5. Walt Disney
The creator of Mickey Mouse and other iconic cartoon characters, Disney found success with Steamboat Willie. His empire eventually grew to award-winning movies, The Wonderful World of Disney television show, and Disneyland, which opened in 1955. A second park in Florida was in the works when he went to the hospital for surgery to remove part of his lung. The American motion-picture and television producer and showman began smoking at the end of World War I and continued until the day he died, his daughter wrote in the LA Times in August 1995.
A little-known fact about Disney was his chain-smoking habit, as he never allowed himself to be photographed with a cigarette and never smoked around children. Disney had been feeling ill for many months before he entered St. Joseph Hospital in California on November 2, 1966. His original complaint was pain in his leg and neck. Doctors discovered a spot on the X-ray of his left lung. The planning and construction for Walt Disney World in Florida had already begun when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He smoked unfiltered cigarettes and pipes and was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 1966. Doctors treated him with cobalt therapy, but he returned to the hospital on November 30. There, he died of circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer on December 15, 10 days after turning 65. Disney died on December 16, 1966 at the age of 65. The Florida theme park was completed as planned and opened in 1971.
One of the longest-running rumors persists that Disney had his body cryogenically frozen and it is being held in storage under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.