It's Always Something [Paperback]

Completed before Radner's death last month, this is her personal account of her struggle with ovarian cancer and her inspiring attempt to keep an upbeat attitude during her illnes. Her discussion of a Santa Monica patient support group called the Wellness Community is the best part of the book and may be of interest to cancer patients and their families. However, readers expecting the show business history that the promotional material to this book promises will be disappointed; Radner's work with Saturday Night Live, her creation of such memorable characters like Emily Litella and Roseanne Roseannadanna, and her film work with husband Gene Wilder get scant attention here. Radner certainly deserves a biography that would record those achievements. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.
- Judy Quinn, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"Death Be Not Proud: The Book Remains A Victorious Volume." -- --Detroit Free Press

"Extraordinarily Candid...A Testament To Her Courage And Comedic Spirit." -- --Chicago Tribune

"Touching and Witty." -- --USA Today

"I had wanted to wrap this book up in a neat little package.I wanted a perfect ending.Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end."

The world fondly remembers the many faces of Gilda Radner: the adamant but misinformed Emily Litella; the hyperkinetic Girl Scout Judy Miller; the irrepressibly nerdy Lisa Loopner; the gross-out queen of local network news, Rosanne Rosannadanna. A supremely funny performer, Gilda lost a long and painful struggle in May 1989 to "the most unfunny thing in the world"--cancer. But the face she showed the world during this dark time was one of great courage and hope. It's Always Something is the story of her struggle told in Gilda's own remarkable words--a personal chronicle of strength and indomitable spirit and love undiminished by the cruel ravages of disease.

This is Gilda, with whom we laughed on Saturday Night Live: warm, big-hearted, outrageous, and real. This is Gilda's last gift to us: the magnificent final performance of an incomparable entertainer whose life, though tragically brief, enriched our own lives beyond measure.

"I started out to write a book called A Portrait of the Artist as a Housewife. I wanted to write a collection of stories, poems and vignettes about things like my toaster oven and my relationships with plumbers, mailmen and delivery people. But life dealt me a much more complicated story..."

Gilda Radner died on May 20, 1989, shortly before publication of her book It's Always Something. A month before her death, Gilda entered a Los Angeles recording studio to deliver what would be her final performance -- this remarkable audio autobiography, in which she reveals the inspirational story of her struggles with cancer...a private, personal battle in which the humor and humanity that has touched millions became her most powerful weapon. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Gilda Radner was a gifted comic and one of the original Not For Prime Time Players of Saturday Night Live.She died of ovarian cancer in May of 1989.