When an actor takes on a physically challenging role like Spartacus, a little back pain doesn't seem unusual. But for Sydney-based actor Andy Whitfield, the pain he experienced while filming Spartacus: Blood and Sand in New Zealand turned out to be cancer. He died at the age of 39.
In a new book, his widow Vashti Whitfield writes about the real life gladiator he would become, fighting disease and the unbearable pain of leaving behind a wife and two children.
Andy Whitfield in Spartacus Photo: Supplied
