Gilda Radner

Guide Note

Emmy award winner Gilda Radner is an American actress and comedian. She was cast as one of the original members in Saturday Night Live. Radner starred in The Woman in Red and Haunted Honeymoon.

Fast Facts

1. Born: June 28, 1946
2. Died: May 20, 1989
3. Origin: Detroit, Michigan
4. Years active: 1973-1989
5. Well-known for her character Roseanne Roseannadanna
6. Won an Emmy for SNL in 1977
7. Was married to Gene Wilder
8. 42 of ovarian cancer

Radner began as a weather girl for a college radio station in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her acting debut was in the 1972 production of Godspell. In 1975 Radner was the first actor to be cast in SNL, creating characters such as "Emily Litella," "Baba Wawa" and her most famous role of "Roseanne Roseannadanna."

Radner had a successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979 and in 1981 it was turned into a film called Gilda Live!.

After divorcing first husband G. E. Smith, Gilda met Gene Wilder on the set of the movie Hanky Panky. Radner said meeting him for the first time was "love at first sight." The two were married in 1984. She learned she had ovarian cancer in 1986. After fighting with chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, she was told the cancer had gone into remission. Unfortunately in 1989 the cancer came back and she lost her fight. Her husband was by her side when she passed away at the hospital.

"Adopted kids are such a pain - you have to teach them how to look like you."

"Comedy is very controlling - you are making people laugh. It is there in the phrase 'making people laugh.' You feel completely in control when you hear a wave of laughter coming back at you that you have caused."

"Dreams are like paper, they tear so easily."

"I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity."

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end."

"I'd much rather be a woman than a man. Women can cry, they can wear cute clothes, and they're the first to be rescued off sinking ships."