Jan Hooks(1957-2014)

Hooks died of complications due to throat cancer, which had been diagnosed two years before she passed away in 2014. According to an article at the Grantland site, the cancer did not respond to surgery and chemotherapy, and doctors said the last medical option was a major procedure that had poor odds of curing her and would have ended her speaking ability forever. Hooks refused this and used home hospice care for the time between this diagnosis and her death.

[on dealing with stage fright during her stint on Il Saturday Night Live (1975)] Sometimes if I see an old show, I think "Boy, I was good!" I mean, can't you tell how shit-scared I was? And you know how they say, "Well, everybody's got the jitters," and you go out there and you're fine? No! I wasn't! I didn't like it! I don't like roller coasters, and I don't like circus performing. It's just not my thing. The music was too loud. The people, the energy of it just made me very nervous. [It was] an awful, awful time. And I didn't care. I didn't want to be [famous]. I didn't want to be on TV!