Editing Gilda Radner (section)

=== Roles in films ===
In 1980, Radner's contract with ''SNL'' expired<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Haas |first=Al |date=September 20, 1980 |title=Gilda Radner fightening self by embarking on acting career |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lima-news-gilda-radner-fightening-se/164588645/ |access-date=February 3, 2025 |work=The Lima News |pages=21}}</ref> and she left the show, along with Lorne Michaels and the rest of the cast.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lifton |first=Dave |date=May 24, 2020 |title=40 Years Ago: Last Original Cast Members Leave 'SNL' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/last-original-snl-cast-members/ |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |language=en}}</ref> After leaving, Radner pursued new acting opportunities.<ref name=":5" />

Radner's first film after leaving the show was 1980's ''[[First Family (film)|First Family]]'', with [[Bob Newhart]] and [[Madeline Kahn]], in which Radner played the sexually frustrated daughter of the [[President of the United States]].<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, N.C |pages=162 |language=en}}</ref> The film was unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Ronald L. |title=Who's who in comedy: comedians, comics, and clowns from vaudeville to today's stand-ups |date=1992 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=978-0-8160-2338-7 |location=New York |pages=388 |language=en}}</ref> In 1982, she appeared in the [[Sidney Poitier]] directed film ''[[Hanky Panky (1982 film)|Hanky Panky]]'', alongside [[Gene Wilder]]. Subsequently, she would appear in two more films with Wilder, 1984's [[The Woman in Red (1984 film)|''The Woman in Red'']], and 1986's ''[[Haunted Honeymoon]].'' The three films were not particularly successful, though ''The Woman in Red'' performed adequately at the box office, and had the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] winning song "[[I Just Called to Say I Love You]]" by [[Stevie Wonder]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Killoran |first=Ellen |title=Gene Wilder: The Gilda Radner Years |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenkilloran/2016/08/29/gene-wilder-the-gilda-radner-years/ |access-date=February 9, 2025 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> In her autobiography, Radner described ''Hanky Panky'' as "not-too-successful,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radner |first=Gilda |title=It's Always Something |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-671-63868-9 |location=Sydney ; New York |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref> ''The Woman in Red'' as "a nice enough success,"<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=Sydney ; New York |pages=31 |language=en}}</ref> and ''Haunted Honeymoon'' as "a bomb....a box-office disaster."<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}}</ref>

Radner's ''SNL'' castmate [[Laraine Newman]] said in a 2018 interview that she believed Radner's movie career had turned out to be mostly disappointing.<ref name="jweekly1">{{Cite news|url= https://www.jweekly.com/2018/09/20/love-gilda-reveals-the-pain-and-persistence-behind-the-laughter/| title='Love, Gilda' reveals the pain and persistence behind the laughter|last=Fox|first=Michael|date=September 20, 2018|work=The Jewish News of Northern California|access-date=March 9, 2020}}</ref> According to Newman, this was because directors and producers did not know how to cast Radner in roles where her talents could best shine. "The specific nature of her talent was she did characters, and she would probably have been better served if she had taken part in writing the things that she did," Newman asserted. "But I don't think it occurred to her. If she and Alan Zweibel had collaborated on a feature, it might have been a whole different thing."<ref name="jweekly1" />