Every 'Saturday Night Live' Cast Member Who Has Died

Long-running comedy institution Saturday Night Live has produced some of Hollywood’s most famously funny folks over its five decades on NBC. (The Emmy-winning series premiered its historic 50th season on Saturday, Sept 28, 2024 with Hacks star Jean Smart as host and country crooner Jelly Roll as musical guest.)

However, that very longevity means that we’ve lost several beloved members of the SNL universe over the years, including some pioneering personalities from the franchise’s original cast. Here are the 17 dearly departed Saturday Night Live performers that comedy fans have had to say goodbye to over the years.

Saturday Night Live cast members who have died

John Belushi (1949-1982) 

A radical standout in the inaugural SNL cast, John Belushi had a four-year tenure on the late-night show, during which he developed a series of successful characters, including Henry Kissinger, Ludwig van Beethoven and Captain Kirk. However, his time on the show was also riddled with drug use, resulting in Belushi getting fired — and rehired — several times over the years. The comedy icon tragically died of a heroin overdose at the age of 33 on Mar. 5, 1982 in Los Angeles.

Andy Kaufman (1949-1984) 

A performance artist who referred to himself more as a “song and dance man” than a traditional comic, Andy Kaufman wasn’t technically part of the official SNL cast but he was frequently invited to perform on the variety show in its early days, popping up as his character Foreign Man or to challenge female audience members to wrestling matches. The latter bit was a controversial one, prompting Kaufman to have SNL viewers vote by phone if he should continue appearing on the program in November 1982; they voted no. He died a year and a half later, on May 16, 1984, at the age of 35, due to complications from lung cancer.

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Gilda Radner (1946-1989) 

An SNL icon thanks to her iconic character work (including Roseanne Roseannadanna, Baba Wawa and Emily Litella) and hilarious parodies (such as Lucille Ball, Patti Smith and Olga Korbut), Gilda Radner starred on Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 through 1980. During that time, she suffered from an eating disorder; however, it sadly would be ovarian cancer that claimed her life. She died at age 42 on May 20, 1989 in Los Angeles, with her husband Gene Wilder by her side.

Danitra Vance (1954-1994) 

The first Black woman featured in the primary cast of SNL, Danitra Vance only appeared on the show for one season, in 1985, though she made an impression — literally — by impersonating everyone from Cicely Tyson to Diahann Carroll. She was let go from the show in 1986 alongside notable co-stars Joan Cusack and Robert Downey Jr. Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990 and though she continued her comedy work for several years, she died at age 40 on Aug. 21, 1994.

Michael O’Donoghue (1940-1994) 

Along with the distinction of being the first performer to ever utter a line on SNL, Michael O’Donoghue was also the original head writer of the show. A vibrant but volatile figure on Saturday Night Live, O’Donoghue was fired due to a never-aired Nazi sketch in Season 3, though he was subsequently rehired and refired several times thereafter, ultimately leaving the program in 1985. Nearly a decade later, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Nov. 8, 1994; he was 54 years old.

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Chris Farley (1964-1997) 

A seminal figure in SNL history, Chris Farley displayed his physical-comedy genius for five seasons of Saturday Night Live. From 1990 to 1995, he performed such iconic characters as the over-the-top motivational speaker Matt Foley, Todd O’Connor of Bill Swerski’s Superfans and one of the mall-loving Gap Girls. He parlayed his SNL popularity into movie stardom with big-screen comedies like Tommy Boy and Black Sheep alongside his SNL buddy David Spade. Through it all, Farley struggled with both his weight and drug use — he died of an overdose in Chicago on Dec. 18, 1997.

Phil Hartman (1948-1998) 

Though the Saturday Night Live universe has certainly seen its fair share of tragic deaths, arguably none was more shocking than the loss of Phil Hartman, an endlessly versatile comic who was nicknamed “Glue” by his SNL cast mates for keeping everyone together during his eight seasons on the show. On May 28, 1998, Hartman was fatally shot while sleeping in his bed by his wife Brynn Omdahl, with whom he had a tumultuous marriage due to Omdahl’s drug and alcohol abuse, before she turned the gun on herself. Hartman was 49 years old. A special episode of Saturday Night Live commemorating Hartman’s work on the show aired on June 13, 1998.

Charles Rocket (1949-2005) 

Following the big exodus of many of the show’s original cast members in 1980, actor-comedian Charles Rocket joined the SNL cast for one season from 1980 until 1981. However, he was dismissed after accidentally dropping an F-bomb during a Dallas-themed bit. Rocket would continue on in the comedy world with films like Dumb and Dumber, Hocus Pocus and Earth Girls are Easy. The performer tragically died by suicide on Oct. 7, 2005 in Canterbury, Connecticut; he was 56 years old.

