Gilda Radner

Every character she did seemed the same. I find her overrated which is very unpopular, I know.

She died?

She wasn’t that funny or attractive.

The only true part of your reply r3 is the fairy part

Yes r4 she was gorgeous and hilarious. That’s why she became a megastar after SNL

While I never read the book, I heard an interview with Gene Wilder on NPR & it sounded as if the SNL performance gave her a high profile, but it was a very difficult/high pressure situation & she had to work with a lot of assholes she just couldn't really deal with. Wilder & Radner tried to make movies together, but it never clicked & then of course she started getting sick. Her early death was tragic, but she just sounded *so* needy. If she were alive today, she'd probably be one of those "WHET" stories and would just be some random lady someone spotted at the farmers market in Vermont.

I wonder if Fred Silverman was partly to blame.

He was aggressively pushing Gilda to do a variety show from New York in prime time for the 1980-81 season, since it was known that she planned to leave SNL at the end of 1979-80 season, produced by Lorne. She backed out, as did Lorne, and it led to Lorne not being included in discussions about his SNL. successor, and the subsequent appointment of Jean Doumanian as producer.

Any eldergays see her stage show?

She was overrated and a cheater.

She was a liar. And do you know what happens to liars? DO YOU??

Time wasn't on her side and there didn't seem to be a consensus of what she could or should be doing. I feel like if she had an unmistakable star vehicle, it might have made a difference.

She was developing a sitcom in her later years but the cancer kept returning. In her book she writes about envying Jane Curtin and Kate and Allie. She wanted something like that but her health prohibited it.

I and two friends had a somewhat unpleasant experience with her in April of 1980 a block or so from 30 Roc. When my friend was going to ask if she was Gilda, she replied rather snotty "I'm NOT." and walked away. FUN FACT: She had "Gilda R." on the side of her purse in the peel-and-stick letters at the link.

So, I'm going to go with "Because she's a cunt" for $200, Alex.

Two friends and I...

I don't think the SNL skits with her and Laraine Newman held up. She and Laraine both looked anorexic, even for that late '70s / early '80s cocaine era. If anything, I'd say Laraine should have had more of a career than Gilda.

R8- She was before my time, but I had the album of her live show as a kid. Probably way too young to be listening to it, but I loved it. I got into trouble for adding "fuck you, Mr. Bunny!" to some song they were playing at my school's latchkey program. I wasn't allowed to listen to the record any more after that. Good times.

Gilda really only had about 5 years between the end of SNL and when she began to get sick. She made three films with Gene Wilder, two of which were massive flops and the only hit had her in a supporting role. She was in a new relationship and marriage which really took her by storm, she was trying to have a baby before she hit 40. Plus she was over 35 when she left SNL, not exactly ingenue age.

Wanting to be with Gene every minute of the day certainly didn't make her career choices any better. After Stir Crazy, Gene barely had any hit films, maybe two the rest of his career. The Woman in Red was memorable at the time for one thing- Kelly LeBrock's sexiness. Gilda pretty much got forgotten in the process. Here's what Gene Siskel said about her in his review of the film-

[quote] You may have heard that Wilder's real-life love, Gilda Radner, is also in the picture and therefore you assume that she has a substantial role in it. Forget it. She has a minor, singularly unfunny role as an old maid. Radner is so ugly in this film that we constantly wonder if it's the makeup or whether she is ill. She's 45 years old and severely dehydrated in this picture. Rarely has anyone filmed their own girlfriend in such an unattractive manner.

It is entirely possible that, had Gilda not gotten sick, she would have found her place on television, which is where she thrived, and been able to have a career resurgence. But in those five years she got sick, I would say Wilder was to blame for her career failure.

I was more of a Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara gal myself.

she was a frau through and through...

It's never been about female comics not being funny

but typically when a male comic builds up resentment with the industry, he acquires an addiction and adds it to his schtick..

when a female comic builds up resentment, she becomes constipated, bitter and angry. . . it rarely translate into their act unless they've abandoned the act to lecture the audience instead.

most comics are fucked up sleazebags..

still there's a trajectory for most females stand.. their peak standup years are their 30s. They rarely got their shit together in their twenties... so, if they haven't developed a shtick, their stage persona, most will head to improv instead. . . but outside of tv series, stage improv is treated more like experimental theatre than comedy.

