Gilda Radner

AKA:

Gilda Radner Wilder

Birth Name:

Gilda Susan Radner

Birth Date:

June 28, 1946

Birth Place:

Detroit, Michigan

Death Date:

May 20, 1989

Place of Death:

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Ovarian cancer

Cemetery Name:

Long Ridge Union Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Gilda Radner was an American actress and comedian who gained fame and instant recognition as one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980. In her sketches on SNL, she specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists, news anchors and she also played various original characters. In 1978, Radner won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show Gilda, Live on Broadway in 1979 and later on film in 1980. After leaving Saturday Night Live, she appeared in various films, including three with her future husband Gene Wilder, with whom she first appeared in 1982's Hanky Panky. She also worked on stage, appearing in the play Lunch Hour with Sam Waterston in 1980. Her final public appearance was on "It's Garry Shandling's Show" before she passed away of ovarian cancer at the young age of 42.

The Final Years

In 1985, while she was on the set of Haunted Honeymoon in the United Kingdom, Radner began to feel severe fatigue, and she also began to feel severe pain in her upper legs. She sought medical treatment, and for a period of 10 months, various doctors, most of them in Los Angeles, gave her several diagnoses but all of them turned out to be wrong. Finally, on October 21, 1986, Radner was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. She immediately underwent surgery and had a hysterectomy. On October 26, surgeons removed a grapefruit-size tumor from her abdomen. Radner then began chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatment, eventually she went into remission.

Wanting to return to television, Radner guest-starred on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show on March 18, 1988, unannounced, mentioning on-camera that a cancer diagnosis and treatment explained the long hiatus in her entertainment career. This would be her last public appearance.

Loraine Newman celebrated her 36th birthday in March 1988 with a party in Los Angeles that was the last time Gilda Radner was with her original SNL co-stars.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Long Ridge Union Cemetery

154 Erskine Road

Stamford, Connecticut, 06903

USA

North America

Grave Location:

Section G, Radner single plot

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery from Erskine Road (across from the Lake Windmere private driveway) make an immediate right and then a left at the first opportunity. Drive 50 feet and park. Section G (unmarked) is on your right. Walk into the center of the section towards the granite bench under a tree for the grave of comedian Gilda Radner. Also in the back of the cemetery in Section G is the final resting place of musician Benny Goodman.