- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGilda Susan Radner
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Gilda Radner was one of the great comic geniuses of the 20th century, ranked with Lucille Ball and other comedy legends of the highest caliber. She was born on June 28, 1946, in Detroit, Michigan, the younger of two children of Henrietta (Dworkin), a legal secretary, and Herman Radner, a businessman.
She had an older brother, Michael. Her family were Jewish immigrants (from Russia, Poland, and Lithuania). Radner grew up with a nanny she always called Dibby, on whom she based her famous Saturday Night Live (1975) character, hard-of-hearing news correspondent Emily Litella.
She was very close to her father, not as close to her mother, and tragically, her father died when she was 14, leaving her heartbroken. She was very overweight as a child, and because of this, she suffered from anorexia and bulimia and became very thin. She overcame these disorders by 16 and was normal weight, yet if you watch some of her episodes of Saturday Night Live (1975) you can see that her weight sometimes goes down very low and she looks anorexic again.
She graduated from the Liggett school for Girls and enrolled at the University of Michigan but dropped out and followed a boyfriend to Canada, where she made her stage debut in Godspell. In 1975, Gilda was the first person ever cast for Saturday Night Live (1975), the show that would make her famous.
She stayed on SNL for 5 years, from 1975 to 1980 and had a brief marriage to the SNL band guitarist G.E. Smith. On this show, she created characters like Emily Litella, loudmouthed Roseanne Roseannadanna, nerd Lisa Loopner, and Baba Wawa, a talk show host with a speech impediment.
Gilda left the show in 1980 and married actor Gene Wilder, whom she met on a movie set and fell in love with nearly on the spot. A short while after, Gilda started having pains in her upper legs, and she was eventually diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
She went through lots of chemotherapy and treatment, and finally her doctors told her that she was in remission. In this period of time, Gilda wrote her autobiography, called "It's Always Something," about her battles with cancer.
However, cancer was found in her liver and her lungs after a more comprehensive check a while later. Now it was too late to do anything. Gilda died in her sleep on May 20, 1989.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Lara, [email protected]
- SpousesGene Wilder(September 18, 1984 - May 20, 1989) (her death)G.E. Smith(March 26, 1980 - 1982) (divorced)
- ChildrenNo Children
- ParentsHenrietta DworkinHerman Radner
- Gene Wilder and Gilda's cancer psychotherapist, Joanna Bull, established Gilda's Club in 1991. This was Gilda's wish that a place could be established where people of all ages diagnosed with cancer could come together and support one another through the illness. The centers are non-medical and very homey, with an art center, exercise facility, game rooms and a children's room called Noogieland, so named for "noogies", one of Gilda's comedic actions. No such place as Gilda's Club existed when she battled her ovarian cancer. Gilda's Club currently has centers all over the United States and Canada.
- Her mother named her after the title character played by Rita Hayworth in the film noir Gilda (1946).
- Is the only female player from Saturday Night Live (1975) to win an Outstanding Performance Emmy Award for her work on the show.
- 30 Rock (2006) star and creator (and ex-Saturday Night Live (1975) writer and player) Tina Fey has named Gilda as the main reason she became a comedy writer.
- Was a mentor to actress Catherine O'Hara.
- Some stories don't have a clear beginning middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity...
- There is no real security except for whatever you build inside yourself.
- [reflecting on being on the cover of TV Guide] I'll be like a coaster in millions of homes of America. All week, people will be putting their beer on my face.
- Saturday Night Live (1975) - $750 /week (1975 season)
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