Spartacus: Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield has died. He was 39.
Whitfield died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma yesterday in Sydney. In a statement, Whitfield’s wife, Vashti, called her husband a “beautiful young warrior” who died in the “arms of his loving wife.”
Whitfield, a Welsh actor who lived in Australia, was virtually unknown to American audiences when he was cast in the lead of the graphically violent and sexual Starz series. Whitfield was preparing to shoot the second season of Spartacus when he received his original diagnosis.

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.