Interesting man. Interesting life.

Hope part of his treatment wasn't being sent to GGZ and being told that he had to accept that he didn't really have any physical problem ... I wonder?

I barely knew a man with oesophagus cancer locally, got to know his brother better (last time we spoke he was in tears due to his brothers mistreatment by Huisarts. The man was left to die in a horrendous shameful way, all pain relief taken away, all cancer medication taken away, operation @ LUMC cancelled, just put into a mental health unit, and just left to die!!!

Funny, I had a similar experience in the UK ... and now I'm experiencing the same in Holland.

By Gerard | December 2, 2009 7:52 AM

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