LOS ANGELES - Cast members of the 1988 movie "Stand and Deliver" are appealing for donations to help the movie's real-life subject, an East Los Angeles high school teacher, pay his medical bills.

Jaime Escalante (HEYE'-may es-kuh-LAHN'-tay) is battling cancer, and his family has run out of money to pay for his treatments. The Bolivian-born Escalante is 79 years old.

Actress Vanessa Marquez, who appeared in the film, told Fox 11 news in an interview Monday that $5,000 has been raised so far, but $25,000 more is needed.

"Stand and Deliver" dramatized the story of how Garfield High School math teacher Escalante turned a group of no-hoper students into calculus champs.

Actor Edward James Olmos played the role of Escalante in the film.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35655315/ns/entertainment-movies/

Stand And Deliver Teacher Dies
March 31, 2010

The Los Angeles high school teacher who inspired the 1988 film Stand And Deliver has died after losing his battle with bladder cancer.

Jaime Escalante, 79, passed away on Tuesday at his son's home in Roseville, California, according to actor Edward James Olmos, who portrayed the teacher in the drama.

Olmos says, "He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren."



Escalante hit the headlines in the late 1960s when he encouraged inner-city kids to master calculus and turned California's Garfield High into one of America's top math schools.

Olmos began a fundraising campaign earlier this year to help the beloved teacher pay his medical bills.

-IMDB News

:rip: Jaime Escalante. The world could use many more caring and dedicated educaters like you.