Courtesy of Michael Radner

Gilda Radner 1946-1989

Detroit-born Gilda Radner was best known as an original cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award. Her career began in 1974, when she joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour, a syndicated weekly program. This led to her spot on SNL, where Radner delighted audiences with the wacky characters she created for herself, many based on people in the Jewish community in which she grew up. Radner won a Grammy posthumously for "Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording" in 1990. Radner's death at age 42 of ovarian cancer helped increase public awareness of the disease.