Overview
- Producer Malcolm Prince recounts that O’Grady declined an implantable defibrillator to avoid further hospital time and to keep commitments such as Annie and a dog show.
- In a text to his daughter Sharyn, he wrote he would not have a “defib,” saying the cardiologist was being overcautious.
- Manager Joan Marshrons says he feared losing control and potential embarrassment if a device activated on stage, a concern that reinforced his refusal.
- Friends recall he warned he might not have long, including the remarks “I’m not going to be here for much longer” and “I won’t make old bones.”
- Contributors suggest he may have struggled with disordered eating linked to pressures from performing as Lily Savage, as colleagues describe longstanding difficulty with food; he died on March 28, 2023 of a sudden cardiac arrhythmia, with some friends expressing the retrospective view that a device might have saved him.