Andy Whitfield, the original star of Starz’s Spartacus: Blood and
Sand period drama, died on Sunday of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was 39.
In a statement cited by the Associated Press, Whitfield’s wife Vashti
said that her husband, a “beautiful young warrior,” passed away on a “sunny
Sydney morning” in the “arms of his loving wife.”
The Welsh-born Whitfield was first diagnosed with treatable Stage 1
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in early March of 2010. He was declared cancer-free two
months later, after completing his original treatment therapy.
In July 2010, at the Spartacus panel at the San Diego
Comic-Con (see photo above), Whitfield appeared and said, “I feel better than
ever…. Like, seriously, I feel like I’m 10 years younger. I had a good rest.”
To accommodate the actor’s original unavailability, Starz halted
production on the original Spartacus and fast-tracked a six-episode
prequel series titled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.
MAY HE REST IN PEACE…