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4/ 4i Jami Gertz plays Gilda Radner
4i 4, 4i ) in biopic of the Detroit-born
comedienne's life.
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I
n a surreal scene in the ABC biopic Gilda Radner:
It's Always Something, Jami Gertz plays both Radner
and her Saturday Night Live character, Baba Wawa.
In the sequence, cancer-stricken Radner is lying
in the hospital after her hysterectomy, bald from
chemotherapy, dreaming she's being interviewed by the
wig-coifed Wawa.
"So Gilda, what have you been doing since Saturday Night
Live?" Gertz-as-Baba purrs in an imitation so dead-on it's eerie.
"Dying," replies Gertz-as-Gilda in a tormented whisper.
It's a moment that illustrates why ABC chose the raven-
haired actress — best known for films such as Twister and
Less Than Zero — to play the comedienne who died of
ovarian cancer at age 42 in 1989. The made-for TV film
airs 9 p.m. Monday, April 29.
"[Jami] nailed both the real comedic bits in the script and
the dramatic part," ABC executive vice president Susan Lyne
told the Hollywood Reporter.
Unlike the late comic actress, Gertz, 36, never suffered from
bulimia or dysfunctional relationships — though she did iden-
tify in one important way with Radner. "Gilda was a nice
Jewish girl from Detroit, and I'm a nice Jewish girl from
Chicago," she says. -
The two women even attended the same predominantly
Jewish summer camp — Camp Maplehurst — in northern
Michigan.
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ETROIT JEWISH NEWS
4126
2002
76
Gilda Radner: Its Always Something, a touching tribute
to a funny treasure, will be preceded by Gilda Radner's
Greatest Moments, an, hour-long program featuring inter-
views with those who knew her and clips from some of
her myriad accomplishments.
"Gilda used to describe herself as a nice Jewish girl
from Detroit, and that was so true," says her brother,
_Michael Radner, who still lives in the Detroit area and
served as a consultant and contributor to Monday's 8
p.m. special. "Without even realizing it, when you grow
up in a Jewish home, you grow up with a feeling for
charity, being kind to others."
Gilda found a heart and home with Gene Wilder,
"the love of her life," says Michael. It helped "that he
was a nice Jewish boy. It fit right into a comfortable pat-
tern.
But Gilda had been uncomfortable as a child with a
weight problem. "\XTe used to call her 'Butterball,'"
1)
While Radner grew up in a cultur-
ally Jewish home, Gertz attended
weekly Conservative services and
United Synagogue Youth. She
received, her big break playing the
bubbly Jewish preppie Muffy
Tepperman on CBS's Square Pegs in
1982.
"My character even had a bat
Jami Gertz: "People
started telling me how
much they loved
Gilda, and I was
scared I wasn't going
to do her justice."
recalls Michael, who admits, "I was a fat kid, too."
She learned to make fun of herself before others did,
but one thing she couldn't figure was how to deal with
the early death of her beloved father, Herman, whose...‘
"love of show business" was her love as well. "Gettino-
his approval," performing for the family, "meant a lot to
her," says her brother.
"Our relationship was close," Michael adds. Of course,
had I known she was going to be famous, I'd have taken
notes. I was five years older than her and at 16, I really did-
n't look to see what my 11-year-old sister was doing."
Gilda's Club -- an international assemblage of wellness
sites and spots for cancer patients and their friends and
families --- was inspired by Gilda and formed by Wilder,
critic Joel Siegel and Joanna Bull, Gilda's wellness-program
therapist. It would prove just as important to fans as any
comedy club she performed in,
The idea was sparked by the integral role a wellness pro-
gram played in the comedienne's own life when she was
diagnosed with ovarian cancer. "It is the best testimonial to