‘Saturday Night Live’ star Gilda Radner dies at 42
‘Saturday Night Live’ star Gilda Radner dies at 42
FILE - Castmember Gilda Radner appears on the set of “Saturday Night Live,” in New York on Dec. 1, 1977. Radner died May 20, 1989, at age 42 after a long battle with ovarian cancer. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 13, 1980, file photo, Gilda Radner, center, and Sam Waterston, left, stars of the new Broadway comedy “Lunch Hour,” share a laugh with Mike Nichols after opening night. Nichols, the director of matchless versatility who brought fierce wit, caustic social commentary and wicked absurdity to such film, TV and stage hits as “The Graduate,” `'Angels in America” and “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” died Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. He was 83. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this file photo of Aug. 13, 1980 at a political fundraiser, from left, Ralph Nader, Mark Green, Gilda Radner and Harry Chapin, pose for a photo at the in the Empire State Building New York. Before there was Band Aid or Live Aid, a We Are the World or Hands Across America, there was singer-songwriter Harry Chapin - lobbying for change in Congress, pestering an already convinced President Carter to establish a commission on world hunger, and passing the hat for donations at concerts large and small. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 1981 file photo, Gilda Radner, center, and Gene Wilder, right, perform in a scene from the film “Hanky Panky,” directed by Sidney Poitier in Boston. Wilder’s nephew said Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. (AP Photo/Bill Polo, File)
FILE - Castmember Gilda Radner appears on the set of “Saturday Night Live,” in New York on Dec. 1, 1977. Radner died May 20, 1989, at age 42 after a long battle with ovarian cancer. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)
FILE - Castmember Gilda Radner appears on the set of “Saturday Night Live,” in New York on Dec. 1, 1977. Radner died May 20, 1989, at age 42 after a long battle with ovarian cancer. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 13, 1980, file photo, Gilda Radner, center, and Sam Waterston, left, stars of the new Broadway comedy “Lunch Hour,” share a laugh with Mike Nichols after opening night. Nichols, the director of matchless versatility who brought fierce wit, caustic social commentary and wicked absurdity to such film, TV and stage hits as “The Graduate,” `'Angels in America” and “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” died Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. He was 83. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 13, 1980, file photo, Gilda Radner, center, and Sam Waterston, left, stars of the new Broadway comedy “Lunch Hour,” share a laugh with Mike Nichols after opening night. Nichols, the director of matchless versatility who brought fierce wit, caustic social commentary and wicked absurdity to such film, TV and stage hits as “The Graduate,” `'Angels in America” and “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” died Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. He was 83. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this file photo of Aug. 13, 1980 at a political fundraiser, from left, Ralph Nader, Mark Green, Gilda Radner and Harry Chapin, pose for a photo at the in the Empire State Building New York. Before there was Band Aid or Live Aid, a We Are the World or Hands Across America, there was singer-songwriter Harry Chapin - lobbying for change in Congress, pestering an already convinced President Carter to establish a commission on world hunger, and passing the hat for donations at concerts large and small. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)
FILE - In this file photo of Aug. 13, 1980 at a political fundraiser, from left, Ralph Nader, Mark Green, Gilda Radner and Harry Chapin, pose for a photo at the in the Empire State Building New York. Before there was Band Aid or Live Aid, a We Are the World or Hands Across America, there was singer-songwriter Harry Chapin - lobbying for change in Congress, pestering an already convinced President Carter to establish a commission on world hunger, and passing the hat for donations at concerts large and small. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 1981 file photo, Gilda Radner, center, and Gene Wilder, right, perform in a scene from the film “Hanky Panky,” directed by Sidney Poitier in Boston. Wilder’s nephew said Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. (AP Photo/Bill Polo, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 1981 file photo, Gilda Radner, center, and Gene Wilder, right, perform in a scene from the film “Hanky Panky,” directed by Sidney Poitier in Boston. Wilder’s nephew said Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. (AP Photo/Bill Polo, File)
Gilda Radner, a star in the early “Saturday Night Live” comedy show who died at age 42 after a lengthy battle with cancer, talked about confronting “the Big C” in her forthcoming autobiography.
“I got a little cocky,” she writes in “It’s Always Something,” due out in June. “I always had a twinkle in my eye as though I’d touched the face of God … I was plenty full of myself.
“What I’ve learned the hard way is that there’s always something you can do. In some cases, death seems more desirable. But there is always something you can do.”
The creator of such memorable television characters as New York-street smart reporter Roseanne Roseannadana, speech-impeded talk show host Baba Wawa and out-of-sync editorialist Emily Litella died of ovarian cancer Saturday with husband Gene Wilder at her side.
Miss Radner, who was diagnosed with the cancer in 1986, died in her sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said hospital spokesman Ron Wise.
She had radiation therapy and other treatments, including surgery, as recently as February. She re-entered the hospital Wednesday, Wise said.
The comedian told a Life magazine interviewer in 1988 that “cancer is about the most unfunny thing in the world.”
In her book, Miss Radner writes that she did not see cancer in a humorous light at all times, but there were moments.
“The next thing you know, I’m kind of running down the street with my arms spread out in this raincoat yelling in a Captain Midnight voice, ‘Cancer Woman,’ look at her go!”
In recent years Miss Radner appeared in several movies, but was best known for roles in sketches on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” with such stars as Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray and the late John Belushi.
The show brought her an Emmy Award for outstanding performance by an actress in a variety series.
On Saturday’s show, host Steve Martin - visibly choked with emotion -introduced a 1978 clip in which he and Miss Radner did a comic dance. “You know, when I look at that tape I can’t help but think how great she was and how young I look,” Martin said. “Gilda, we miss you.”
“I loved her like a sister,” Aykroyd said through a spokeswoman. “My thoughts are with Gene and her family.”
Miss Radner had a “very natural effervescence that seemed to come out of her during those five years,” Morris said. “It was just an electric thing that would even help you get through a performance if you were down.”
A Detroit native, Miss Radner attended the University of Michigan and began her entertainment career in the Toronto Company of “Godspell,” then became a member of the “Second City” improvisational group.
She was chosen for the original cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, and stayed with the show until 1980.
She met Wilder in 1981 on the set of the movie “Hanky Panky” and the romance blossomed three years later while making “The Woman in Red,” which was written and directed by Wilder.
A return to television as a special guest on “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” earned her an Emmy nomination for comedy performance in 1988.