Gilda Radner

• Born: June 28, 1946
• Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan
• Died: May 20, 1989
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Actor, entertainer, and writer

Radner was a versatile performer, on Broadway, in movies, and on television, and she charmed audiences with her zany characters on Saturday Night Live. When she contracted ovarian cancer, she made it her mission to educate women on early detection and treatment.

Early Life

Gilda Radner (GIHL-duh RAD-nur) was born into a prosperous Jewish family in Detroit, Michigan, and she had one sibling, Michael, who was a year older. Her parents were Herman Radner, an investor, and Henrietta Dworkin, a legal secretary and an aspiring ballerina until her marriage in 1937. Despite having only a fifth-grade education, Gilda Radner’s father was ambitious and purchased a joint ownership in a billiards club; at the beginning of Prohibition in the 1930’s, he sold his investment and purchased Walkerville Brewery in Ontario, Canada, which allowed him to produce alcohol that allegedly was to be smuggled into the United States, where purchasing it was illegal. He eventually made enough money to invest in the Seville Hotel, an upscale Detroit lodging that served such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, George Burns, and Milton Berle. As a youth, Radner was troubled at times. Her mother put her ten-year-old daughter on diet pills and took Radner and her brother to Florida every winter to escape the cold. However, this annual relocation adversely affected Radner’s schooling and friendships.

As a girl, Radner dreamed of becoming a writer. She composed poetry, wrote short stories, kept a diary, and admired Emily Dickinson.

Radner’s Jewish faith was important to her life. Her Lithuanian grandfather operated a kosher meat business. Radner attended Hebrew school and Sunday school regularly. At fourteen, Radner sat shivah, a vigil to mourn the dead, for her father after he died of brain cancer; he left her a sizable inheritance.

Radner remembered with fondness her father taking her to Broadway road shows, sponsoring her dance lessons, and encouraging her acting. Her memories included his comic antics and jokes, and these were an influence on her performing life. Radner’s governess—Elizabeth (“Dibby”) Clementine Gillies—was another positive influence. When others teased Radner about her weight, Dibby encouraged Radner to make a joke and to laugh. Unfortunately Radner’s preoccupation with body size persisted into adulthood; she was at times bulimic. Radner maintained her sense of humor. She later wrote humorously about the pain of not having dates in an article which appeared in the book Very Seventies (1995), a collection of essays from Crawdaddy magazine. At the all-girls Liggett High School, Radner found several interests. She sang alto in a double quartet and became active in drama, yet she still had a desire to write.

Life’s Work

Radner attended the University of Michigan from 1964 to 1969; her major was drama, with a focus on improvisational comedy and on acting. She found at the university that her spoken words were more engaging than her written words. Without graduating, Radner and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Rubinoff, left to pursue acting in Toronto. When their relationship ended in 1970, Radner worked for sixty dollars a week as a clown at children’s events. Radner performed in the original cast of Godspell (1970), a rock musical that opened in Toronto before playing in New York. Interestingly, Radner, an adherent of the Jewish faith, enjoyed her work in Godspell, based loosely on the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Radner continued to pursue comedy. She joined an improvisational comedy troupe with Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Bill Murray. She performed in the Off-Broadway cabaret The National Lampoon Show (1973) and worked in New York with Belushi in “The National Lampoon Radio Hour” (1974).

Radner was the first cast member to sign for the late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live. Belushi, Aykroyd, Murray, Chevy Chase, and others followed. During her five years(1975-1980) with Saturday Night Live, Radner created the characters of Roseanne Roseannadanna, who appeared in “Weekend Update”; Baba Wawa, a parody of Barbara Walters; Rhonda Weiss, the gum-chewing Jewish coed; and Emily Litella, a commentator based on Radner’s nanny, Dibby. Radner’s comic commercial for the hip-hugging“Jewess Jeans” was popular. Radner earned an Emmy Award in 1978 for her scripts and performances on Saturday Night Live. She appeared on other television programs: Jack: A Flash Fantasy (1977), Witch’s Night Out (1979), and The Garry Shandling Show (1988).

Radner took her Saturday Night Live act to the Broadway Winter Garden Theatre in the show Gilda Radner: Live from New York (1979). The next year she married the show’s bandleader, G. E. Smith. Their marriage lasted until 1982. Radner appeared in the films The Last Detail (1973), Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video (1979), Gilda Live (1980), It Came from Hollywood (1982), and Movers and Shakers (1985). She and actor-director Gene Wilder met when they appeared together in First Family (1980) and Hanky Panky (1982). They wed in the same year as their movie The Woman in Red (1984).

Radner continued to make time for writing. She and Alan Zweibel wrote the book Hey, Get Back to Work! (1983). In 1995 she wrote about her love for her pet in “Sparkle the Wonder Dog,” which was published in Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul (1998). After Wilder and Radner’s movie Haunted Honeymoon (1986), Radner discovered she had ovarian cancer. Her autobiography, It’s Always Something (1989), details her struggle with the disease and describes the aid she received from the Wellness Community, an organization that supports victims of cancer and their families. Radner died of cancer in Los Angeles on May 20, 1989.

Significance

Radner performed on stage, in movies, and on television. She was an Emmy Award winner for her work on Saturday Night Live, an essayist, a writer of comedy sketches for radio and television, author and coauthor of books. Her humorous writing about her problems in adolescence encouraged teenagers not to take themselves too seriously. An essential element in her comedy sketches and in her character portrayals, was a Jewish identity. By sharing her struggles with ovarian cancer, Radner publicized the disease, alerted others to symptoms, and encouraged regular checkups. Charitable funds established in Radner’s memory have helped in the fight against cancer. Even after her death, Radner’s impact is apparent. An organization called Gilda’s Club continues to support victims of cancer.

Bibliography

Piver, M. Steven, and Gene Wilder. Gilda’s Disease: Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ovarian Cancer. New York: Broadway Books, 1998. Radner’s case history includes medical details, her personal experiences, and the authors’ insights.

Radner, Gilda. It’s Always Something. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. Radner’s autobiography focuses on her later years and her bout with cancer.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Live! From Adolescence! ’I Always Hated Saturday Night.’” In Very Seventies, edited by Peter Knobles and Greg Mitchell. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Radner laughs at herself as a teenager in her essay in this article collection.

Wilder, Gene. Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005. Wilder’s autobiography highlights his life with Radner. The chapter on their meeting is “Hanky-Panky with Roseanne Roseannadanna.”

Zweibel, Alan. Bunny, Bunny: Gilda Radner: A Sort of Love Story. New York: Applause Books, 1997. Zweibel’s play script describes his friendship with Radner.