'Dark Knight' actor Colin MacFarlane announces he's on AS
Is it finally OK for celebs to fess up to having low-risk PCa and being on AS?
By Howard Wolinsky
The orbit of the Active Surveillance (AS) planet may be changing…for the better.
Finally, an actor has announced he is on AS.
(Colin McFarlane as the Gotham City police commissioner in the ‘Dark Night’ series)
It wouldn’t seem like big news because of how common prostate cancer is. But this is a rare event and maybe a sign that the stigma of living with low-risk prostate cancer is starting to lift. AS and low-risk prostate cancer are coming out of the closet.
Last month, I reported on the Seattle Mariner veteran announcer Rick “Holy Smokes” Rizzs announcing casually that he is on an active surveillance protocol.
Are we witnessing a change in the view of public figures about low-risk prostate cancer? Is it OK to say they are on Active Surveillance?
Colin McFarlane, 62, a British actor, narrator and voice actor, announced today that he is routinely being followed for low-risk prostate cancer.
He is known for his roles in film and television, including Gillian B. Loeb in two films of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy and Ulysses in the STARZ television drama series Outlander.
McFarlane said he has undergone PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood testing routinely for years on the advice after an actor he knew was treated for it who informedhim about its prevalence among Black men.
He said: “I was already aware of the risk to me, so I had been having annual and then six-monthly regular PSA blood tests with my GP.”
He added that he is “one of the lucky ones” as he has been “able to catch this very early.” His brother also was diagnosed recently,
This isn’t the way this news usually goes down. As in the case of Robert DeNiro and many other actors, their flacks announce that prostate cancer was found early and treated—typically with a prostatectomy and let’s move along.
McFarlane’s announcement is a breath of fresh air in the polluted media coverage of low-risk prostate cancer and prostate cancer in general. Low-risk prostate cancer and active surveillance are not words entertainment reporters often use. Maybe that’s changing.
McFarlane explained AS: “So, although I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, I do not require any treatment.
“I am being regularly monitored with PSA blood tests every three months and an MRI (or magnetic resonance imaging scan) once a year.”
McFarlane portrayed Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb in the critically acclaimed films Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). He has also made numerous appearances in Doctor Who. In addition, he also appeared in the third series of Torchwood, Children of Earth, as the American military representative Colonel Pierce.
He appeared in the action horror film Patient Zero (2018).
I only know of two other actors who have fessed up to being on AS.
One was a reluctant Sir Ian McKellen, who initially said he was being followed for prostate cancer, then denied it through his agent, and years later admitted it. Rather messy.
Part of the denial may be maintaining an image. Many actors don’t want to give up an image of youth and vibrancy by admitting they have “an old man’s disease.”
More important may be issues relating to insurability. When entertainers are offered a major contract, the first thing they face is an insurance exam. Some may have undergone treatment rather than hassling with insurance companies who can hold up their careers by denying coverage for not treating a cancer, even one that doesn’t need to be treated.
(Sir Ian in Lord of the Rings.)
Read about the insurance issue for actors in my column in MedPage Today.
The one exception over the years is actor-director Bill Duke, one of my favorites from “Predator.”
(Bill Duke lost out to the Predator, but has been a veteran AS winner.)
Duke shared his story with his long-time doctor, Mark Scholz, MD, of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute:
Low-risk prostate cancer and the AS management approach may be getting mainstream acceptance.