The Life,Work,Legacy of Gilda Radner

Few comediennes today have the combination of talent and next-door neighbor appeal as did Gilda Radner. Gilda Susan Radner was born on June 28,1946 in Detroit, Michigan. Her parents Herman and Henrietta Radner, split the family's time between Florida and Michigan until Gilda was in high school. At Liggett High School in Gross Pointe Woods(now University Liggett School), Gilda discovered an enjoyment of theater, humor, and entertaining people, something that began in her early childhood as a defense mechanism when other children teased her for being pudgy.

After her time at Liggett,she attended the University of Michigan majoring in communications and oral interpretation. At U of M she met David Saltman who was head of the campus radio station. He employed her as the station's weather girl. This is where her talents as a comedienne were first put to the test, during the broadcast of her forecasts she'd make sound effects pertaining to upcoming weather events.

After dropping out of U of M to follow her sculptor boyfriend to Toronto, Canada, Gilda joined the improvisational comedy group Second City's Toronto chapter. Second City led to Gilda meeting and working with Eugene Levy, Martin Short,and Harold Ramis. Acting at Second City led to her acting in Godspell with many of her Second City co stars. At Second City Toronto she was spotted by Lorne Michaels,a Canadian television producer. Michaels would go on to hire Gilda Radner to be one of the "Not Ready for Primetime Players", the alternate name for the original cast of Saturday Night Live. Starting in 1975 and continuing until 1980, Radner portrayed such characters as Emily Litella, Candy Slice, and Roseanne Roseannadanna. After leaving Saturday Night Live, Radner had her own off-Broadway stage show and made comedic films. While making the film Hanky Panky with Gene Wilder, the two fell in love and were married in 1984.

It was while making another movie, Haunted Honeymoon in England that Gilda began having persistent pains in her upper legs,low grade fevers, and sudden severe fatigue. She and Wilder had also been trying to have a child, with difficulties and miscarriages. Over time these symptoms became more pronounced and were joined by irregular menstrual periods and mysterious swelling in the abdomen. After approximately a year of misdiagnoses, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. Cancer and its prevention had been an almost obsessive preoccupation for Gilda since her early teens when she lost her father to a brain tumor.

After her diagnosis, Gilda eventually decided to fight her cancer not just with conventional methods but with meditation, exercise, diet changes, and visualization.Comedy also played a major part in her battle and her sense of humor and imagination played a part in her fighting the disease. She also took part in activities of a place called TheWellness Community. The Wellness Community is a support community for those living with cancer in California. The Wellness Community helped Gilda learn to enjoy the times between treatments when she felt relatively well.

Despite her best efforts and a period of time where she was mistakenly thought to be in remission, Gilda Radner died on May 20, 1989. In her memory, Gene Wilder established Gilda's Club, a free support community for those living with cancer. The Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry was also established to help families keep better track of ovarian cancer research. If you wish to find more information regarding Gilda's Club please visit: http://www.gildasclub.org .

Sources:

It's Always Something by Gilda Radner
Gilda by David Saltman

http://www.uls.org

http://www.gildasclub.org

http://www.ovariancancer.com