And post 40, even if they don't have kids.. lifestyle and material is difficult to maintain. Some social sexism applies, of course, but females seem to tire of being a rodeo clown a lot quicker than men do.

If it had been a little later, she would have been setup for idiot movies. And much later, she would have become Tina Fey. . . and likely transitioned into a solid producing or writing career. I'm not sure she wanted that, though, for a lot of women of the time... it was something they fell into.

And Radner was pretty low brow as far as comedy goes... which also tends to make for the biggest assholes. Also, Wilder was way too intense when he got involved with her. I know that had to rub people the wrong way. She needed more of a Woody Allen in her corner, had she lived, she likely would have become his muse. She played to a specific kind of dysfunction that's more on target with his brand.

She also spent the first year after SNL on Broadway in the play Lunch Hour.

HUGE Gilda fan here.

That being said, I don’t like her when she played mean, like the jilted ex of Wilder in The Woman in Red.

And as much as I wanted to like Haunted Honeymoon, it was atrocious.

Jesus Gene Siskel was a cunt in that review. Karma got him in the end seeing that he was dead of cancer himself at 53 years old.

I thought she was hilarious when I was a kid, but her mugging and little-girl shtick didn’t age well. She just did’t seem capable of playing adult women characters unless they were deranged or feeble-minded.

I liked her in The Woman in Red, but it feels like the kind of role meant for an up-and-comer, not someone supposedly famous. Was Lunch Hour well-received? I read the script a long time ago and thought it was okay (I also tried to imagine a movie adaptation).

Jewess Jeans

In the 1970s there were so many small homely girls like her.

She absolutely disappeared into the characters she created. None of the stupid cracking-up that is SNL now. She was a total professional.

I thought she was annoying on SNL but somehow saw a matinee of her one-woman show, Live from New York, because it was one of the few options left at Hot Tix. I thought she was absolutely charming, particularly a number she did harmonizing with back-up singers. You can rent the show on Amazon as Gilda Live. In a live setting, she worked her butt off until you fell in love with her, but that magic didn't transfer to film or TV. She needed a live audience and comedy derived from improv for it to work. Otherwise, she was just a homely, middle-aged Jewish woman playing a role.

How well did Fanny Brice do on film? Similar talent.

[quote]She absolutely disappeared into the characters she created. None of the stupid cracking-up that is SNL now. She was a total professional.

I’ll give her that; she had solid improv skills, and was able to keep her composure during the sketches:

R17 How could Gene Siskel tell she was "severely dehydrated" in a film?

R15 Laraine actually seems very cool and funny in real life - her Twitter is worth following,

Gilda was always too needy for my taste - especially in comedy where you’re supposed to be a bit cooler than tho . Idk, her humor was never really my taste.

Most people found her lovable.

I’m the reason anyone even knew her name……..

It was exactly the same mugging for each character on SNL, it seems to me.

[quote]I thought she was absolutely charming, particularly a number she did harmonizing with back-up singers.

Was that “Touch Me With My Clothes On”, by any chance?

[quote]Any eldergays see her stage show?

I did! I was actually at one of the performances that they filmed which were at the Colonial Theater in Boston. We were all handed a release stating that by attending the performance we were giving our permission to be seen in reaction shots in the film.

I loved it and Gilda was very funny and lovable. When she sang the end of "The Way We Were" as Lisa Loopner, it was very touching! Poor Gilda. Her autobiography is very depressing, be warned.

Yes… Gilda was pretty much one-note. However, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, and Garrett Morris were also fairly one-note, usually just playing variations of themselves. Ackroyd, Belushi and Newman, on the other hand, were better at impressions and creating a variety of original characters.

[quote]Her autobiography is very depressing, be warned.

Gene Wilder’s was very straightforward and it was a bit of a gut punch how candid he was about the dynamics of his relationship with Gilda.

