‘IF IT DIES, IT DIES’

‘Rocky’ Star Dolph Lundgren Reveals 8-Year Battle With Cancer

The Swedish actor said he was given a terminal diagnosis by a doctor in 2020 after briefly going into remission.

Dolph Lundgren, the actor best known for his turn as the villainous boxer Ivan Drago in the Rocky film series, disclosed on Wednesday that he’s been fighting cancer since 2015. Lundgren, 65, told journalist Graham Bensinger that the first tumor was found in his kidney eight years ago. With treatment, he went into remission until 2020, when it was discovered the tumors had returned. In a clip from 2020 included in the interview segment, Lundgren—wearing a hospital gown—says, “It’s the day after my surgery, they took out one tumor, then they took out another two they found and another three small ones. Hopefully it’s cleaned out.” Then, in a reference to a Drago line from Rocky IV, he adds, “If it dies, it dies.” But the tumors spread to his lungs, spine, liver, and stomach, according to Lundgren, and a doctor gave him a prognosis of two to three years. Near what he believed to be the end of his life, he said, he sought out a second opinion with a different medical team. Within three months, his tumors had shrunk between 20 and 30 percent, leaving him hopeful that he has “years” left to live. “You just appreciate being lucky enough to be alive, and you appreciate every moment there is,” Lundgren added.