Gilda Radner

(1946-1989)

Gilda Radner was born on June 28, 1946, in Detroit, Michigan. Radner graduated from the University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe in 1964. She then moved on to the University of Michigan, where she studied drama. It was at the university that Radner began her broadcasting career as the weather girl for the college radio station. Radner eventually dropped out of college and moved to Toronto, Canada and had her first professional stage experience in a production of Godspell, after which she joined the Toronto Second City comedy troupe based in Chicago, Illinios.From 1973 to 1975, she was a featured player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour, which was syndicated to some 600 U.S. radio stations.

In 1975, Radner became a part of the original cast of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live. The first episode premiered on October 18, 1975. She created such memorable characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, “Babwa Wawa”, and Emily Litella. Radner also battled bulimia during her time on the show. In 1978, she won an Emmy for her work. Radner remained with the cast of Saturday Night Live until 1980. During her last season on Saturday Night Live, Radner appeared on her own one-woman Broadway show, Gilda Radner-Live from New York. The show was filmed in 1981 as Gilda Live!, which she co-starred with Paul Shaffer and Don Novello.

In 1979, Radner hosted the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. Radner spent much of the next decade keeping a low profile, aside from appearances in the films Hanky Panky, The Woman in Red, and Haunted Honeymoon.

In the late 1980s, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. During her struggles with chemotherapy and cancer, Radner wrote a memoir about her life and struggle with the illness, called It’s Always Something. Radner died on May 20, 1989, at the age of 42, in Los Angeles, California. Following her death, Gene Wilder (Radner’s second husband) has established the Gilda Radner Ovarian Detection Center at Cedars-Sinai.

In 1992, she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame for her achievements in arts and entertainment. In 2002, the ABC television network aired a TV-movie about her life.

Sources: “Gilda Radner (1946 - 1989).” American Jewish Historical Society, American Jewish Desk Reference, (NY: Random House, 1999). pg. 478-9.

Gilda Radner: Wikipedia

Biography for Gilda Radner: Internet Movie Database