It made me a little sad, but I appreciated his honesty.

R39, what did Gene say about their relationship?

Goodbye saccharine

^^Linda Ronstadt was one of Gilda’s backup singers?!

[quote]Gene Wilder’s was very straightforward and it was a bit of a gut punch how candid he was about the dynamics of his relationship with Gilda.

That & he got married like a hot second after she died. Like you said, I appreciated his honesty instead of the "oh, she was a living saint, let me tell you", but it did feel cringey - like someone you don't know well telling you some really personal detail you didn't exactly want to hear

It's always fun to speak ill of the (34 years?) dead, but, as someone way too young to have watched SNL in 1975, I love all of those coked out, manic, insane Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

I saw the comedy documentary “Gilda Live” and think that it was a big disappointment at the time. Her performance and the characters she created didn’t translate into this format well. I was a huge admirer of her when I was a kid, though. Like the post above, I really wanted to enjoy her films, but didn’t.

For r40:

[quote]Having seen two previous marriages end badly, Mr. Wilder was naturally wary of Ms. Radner's volatility (not to mention the fact that she was married when they met). He describes having been alarmed by her clinginess ("as much as I loved being with her, I wanted to breathe again without having to worry about her") and self-involvement ("I began to resent how much energy she poured into her fears and childish needs").

Having lent Gene’s book to someone and never having it returned, this is the only excerpt I could find online where Gene wrote candidly about Gilda’s neurotic tendencies.

R8 - I saw the live show live. It was a lot of fun. Somewhere, I'm sure I've still got the mimeographed lyrics of "The Way We Were."

I blame her handlers, someone should’ve gotten her on to the Carol Burnette Show, or put together a similar show.

If not for the cancer, she would’ve been a FABULOUS 5th Golden Girl! (Or nosy neighbor)

Penny Marshall wanted her for "Laverne and Shirley." That would have been a near perfect fit for Gilda Radner's talents I do dare say.

I feel sorry for Gilda Rader. She was quite ill with Ovarian Cancer for God knows how long before she was properly diagnosed. That's heartbreaking.

I know a woman who was funny on SNL. And then she died.

I think the original SNL cast had contempt for the idea of doing a sitcom so Gilda no doubt resisted any suggestion she pursue such a project. Wasn’t she the first choice for Olive Oyl in Altman’s Popeye? Hard to imagine anyone but Shelley Duvall in the role but I’m sure I read that.

It’s a shame her projects with Wilder were so disappointing. It’s interesting to speculate about what roles she could have played after SNL ended. She could have been good in the Teri Garr role in Tootsie. And she would have been better than Lily Tomlin as The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Not sure what else. The 80s movie formula didn’t really lend itself to quirky comedic actresses like Radner.

"She needed more of a Woody Allen in her corner,"

Nobody needs that.

I don't care how much you hated her performances.

[quote]If not for the cancer, she would’ve been a FABULOUS 5th Golden Girl! (Or nosy neighbor)

She was born in 1946, she was too young to have been a Golden Girl. She would have been 39 when the show started.

[quote]I blame her handlers, someone should’ve gotten her on to the Carol Burnette Show, or put together a similar show.

I wonder if she stayed in Toronto with her Godspell cast-mates and joined them on SCTV, how that would have worked out. Maybe she’d have developed more varied and nuanced characters in that environment. IMO, SCTV was WAY more funny and entertaining than SNL.

She was endearing...

Gene had moved on well before Gilda's death. He was nothing like his public persona, quite a narcissistic asshole in fact. Gene bragged that after Gilda became too ill to have sex he never demanded that she satisfy him orally. Like that made him some kind of martyr.

Gilda had a comeback on the Garry Shandling Show and was in talks to do a sitcom, but the cancer came back and the show was put on hold.

I agree that it was a disappointment her career faltered for the 5 years between SNL and getting sick and it is Gene Wilder’s fault. His brand of comedy wasn’t hers and they didn’t mesh well artistically.

I have no doubt she would have won a second TV Emmy though had she not died.

