Editing Gilda Radner (section)

==Early life==
Radner was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Jewish parents Henrietta (née Dworkin), a legal secretary, and Herman Radner, a businessman.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fighting for Life|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LA&p_theme=la&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EF566CE73772D91&p_field_direct-0=document_id |work=Los Angeles Daily News|date=July 11, 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/41/Gilda-Radner.html|title=Gilda Radner profile|website=Film Reference|access-date=March 11, 2009}}</ref> In Radner's autobiography, she stated, "I was named after my grandmother whose name began with ''G'', but 'Gilda' came directly from [[Gilda (film)|the movie]] with [[Glenn Ford]] and [[Rita Hayworth]]."<ref>{{cite book|author=Radner, Gilda|title=It's Always Something|url=https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1989|page=[https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn/page/92 92]|isbn=978-0-671-63868-9}}<br />Note:<br />Radner's mother's mother's name was Golda. The 1946 Rita Hayworth movie ''Gilda'' was released a few months before Radner was born.</ref>  Through her mother, Radner was a second cousin of business executive [[Steve Ballmer]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19980125/2730718/microsofts-heir-apparent|title=Business – Microsoft's Heir Apparent – Steve Ballmer|website=Seattle Times Newspaper|access-date=September 10, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064018/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980125&slug=2730718|url-status=live}}</ref> She grew up in Detroit and spent the winters in [[Miami Beach, Florida]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radner |first=Gilda |title=It's Always Something |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-671-63868-9 |location=New York, NY |pages=112 |language=en}}</ref> along with the family's nanny, Elizabeth Clementine Gillies, whom she called "Dibby" (and upon whom she based her famous character [[Emily Litella]]),<ref name=CBC90>{{cite web|url=http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainment/television/clips/16242|access-date=January 24, 2009 |title=Michaels and Radner talk SNL|publisher=[[CBC Television]]|work=[[90 Minutes Live]]|date=February 2, 1978}}</ref> and an older brother, Michael. She attended the [[University Liggett School]] in Grosse Pointe Woods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alumni Arts Hall of Fame |url=https://uls.org/alumni/alumni-arts-hall-of-fame-honorees/ |access-date=January 12, 2025 |website=University Liggett School}}</ref>

In her autobiography, ''It's Always Something'', Radner wrote that during her childhood and her young adulthood, she battled numerous [[eating disorder]]s: "I coped with stress by having every possible eating disorder from the time I was nine years old. I have weighed as much as 160 pounds and as little as 93. When I was a kid, I overate constantly. My weight distressed my mother and she took me to a doctor who put me on [[Dextroamphetamine|Dexedrine]] diet pills when I was ten years old."<ref>{{cite book|author=Radner, Gilda|title=It's Always Something|url=https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn |url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1989|page=[https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn/page/97 97]|isbn=978-0-671-63868-9}}</ref>

Radner was close to her father, who operated Detroit's Seville Hotel, where many nightclub performers and actors stayed while they were performing in the city.<ref name="saltman">{{cite book|author=Saltman, David|title=Gilda: An Intimate Portrait|location=Chicago |publisher=Contemporary Books|date=1992}}</ref> He took her on trips to New York to see [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] shows.<ref name="obit" /> As Radner wrote in ''It's Always Something'', when she was 12, her father developed a [[brain tumor]]. The first symptoms came on suddenly: he told people that his glasses were too tight.<ref name="Radner, Gilda 1989, p. 99">{{cite book|author=Radner, Gilda|title=It's Always Something |url=https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1989|page=[https://archive.org/details/itsalwayssomethiradn00radn/page/99 99]|isbn=978-0-671-63868-9}}</ref> Within days, he was bedridden and he was also unable to communicate, and he remained in that condition until he died two years later.<ref name="Radner, Gilda 1989, p. 99" /> Radner said of her father, "My dad was real funny ... he loved to sing ... and tap dance. I feel that some part of my father is back alive in me, back doing what he always wanted to do."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unterbrink |first=Mary |title=Funny women: American comediennes ; 1860 - 1985 |publisher=McFarland |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-89950-226-7 |location=Jefferson, NC |pages=160 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1964, Radner graduated from Liggett and enrolled at the [[University of Michigan]] at [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]].<ref name="JenniferDavis">{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Jennifer |title=The Story Behind 'Love, Gilda' |url=http://alumnus.alumni.umich.edu/story-love-gilda/ |access-date=October 4, 2019 |date=June 2018 |publisher=Michigan Alumnus |archive-date=October 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002153511/http://alumnus.alumni.umich.edu/story-love-gilda/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Sources vary on what she majored in; Radner said in her autobiography she majored in public speaking,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radner |first=Gilda |title=It's always something |date=1989 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-63868-9 |location=Sydney ; New York |pages=115 |language=en}}</ref> while other sources said she majored in drama<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hinds |first=Julie |title=Film about Detroit-born comedy great Gilda Radner gets hometown premiere |url=https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/2018/06/08/gilda-radner-detroit-hometown-love-gilda-documentary/680761002/ |access-date=January 25, 2025 |website=Detroit Free Press |language=en-US}}</ref> or education.<ref name="MHOF">{{cite web |title=Gilda Radner |url=http://www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/Images/Radner,%20Gilda.pdf |website=michiganwomenshalloffame.org |publisher=[[Michigan Women's Hall of Fame]] |access-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118170016/http://www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/Images/Radner,%20Gilda.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> While in college, Radner did weather reports at [[WCBN-FM|WCBN]], the university's radio station.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Littleton |first=Darryl J. |title=Comediennes: Laugh Be a Lady |publisher=Applause |others=Tuezdae Littleton |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-55783-842-1 |location=Milwaukee |pages=158 |language=en}}</ref> According to her friend [[David Saltman]] in his book ''Gilda: An Intimate Portrait,'' she would report on the weather in humorous ways, such as imitating a radio static.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saltman |first=David |title=Gilda : An Intimate Portrait |publisher=Contemporary Books |year=1992 |isbn=0809241021 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=51 |language=en}}</ref> She also took part in theater productions both on and off campus.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saltman |first=David |title=Gilda: An Intimate Portrait |publisher=Contemporary Books |year=1992 |isbn=0809241021 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=54 |language=en}}</ref>