Saturday Night Live Cast Members - Deceased Cast Members

Deceased Cast Members

Although SNL is best known as the launchpad for many successful careers, eight cast members have died prematurely. This has given rise to a superstition known as the "Saturday Night Live Curse".

Two cast members have died of a drug overdose at the age of 33, in parallel situations. John Belushi and Chris Farley overdosed from a "speedball," an injection of cocaine and heroin. Belushi's death led to the conviction of Cathy Smith for administering the fatal injection. Nearly four years before Belushi's death, SNL aired a short sketch titled Don't Look Back In Anger featuring an elderly Belushi as the last living of the "not ready for prime time" cast members. Farley's death occurred nearly two months after he came back to host SNL, which turned out to be his final television appearance.

Yep, they all thought I'd be the first to go. I was one of those live-fast, die-young, leave-a-good-looking-corpse types, you know? —John Belushi

Original cast member Gilda Radner died on May 20, 1989 from ovarian cancer. Radner was originally scheduled to host the show's thirteenth season finale, a first for a former female cast member, but the show was canceled due to a Writer's Guild of America strike. Radner's health worsened the following year. Shortly before the fourteenth season finale, news came of Radner's death, and Steve Martin delivered his visibly shaken monologue, followed by the sketch called "Dancing in the Dark" that he and Radner performed on an episode he hosted in 1978, and a musical tribute to Radner performed by her former husband G. E. Smith and the SNL Band.

Danitra Vance, a cast member during its eleventh season, died on August 21, 1994, three years after her breast cancer was put in remission.

Original cast member and writer Michael O'Donoghue died on November 8, 1994 of a cerebral hemorrhage after suffering from severe chronic migraine headaches for most of his life. Bill Murray honored O'Donoghue's memory in an appearance on the twentieth season episode (hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker with musical guest R.E.M.) by replaying O'Donoghue's sketch, "Mr. Mike's Least Loved Bedtime Stories: The Soiled Kimono" from December 1977.

Phil Hartman, a long-time veteran cast member between 1986 and 1994, was killed on May 28, 1998 by his wife Brynn while he slept in his Encino, California home. Before committing the act, Brynn consumed a combination of cocaine, alcohol, and the antidepressant drug Zoloft, and later shot herself.

Doumanian-era performer Charles Rocket was found dead on October 7, 2005 in his Canterbury, Connecticut backyard. Local police ruled his death a suicide. Rocket had allegedly taken his own life by slashing his throat with a box cutter.

Tom Davis, a cast member and writer for the show's first five years, died on July 19, 2012, after a three-year battle with throat and neck cancer. Davis is now the oldest and latest SNL cast member to die prematurely, as well as the third cast member to die of cancer, and the first male cast member to die of cancer.