EDDIE VAN HALEN Nearly Had A Cameo In Third 'Bill & Ted' Movie

Eddie Van Halen nearly appeared in the third film of the popular science-fiction comedy series "Bill & Ted", which sees the two friends go on a time-traveling adventure.

The legendary VAN HALEN guitarist's possible inclusion in 2020's "Bill & Ted Face The Music" was revealed by actor Alex Winter — who played Bill S. Preston, Esq. in the franchise — during a new appearance on Darren Paltrowitz's "Paltrocast".

"We asked Eddie to be in every single movie and every single movie he said 'no,'" Winter said. "So when we got to 'Bill & Ted 3' — and this is a somewhat bittersweet anecdote — we had a whole sequence which ended up being the Dave Grohl sequence. That’s supposed to be [at Eddie] Van Halen's house."

He added: "We went to Eddie, and we were like, 'Would you please, please be in the third movie?' He's, like, 'You know what, you guys. This one I would have done.' But he was dying at that point. He was already quite sick. He didn't tell us that he was literally gonna pass, but he was, like, 'I'm not well and I can't do it. But I really appreciate these films. We all love them. And if I wasn't sick, I would absolutely come down to New Orleans and shoot this with you.'

"So it had kind of a bittersweet end," Winter added. "It was a running joke in 'Bill & Ted' amongst the little family of ours that every single movie we would be like knocking on Eddie's door, and he'd be, like, 'no' and slamming it, so it was not for lack of trying."

"Bill & Ted Face The Music", which reunited Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in the title roles for the first time since 1991's "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey", was released in August 2020.

Eddie died in October 2020 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California.

After Eddie was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, he began flying to Germany for treatments. Eventually, the cancer spread to Eddie's spine and brain. Just a few months later, Eddie died at age 65.

Eddie's son Wolfgang speculated to The Washington Post that his father could have flown to Germany for more radiation had the coronavirus crisis not happened, possibly prolonging his life.

In November 2020, Wolfgang said that doctors told Eddie he had "six weeks" after he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. "And then he went to Germany," Wolfgang told Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show. "Whatever the fuck they do over there, it's amazing, because I got three more years with him."

In December 2021, Eddie's immediate cause of death was revealed to be a cerebrovascular event, such as a stroke. Pneumonia, the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome and lung cancer were also cited as underlying causes in his death certificate, which was obtained by TMZ. The certificate also listed a number of other "significant conditions" that contributed to Eddie's death, including squamous cell carcinoma (skin cancer) of the head and neck, and atrial fibrillation, a condition that causes irregular heartbeat and elevates stroke risk.

In the Howard Stern interview, Wolf said the cause of his dad's death had been "misattributed" by some media outlets as throat cancer. Eddie had previously battled tongue cancer in the early 2000s, which Eddie blamed on holding a metal pick in his mouth.

Wolf said it was "certainly feasible" that Eddie got tongue cancer from the pick but he shot down the suggestion that he died from throat cancer.

"People love to give him shit about that," Wolfgang said, before adding, "He would hold that pick in the same spot all the time, and that's the exact area that he got the squamous cell carcinoma in his tongue that he had to get cut out.

"When it's reported, it's always attributed to the throat cancer and then everybody instead of going 'Oh shit. His cancer's back,' people are just going 'What an idiot. He thinks he got throat cancer from a pick?' And it just totally derails the whole thing," he said.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.