“Home Alone” actor Ken Hudson Campbell, a former Second City actor who grew up in Elmhurst, is recovering following surgery to remove a cancerous mouth tumor, his family told People magazine.
“It was a big tumor in his mouth. The last two years he’s gotten lots of biopsies done and they’ve tried to control it. And it was only this year that it just got very, very aggressive. So when he got his biopsy in October, that is when we got the diagnosis,” the 61-year-old actor’s daughter Michaela told People.
Last week, Campbell had surgery to have the tumor removed during a 10-hour procedure, the daughter said. Campbell’s lymph nodes and a large part of his jaw bone were also removed. Surgeons removed part of one of Campbell’s leg bones to use in reconstruction of the jaw, the daughter said.
Campbell is doing well and it expected to begin radiation treatment next month, his daughter said.
Campbell studied at Columbia College and got his comedy start at The Second City. He played a man wearing a Santa suit in the 1990 hit “Home Alone” and was a regular on the 1991-94 Fox sitcom “Herman’s Head.”
He also appeared in the films “Groundhog Day” and “Armageddon” and on numerous TV series including “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Practice” and “Mike & Molly.”
Campbell was said to have been overcome with emotion after his daughter set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his care, drawing more than $100,000 from donors including Steve Carell.
“The first day we posted it, every time he read something, he would just burst into tears. It was the first time he really got emotional about the whole situation. It was kind of a shock to him to feel so loved,” the daughter told People.
