"I HOPE IT'S A WAKE-UP CALL TO A LOT OF PEOPLE"

The headline above are the words of actor Larry Hagman, reacting to the passing earlier today of his mother on "Dallas", Barbara Bel Geddes, who was 82. The long time stage and television actress succumbed to lung cancer at her home in Maine, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Hagman reaction was a reference to Bel Geddes' years of smoking, which she reportedly stopped after a major heart attack in 1984 upon the strong advise of doctors. He remembered that his co-star's cigarette smoke was so thick in their "Dallas" makeup room that he eventually requested to have his makeup applied in his dressing room.

Bel Geddes was the second celebrity to fall from lung cancer this week, following news anchor Peter Jennings' passing Sunday night. Also, Dana Reeve, the widow of actor Christopher Reeve announced Tuesday that she was also being treated from lung cancer, although she is not a smoker.

I thank God every day that I never picked up such a filthy habit, having watched my father fall to lung cancer that had spread after years of smoking strong cigarettes (his brand was the regional unfiltered Picayune). My mother fell several years afterward. I also thank God that my son Patrick hasn't done so either, although my daughter has been a smoker since her early teens. IMHO there can never be a high enough tax on tobacco products for those who want to sign their own death warrant.