Related: 5 Recent ‘SNL’ Sketches We’d Like to See Return for Season 50

Tom Davis (1952-2012) 

Best known for his comedy partnership with Al Franken, as half of the funny duo “Franken & Davis,” Tom Davis was one of the original writers on Saturday Night Live and frequently appeared alongside Franken in sketches as a performer, popping up in 153 episodes over the decades. Davis was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer in 2009; he passed from the disease three years later at age 59 on July 19, 2012 in Hudson, New York.

Don Pardo (1918-2014) 

Few voices are as iconic and instantly recognizable in the world of comedy as that of Don Pardo. The voice actor was the official announcer for Saturday Night Live for 38 seasons, kicking off the credits of each episode with his signature booming voice from the show’s debut on October 11, 1975 to his death in August 18, 2014 at age 96. (Longtime SNL member Darrell Hammond succeeded Pardo as the program’s announcer after his passing.) Pardo was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame in 2010, the only announcer to be so honored.

Jan Hooks (1957-2014) 

After initially getting passed over for Joan Cusack by Saturday Night Live head honcho Lorne Michaels in 1985, Jan Hooks was given a second chance at SNL stardom the following year, serving as a repertory player until 1991. Throughout her time on the show, Hooks offered up original characters like Candy Sweeney of The Sweeney Sisters as well as impersonations of everyone from Betty Ford to Bette Davis. She also appeared on popular comedy series like Designing Women, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Simpsons and 30 Rock, playing the mother of Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) in the latter as one of her final acting roles. Hooks succumbed to throat cancer at age 57 on Oct. 9, 2014 in Woodstock.

George Coe (1929-2015) 

Actor-comedian George Coe had a strange history with Saturday Night Live. Alongside legends like Gilda Radner and John Belushi, Coe was an original member of the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” original cast of SNL, but he’s only credited as a cast member for the first episode on Oct. 11, 1975. However, his TV credits span decades, with series like The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, The West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy and most notably the FX animated series Archer, in which he voiced the character of Woodhouse. When Coe died at age 86 on July 18, 2015, the eighth season of Archer was dedicated to him.

Tony Rosato (1954-2017) 

A sketch series staple, Italy-born Tony Rosato starred on both SCTV in Canada as well as Saturday Night Live stateside, joining the cast of the latter for the 1981-1982 season and being the first non-American or Canadian to ever star in the program. Though his tenure was short, it was memorable thanks to characters like Captain Kangaroo and Ed Asner’s Lou Grant. Rosato died of a heart attack on Jan. 10, 2017, at the age of 62. SNL paid tribute to the former star by dedicating the Jan. 14, 2017 episode to him.

Norm Macdonald (1959-2021) 

Known for his deadpan delivery and eccentric humor, Norm Macdonald was a writer and cast member on SNL from 1993 to 1998 and notably manned the Weekend Update desk for three and a half seasons. His time as Weekend Update anchor was cut short when he was fired for regularly mocking O.J. Simpson during his murder trial, a dismissal he humorously brought up in his opening monologue when he returned to Studio 8H as guest host in October 1999. Post-SNL, Macdonald went on to headline several of his own shows, including the ABC sitcom Norm and the Netflix talk show Norm Macdonald Has a Show, as well as stand-up specials, including the 2022 Emmy nominee Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special. The beloved comedian died from acute leukemia on Sept. 14, 2021 at age 61.

Peter Aykroyd (1955-2021) 

The younger brother of fellow SNL star Dan Aykroyd, Peter Aykroyd was a cast member and writer during the show’s fifth season, from 1979 to 1980. He collaborated with his famous older bro several times over the years, including the 1991 horror comedy Nothing But Trouble, the 1993 sci-fi comedy Coneheads and the Canadian sci-fi show Psi Factor. Peter died from sepsis caused by an untreated abdominal hernia on Nov. 6, 2021 in Spokane, Washington; he was 65 years old. Saturday Night Live included a title card tributing the show alum two weeks later.

Gilbert Gottfried (1955-2022) 

You’d be forgiven if you didn’t know Gilbert Gottfried was once a Saturday Night Live star. During his 12-episode tenure on the show, he rarely utilized the two physical hallmarks that would come to define his comedy persona: squinting and squawking. That exaggeratedly shrill voice would come in handy post-SNL, in a successful voice-acting career that includes Aladdin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Superman: The Animated Series. On April 12, 2022 at 67 years old, Gottfried died of recurrent ventricular tachycardia, a cardiovascular disorder.

Dan Vitale (1956-2023) 

Alongside the likes of Al Franken and Damon Wayans, Dan Vitale was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live for Season 11. However, he was only credited in three episodes, having been fired in February 1986 only two months into his run due to drug and alcohol abuse. Vitale followed his brief SNL career with regular stand-up appearances at New York comedy clubs and starred in a one-man show in 2006 called Live from Rehab, It’s Dan Vitale. He died on May 6, 2022.

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