Bad Clams

Demons would have prevented any long-term commitment.

As Christina

She dated A LOT of men. She seemed to be addicted to them, and once said she couldn’t watch “Ghostbusters” because she had a relationship with every guy in the film (except for Rick Moranis and Ernie Hudson.)

She also dated Martin Short.

Did she leave G. E. Smith (ex-husband, SNL musician) for Gene Wilder? I'd rather be married to G. E.

Women with low self esteem are attracted to men who treat them badly.

R61 how many is a lot? Her two husbands, Murray and Akyroyd?

She was considered for the Glenn Close part in Fatal Attraction, can you imagine?

How many under-40s would have the courage to make themselves ugly for laffs? Gen Z humor is all about being 'cooler-than-thou'.

She was needy--works in a sketch but not on a weekly series or a 100 min feature film.

[quote] She could have been good in the Teri Garr role in Tootsie

NO.

Doomed Jewish Girl Non-Fiction

The Diary of Anne Frank- Anne Frank

It's Always Something - Gilda Radner

Then... take the gas pipe!

I was in a deep depression when I read it and when I was finished I thought, "Why did I read this, I KNOW how it fucking ends!" Oh, Gilda, it's crazy how long she's been gone. I was only twelve watching the first season of SNL and I actually watched it with my dad who was a huge fan of Belushi and Gilda.

A serious side of Gilda in an interview. I can imagine her in dramatic roles in the vein of Diane Keaton, Holly Hunter, etc. Sadly, we'll never see her grow as an actress.

[quote] [R61] how many is a lot? Her two husbands, Murray and Akyroyd?

Her other romances: Jeffrey Rubinoff, Martin Short, Harold Ramis, Peter Firth, Brian-Doyle Murray, and a few others.

Teri Garr didn't think Gene was such a great guy.

Richard Pryor once said Gene was “…as queer as a three dollar bill,” and coming from Richard, I believe it.

[quote]Any eldergays see her stage show?

Yes, a friend took me to it in NYC on my 24th birthday. The theater was packed and the audience was very appreciative, I loved it. Side note - the friend who took me was a Gilda Radner look-a-like. People at the theater actually stopped and asked if she was her sister!

Gene Wilder was a womanizer. He seemed a little "gay" because he was Jewish,

I listened to the GW’s audiobook many years ago. I concur with the previous posters’ reviews. I was disappointed on many levels.

I hate to say this but she really was not all that and her one woman show at the Winter Garden was a big bore.

Any eldergays see her stage show?

yes, what i recall more than the content and her performance was the total WORSHIP by the audience.

listening to the album and seeing some of the bits on youtube in the ensuing years, ......... Lily Tomlin it ain't.

What really seems ridiculous now is that after her sold out triumph at the Wintergarden she opened on Broadway in a Jean Kerr comedy that ran for 6 months. Anyone know what Mike Nichols thought of her in that turkey?

Who saw that???

[QUOTE]Gene Wilder was a womanizer

How does this happen to LITERALLY the ugliest man alive?! Are there that many self-hating women waiting for some squash-faced fucker to fall off the back of an unrefrigerated produce truck, FFS?

I have always found him weirdly attractive, starting in the 60s with 'Bonnie and Clyde'.

Maybe he had a big dick

Being a movie star is more sexually alluring than anything or anybody.

Gene may or may not have been gay/bi, but he certainly was gay-friendly. Willy Wonka and the Waco Kid are steeped in coding, and Wilder once referred to his chemistry with Pryor as being “similar to sexual attraction.” I’m also surprised he was supposedly a womanizer because he had zero sexual chemistry with his female co-stars… including Gilda.

Unfunny and unlucky

[quote]Maybe he had a big dick

That might work with MALES...

Any lesbian rumors regarding Gilda?

Gene had an affair with Teri Garr.

R89 Teri Garr hated Gene

According to Martin Short, Gilda was a high maintenance crazy person 24/7.

The reason so many guys fell for Gilda was because she was the epitome of the manic-pixie dream girl, but that gets weird after 30..

