Editing Joseph Cotten (section)

===Illness and death===
On June 8, 1981, Cotten experienced a [[heart attack]] followed by a [[stroke]] that affected his [[Language processing in the brain|brain's speech center]]. He began years of therapy that eventually restored his ability to speak. As he began to recover, he and Orson Welles talked on the phone each week for several hours. Cotten wrote, "He was strong and supportive, and whenever I used the wrong word (which was frequently) he would say, 'That's a much better word, Joe, I'm going to use it.'" He and Welles would meet for lunch and reminisce. When Cotten announced he had written a book, Welles asked for the manuscript and read it that night.<ref name="Vanity"/>{{Rp|215–217|date=March 2014}}

In 1990, Cotten's [[larynx]] was removed because of [[cancer]].<ref name="LA Times">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-07-mn-20181-story.html | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | title=Debonair Actor Joseph Cotten Dies at 88 | first=Myrna | last=Oliver | date=February 7, 1994 | access-date=March 9, 2014 | archive-date=March 9, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309221039/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-02-07/news/mn-20181_1_joseph-cotten | url-status=live }}</ref> He died on February 6, 1994, of [[pneumonia]] at the age of 88.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402E1DA1638F934A35751C0A962958260 | work= [[The New York Times]] | title=Joseph Cotten, 88, Is Dead; Actor on Stage and in Films | first=Peter B. | last=Flint | date=February 7, 1994 | access-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref> He was buried at [[Blandford Cemetery]] in Petersburg, Virginia.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMAT42_Joseph_Cotten_Petersburg_Virginia | title= Joseph Cotten – Petersburg, Virginia | website= waymarking.com | access-date= March 9, 2014 | archive-date= March 11, 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140311220233/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMAT42_Joseph_Cotten_Petersburg_Virginia | url-status= live }}</ref>