Gilda Radner & Gene Wilder @ Connie Chung

you may kiss the bride they celebrated their first wedding anniversary in London while making the movie haunted honeymoon sometimes in small ways we may not agree it was the happiest time of her life Gilda said but then she started feeling tired and rundown she thought maybe she had the flu she kept seeing doctors and they said no everything's okay yeah what are you worried about they would saying she was Edward I have cancer well it's nothing life-threatening they said and she used to complain that they don't believe me they don't believe me well the truth is Gilda was sitting on a time bomb I mean she she had everything that pointed to the fact that she was going to develop a legal disease and maybe not be with us what are you dr. Steven Pifer an authority on ovarian cancer says there were clear warning signs and Gilda's family tree that could have saved her life he should know at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo New York Piper has treated Gilda's cousin Leonora Goodman Rosa who has successfully fought ovarian cancer for the past six years nothing wrong nothing good let's take a look at you cancer seems to run in their family okay here's to Lenore Goodman Rosa who has ovarian cancer it's my patient and here's her first cousin Gilda Radner Wilder who has ovarian cancer so the fact that Gilda Radner had an aunt and a cousin with a very one about one in four she stood a one-in-four chance of getting a life-threatening lethal disease and add on to that that her mother had breast cancer doubles her chances so she had a almost close to one and two if you put it if you add them all up and you're saying she didn't know this right tiger has compiled a computerized family history of almost 800 ovarian cancer patients and the list is growing every day and of course the important thing over here also the relatives that had ovarian cancer sisters daughters aren't grandmothers covered his national registry pyrrha says can warn women like Hilda Radner whose relatives have had the disease and who are likely to inherit it themselves do you believe that Gilda's death could have been avoided and that pointing blame but I have no doubt because you have to remember con it was diagnosed a year later and she had all these symptoms for a year if she had been diagnosed nine eight seven six months before um I'm not telling you that I know but I would bet my bottom dollar that she'd be alive today although Jean stopped acting to care for her Gilda says he gave his best performances while she was ill always making her laugh while all the time keeping from her the secret that she had only a 20% chance of surviving I just find the strength to make her laugh day after day and today going there well tell you something I don't think I was that good at what I did I think I was a schmuck most of the time I only had one great thing going for me I thought she was gonna pull it out I never thought she would die never and sometimes she would grab my hand and look at me stare right into my soul and say really really I'd say if I could live as long as you're gonna live I'd settle right now and I meant it I thought that I would die before she did I thought she would make it at one point in her book she tells us about this incident which you really yelled at her and you said I can't help you anymore she told on him in say make it go away make it go away I have to say now the first time I'd say it will go away and don't you worry in all this Alisa but later on I'd say I don't have that power in my hands to touch him and do it I can give you love I can give you try and give you hope but I can't I'm not your daddy is going to say gone it's gone she was making you crazy sometimes yes but she had cancer so I would say they're okay okay you win you got cancer and I don't argument is over but if you didn't have cancer hey I'd give it to you right now that made her laugh hmm but I meant it kills its Gilda Radner Oh Giller was determined not to let cancer steal her limelight and when she posed for the cover of Life magazine in February 1988 she had beaten it or so we thought she returned to television and from his guest appearance with Garry Shandling in March of 88 she was offered her own Network series but this was to be her last performance don't-don't-don't Milt the applause like that oh sorry Gary I haven't been on television for a while oh that yeah what what was wrong I had cancer what did you have I just had a series of bad career moves we had lots of fun it's just that she died you know if it hadn't been for that everything would have been terrific that's one thing that one small thing otherwise it would have been a great success story I still think it's it's a great success story when she got cancer something happened to her psyche or she was aware of the most delicate uh fragile things of life in relationships in the tone of a voice in a joke are you looking into the camera yeah doctor don't look into the camera I didn't don't you don't come in here and look in the camera I didn't I'll bop you all the things that she struggled with she was afraid of so many things fade that the worst things were gonna happen to her suddenly she put all that in perspective and that's why I say it was a success story that um she learned the stuff of life that would help you to lead a happy life except unfortunately she didn't live long enough to enjoy it you miss her or she's with you anyway the essence of her her spirit free from pain the Gilda that's free from pain that guilt is with me and in in that sense I'm happier now than when I saw her writhing in pain Gilda was afraid of cancer all her life and even with wonderful doctors no one caught it until it was too late because they weren't looking for it now gene Wilder is starring in a series of public service announcements written by dr. Stephan Pires making women aware of ovarian cancer and the importance of detecting it early okay standby please roll tape if you're a woman over 35 and have vague abdominal symptoms like bloating clothes that feel tight sudden fatigue backache don't worry that's normal but if the symptoms don't go away and especially if your family has a history of ovarian cancer if you were married to Gilda Radner and then she went somewhere else for a while the presence doesn't stop she's still in there Hawking you know what Hawking means yeah come on come on get the word out tell the people they've got to know this stuff see your doctor can say you want three tests a pelvic exam I'm just gonna examine your abdomen very carefully for any fluid or any lumps a sonogram it's a some radio wave it's simple you actually see a picture of the oven and a blood test called ca-125 if we can detect it when it's limited to vo we can cure 85 to 90 out of every hundred women once it gets out of the ovary we only cure 20 out of every hundred people write to me to call it Gilda's disease and people weren't talking about ovarian cancer till but Gilda Radner died of what ovarian cancer so now people want to know about it happily so and I just wish Gilda had been one of the people who had read about Gilda's disease and could have benefited from it okay action it's been almost a year since Gilda's death gene Wilder is back at work and although Gilda's gone she never seems very far away when will the grieving and for you well a certain part is over and I'm concentrating on being as happy and doing as many meaningful things as I can do so to that extent the grieving is over there's another part that doesn't ever end I don't want it to end it keeps me on my toes um I all chemotherapies all the the pain the torture and the truth is it was fun was fun it's the best years of my life truly tene Wilders campaign to fight ovarian cancers being launched this week you should start seeing those public service announcements on the air and you probably start hearing a lot more about the disease dr. Paiva says over the next five years about 100,000 women in this country could die of ovarian cancer but it doesn't have to be that way if you see your doctor and ask for those three tests a pelvic

Channel: MyInnerEyeInterview2

Views: 299,905

Rating: 4.9262557 out of 5

Keywords: Gilda, Radner, Gene, Wilder, Connie, Chung

Id: oTpdkwzx3L8

Length: 10min 14sec (614 seconds)

Published: Sun May 06 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/LadyMegatron]

Gene was married to Gilda for 4 years and Karen for like 25. I know Gene and Gilda were both comedy greats but it feels sad to undermine Karen by saying they're together in heaven or whatever the fuck

[u/SandorSNL]

It's just a terrible tragedy that neither of them can be here to make us laugh.