R92 I see that expression thrown around here 24/7 (speaking of) abs what does that even mean?

First of all I thought manic pixie dream girls were at least attractive to pretty.

Wilder separated from his second wife after seven years of marriage, because she suspected that Wilder was having an affair with his Young Frankenstein co-star, Madeline Kahn. After the divorce, he briefly dated his other Frankenstein co-star, Teri Garr.

I think Melanie Griffith in Something Wild with Jeff Daniels as the manic pixie dream girl type. Melanie was sexually attractive in that. I don’t think Gilda had sexy in her wheelhouse.

R27 yes she was very talented. Part of the problem with the constant " cracking up" among current SNL actors is the moron audience encourages it. If an actor even smirks the audience is whooping and cheering like a bunch of dumbasses.

If Richard Pryor said Gene Wilder is queer, then that means Gene Wilder was gay or bisexual.

Didn't Richard Pryor readily admit to having slept with a number of men himself?

I saw Lunch Hour. It was a play that would have worked better in the late 60s with Sandy Dennis. Gilda was fine and the audience loved her. Sam Waterston was very hot.

Of the SNL ppl, Aycroyd, Belushi, Chase, Curtain, Newman - Gilda was my favorite. I still vividly picture her Roseanne Rosannadanna, Baba Wawa, in the dating skits with, oh, two of the guys - anyway, she stands out in my memory and the others don't, esp Belushi and that hamburger thing.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I read her autobiography and it was so sad. I think her father died when she was young and it really hit her hard - I also think her mother might have been a narcissist, displeased with her chubby daughter. But it was long ago... I do think Wilder was a jerk but that's so many in show biz, most of them?

R63- I never heard of him until now. He's somewhat good looking but looks as QUEER as a thirteen dollar bill.

R63- He's got the GAY STARE in the eyes and GAY lips.

One of the saddest things I've ever seen was Steve Martin giving an emotional tribute to Gilda on SNL after she had passed away earlier that day.

Emily Litella

R79 I saw Lily Tomlin's one-woman show (a later version, guess - in San Francisco, around 2002). It was a real snooze. There were, like, two minutes of anything interesting.

I loved Colleen Fernman, her "special" character, adapted as Christina Crawford at R60. Here she is in "The Dating Zone" (at 12:00).

Babba wahwa had her blacklisted.

I thought Babba Wahwa was the worst impression on the show because it was basically “Gilda with a speech impediment.”

Second the comment on Tomlin being about as interesting as watching paint drying.

R108 I agree it was stupid. Certainly can’t compare it to Cheri Oteri which was a real impression - which may be why Barbara actually was cool with it.

[quote]I saw Lily Tomlin's one-woman show (a later version, guess - in San Francisco, around 2002). It was a real snooze.

I remain shocked that NO ONE would say the emperor had no clothes regarding Lily Tomlin's show. Her script was a dated 70s-style effort and felt tired even when it was brand new. It was so twee and had very little new to say. Everyone crawled all over themselves to offer hosannahs, but I never got the freaking hype.

Lily Tomlin's show was too fucking long. Certain scenes went on forever while others went nowhere. I'm a huge fan but I was bored.

Good Clerk/Bad Clerk

[quote] In the 1970s there were so many small homely girls like her.

I was the original

I loved Gilda, but unlike other great comediennes of the period (like Catherine O'Hara or Madeline Kahn) she really needed other actors on camera with her to prop her up. One reason why Jane Curtin did so much better after SNL was that she could really act, but Gilda was more like Harpo marx--she was just sort of a zany.

Jane Curtin was also conventionally attractive which went a long way, especially in the early 1980s. Plus I think a lot of guys in comedy had a thing for her. She was sort of like the captain of the cheerleading squad for nerdy comedians.

I don’t think Gilda was suited for a big movie career - like fellow Toronto “Godspell” alumna Andrea Martin, she was a Brillo character actress best seen on stage or in TV sketch comedy.

“Brilliant” - not Brillo god damned auto correct.

I think Gilda probably preferred Scotch brand scrubbing pads.