Its Always Something
by By Radner, Gilda
Category: Biography & Autobiography , Entertainment & Performing Arts

It's Always Something is the moving story of Gilda Radner's life, including her courageous battle with cancer, told with all the spunk, irreverence and personality that made Gilda America's favorite late-night comedienne.            Gilda Radner came out of the Second City troupe in Toronto and joined the original cast of Saturday Night Live, the most influential comedy show on television. At SNL she created such memorable characters as Emily Litella and Roseanne Roseannadanna. She fell in love with Gene Wilder, and they married in 1984 with hopes of having a family. But in 1986, after persistent health problems and two miscarriages, Gilda was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.             Brave, funny, and painfully honest, It's Always Something is the story of Gilda's struggle against cancer and her determination to continue laughing. Cancer, she says, is about the most unfunny thing in the world. But Gilda's gutsy and unique sense of humor never deserts her as she talks about her life and describes two years of cancer therapy—surgery, chemotherapy, radiation treatment, with all their side effects, including baldness. Gilda poignantly remembers her father's death from a brain tumor when she was only fourteen. She recalls the high and low points of her own career, including the magical early days of Saturday Night Live. She describes her transformation from star to cancer patient, and her rediscovery of her sense of humor at The Wellness Community, a dynamic caner-patient support program that gave her courage, hope, and the tools to participate in her own therapy. And she talks movingly about her emotional life-support system: her husband, Gene; her oldest girlfriends; her nurses; and Sparkle, her Yorkshire terrier.             Told as only Gilda could tell it, It's Always Something is the inspiring story of a courageous, funny woman fighting to enjoy life no matter what the circumstances. The twentieth-annversary edition includes a resource guide for people living with cancer, as well as tributes from Gilda's co-stars at Saturday Night Live.