Gilda Radner

Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, writer, and singer. Radner was one of the seven original cast members of "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy and variety series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980. In her routines on SNL, she specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, Radner won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's SNL work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy.

Radner's last episode as a regular cast member was on May 24, 1980. Radner decided to leave because many of her other co-stars on the show had branched out to other endeavors.

She died from ovarian cancer in 1989. Her autobiography dealt frankly with her life, work, and personal struggles, including her struggles with that illness. Her widower, Gene Wilder, carried out her wish that information about her illness would be used to help other cancer victims, founding—and inspiring the founding of—organizations that emphasize early diagnosis, attention to hereditary factors and support for cancer patients. Posthumously, Radner won a Grammy Award in 1990, was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1992, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003.

Death[]

In the late 1980s, Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Even with the support of her second husband, actor Gene Wilder, (she had previously been married to Saturday Night Live band leader G.E. Smith) she suffered extreme physical and emotional pain as a chemotherapy patient. Eventually she was told she had gone into remission, and she wrote a memoir about her life and struggle with the illness, It's Always Something. The book was written by Radner in tribute to cancer sufferers everywhere, and she used humor to overcome tragedy and pain. The book's title came from a common catch-phrase from her Saturday Night Live character Roseanne Roseannadanna, who would often quote an elderly relative by saying "It just goes to show ya...it's always something! If it's not one thing, it's another!"

In 1988 she guest-starred as herself on It's Garry Shandling's Show to great critical acclaim. She planned to host an episode of SNL that year but a writers' strike caused the cancellation of the rest of the season. She wanted to host the next year, but in 1989 doctors did a more detailed examination and discovered that Radner's cancerous cells had not all been removed and had spread to other areas of the body. She died aged 42 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, in 1989, where she had been admitted for a CAT scan. She was given a sedative and passed into a coma. After three days, she died without regaining consciousness, with Wilder at her side.