Runaways Manager Kim Fowley Undergoes Bladder Cancer Surgery, Posts Progress Video

By FNN | February 25, 2012, 5:21pm IST

Summary: Minutes before going under the knife, the legendary music producer, manager, songwriter and all-around L.A. character, who was played by Michael Shannon in the 2010 movie "The Runaways," offered a goodbye to loved ones, friends and enemies.

Legendary music producer, manager, songwriter and all-around L.A. character Kim Fowley, best known for having launched all-girl punk band The Runaways in 1975 (he was played by Michael Shannon in the 2010 movie co-starring Kristen Stewart), underwent bladder cancer surgery on Feb. 21 and in anticipation of the complex procedure, filmed a YouTube video offering a final goodbye to loved ones, chief among them dominatrix, model and director Snow Mercy.

"If you're a friend, thank you; If you're an enemy, thank you for keeping me alert," says Fowley in the clip titled "Dancing with Death" and shot at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles. "If I do die today, make sure that you respect Snow Mercy who'll be there to collect her share, which used to be my share of my rock and roll, movie, music billions," he continues.

In part 2, posted the following day, Fowley is shown post-surgery hailing Mercry's "million dollar miracle menu based on love, sensitivity and good, sound reality."

Never one to shy away from a promotional opportunity, he also plugs an upcoming gig by Kim Fowley's Psychedelic Dogs at Detroit's Metrotimes Blowout and the South By Southwest premiere of documentary Sunset Strip The Movie, which features Fowley along with Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Keanu Reeves, Tommy Lee and Sharon Stone, among others, and screens March 16 at Austin's Paramount Theater.

In an interview two weeks before the surgery, Fowley told Rock Cellar Magazine, "Part of me hopes I do die. ... I've had cancer four times in my life, pneumonia nine times and polio twice. I would say that I'm due. If I die, it will be somebody else's turn to be kicked around and disliked."

Looking revitalized in the post-op clip, Fowley signs off with the line, "I am hard to kill and slow to die."

See both the before and after videos below:

Please enter your name & email address!

Name:

Email:

Kick off your day with Funrahi's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest entertainment news, gossip and box-office reports, served hot. Get it.

People who read this, also read...

• Lionsgate Pitches Lenders on 'Twilight' Cash Flows to Fund Summit Takeover
• Russian Producer Alexander Rodnaynsky to Make Movies for U.S. Market
• Fernando Ojeda Named MD of Universal Pictures Benelux
• Columbia Pictures Fights Man Claiming He Was Omitted From 'The Social Network'
• 'Beginners' Producers Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy Sign Output/Development Deal With Germany's K5

• FeaturedTom Arnold Finally becomes DAD at Age 54
• FeaturedDrew Barrymore and Adam Sandler come together for Warner Bros. Romantic Comedy
• Featured'Harlem Shake': Original Artists Seek Payment for Unlicensed Sampling
• FeaturedSteven Spielberg Announces a Film set alongside India, Pakistan Border
• FeaturedOz's Final Domestic Opening Figures: $79.1 Million

• Daily
• Movies
• Music
• Industry