Twitter
Facebook
Jan Hooks of SNL and Designing Women fame dies
This makes me so sad.
The great Jan Hooks, so funny and so talented, has died at the age of 57 of an undisclosed serious illness.
She starred on Saturday Night Live for five brilliant seasons and did so many memorable characters and celebrity impersonations. In fact, if anyone has video of her as Bette Davis reading her will please let me know – it is brilliant. She was also stupendous as a combination Jane Pauley/Margo Channing in All About Deborah Norville.
She also impersonated Kathie Lee Gifford, Diane Sawyer and Hillary Clinton and most famously was Candy Sweeney of “The Sweeney Sisters” sketches with Nora Dunn.
Jan left SNL to join the cast of Designing Women after the departures of Jean Smart and Delta Burke. She played Carlene during seasons six and seven and while they were not the classics the first five seasons were, Jan was consistently hilarious in her role.
She most recently had a recurring role on 30 Rock.
What a major talent. Here are some YouTube memories:
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
Kery says:
So sad. What a loss for her family.
Charlie says:
She was so great! I wish that she had made it into the movies. She was so talented! Great loss!
James says:
This is shockingly sad. She made me laugh so much in the 1980s. Rest in Peace, Jan.
Joe says:
I was so sad yesterday when I heard that Jan had died. She was so very talented and extremely funny. That Bette Davis sketch on SNL is one I’ll never forget. I laughed so hard I spilled a full glass of milk on my bed.
We’ve lost so many beloved funny people this year. Rest in peace, Jan Hooks, and thank you much for always making me laugh.
<3
Jim M. says:
I agree with the other commenters here, and thought Jan Hooks was destined for much bigger things upon leaving the weekly comedy sketches-with-music show “Saturday Night Live.” But, alas, as with many others who departed “SNL,” the successful film career or a starring role in a sitcom of one’s own never materialized for Miss Hooks, even despite her considerable comedic acting talent that included a tremendous facility for impersonations.
Miss Hooks will, indeed, be remembered for some remarkable impersonations on “SNL,” most notably her portrayal of Jane Pauley channeling Bette Davis (in that sketch where guest host Kathleen Turner portrayed Deborah Norville channeling Anne Baxter, in a satire of the alleged “Today” divas feud between Norville and Pauley that drew upon the theme of the Davis/Baxter film “All About Eve”), as well for having been the first on “SNL” (and possibly on any television series) to have impersonated former United States First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and televangelist Tammy Faye Baker, and for her hilarious send-up of morning talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford (to Dana Carvey’s “Regis Philbin”), which Hooks repeated on an episode of ABC’s short-lived “The Dana Carvey Show” as well as on “SNL” several times.
Along with Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Julia Sweeney, and the also very funny-but-underrated Cheri Oteri, Jan Hooks is among the crème de la crème of comedic actresses from the many “Saturday Night Live” troupes of four decades.