Jan Hooks
Hooks at the 1988Emmy Awards
Born	Janet Vivian Hooks (1957-04-23)April 23, 1957 Decatur, Georgia, U.S.
Died	October 9, 2014(2014-10-09) (aged 57) Woodstock, New York, U.S.
Occupations	Actress comedian
Years active	1980–2014

Janet Vivian Hooks^[1][2] (April 23, 1957 – October 9, 2014) was an American actress and comedian. She was best known for her tenure on theNBCsketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live, where she was a repertory player from 1986 to 1991. After leavingSNL, she continued to make cameo appearances until 1994. Her subsequent work included a regular role on the last two seasons ofDesigning Women, a recurring role on3rd Rock from the Sun, and a number of other film and television roles, including on30 Rock andThe Simpsons.^[3] She died of complications of throat cancer on October 9, 2014 at the age of 57.

Hooks was born and raised inDecatur, Georgia, where she attended Canby Lane Elementary School andTowers High School. In 1974, her junior year, she moved toFort Myers, Florida area, when her father, aSears employee, was transferred. She attendedCypress Lake High School, inFt. Myers, Florida, made her stage debut in a play there, and graduated in 1975. She attendedEdison State College where she majored in theatre, but left to pursue acting full-time.^[4]

Hooks began her career as a member of theLos Angeles-based comedy troupethe Groundlings and in anAtlanta nightclub act called the Wit's End Players,^[5] a continuation of theDick Van Dyke and Phil Erickson troupe Merry Mutes,^[6][7] which also includedJoanne Daniels.

From 1980 to 1981, Hooks appeared inBill Tush'sTush onTed Turner's television station,WTBS, which eventually becameTBS.^[8]

In 1983,Victoria Jackson,Arsenio Hall,Vic Dunlop,Barry Diamond,John Moschitta Jr.,John Paragon, and Hooks appeared onDick Clark's andChris Bearde's short-lived NBC seriesThe 1/2 Hour Comedy Hour.^[9]

In 1983-1984,^[10] Hooks gained attention on theHBO comedy seriesNot Necessarily the News^[11] and made guest appearances onComedy Tonight and the 1985syndicated TV showComedy Break with Mack &Jamie, withKevin Pollak.^[12][13] In 1985, she made her film debut inPee-wee's Big Adventure as a tour guide at theAlamo. She would later appear in theGoldie Hawn filmWildcats (1986).

In 1985, Hooks met with producerLorne Michaels about a spot onSaturday Night Live, but was passed over in favor ofJoan Cusack.^[13][14] After the show's1985–86 season was deemed a ratings disaster and the show was slated for cancellation, Michaels offered Hooks another chance. This time, despite a six-minute audition she called "brutal", she was offered a contract along with fellow new recruitsDana Carvey,Phil Hartman,Victoria Jackson andKevin Nealon for the show's1986–87 season. They helped lead the show to asustained ratings increase and a return to the national spotlight.^[13][15] Hooks's characters included Candy Sweeney ofthe Sweeney Sisters.^[16] She also played famous political wives of the era, includingNancy Reagan,Hillary Clinton,Kitty Dukakis,Betty Ford, andElizabeth Dole,^[17][18][19] and did notable impressions ofBette Davis,Sinéad O'Connor,Tammy Faye Bakker,Ivana Trump,Kathie Lee Gifford, andDiane Sawyer.^[18]

I had a huge ego. I just loved anybody that wanted me to show my stuff. I will do it. Oh man, let me go out there and show my stuff. And in my mid-twenties, it kind of hit that it wasn't a hobby anymore, that it was my vocation, that I had to do this in order to live. And that shaded it in a whole different way. It made me afraid, you know....The show changed my life, obviously. But I have horrible stage fright. And with all these, you know, stand-up comics who I love — you know,Dana andDennis andKevin and all these people — you know they wanted their shot, they wanted to get in there and do it, but I was one of the ones that betweendress andair was sitting in the corner going, "Please cut everything I'm in!" — Jan Hooks, inLive From New York (2002/2014)^[20]

Tiring of the stress of performing on a live show, Hooks leftSNL in 1991 after being asked byLinda Bloodworth-Thomason to replaceJean Smart on theCBS sitcomDesigning Women. Hooks played Carlene Dobber for the show's final two seasons. She also continued to make occasional appearances onSNL through 1994, usually playing Hillary Clinton.

Hooks continued to work in supporting roles and guest appearances for several years, but with declining frequency. She had a recurring role as Vicki Dubcek on3rd Rock from the Sun, which earned her anEmmy Award nomination. She guest-starred on twoMatt Groening-produced cartoons for theFox Broadcasting Company: six episodes ofThe Simpsons between 1997 and 2002, as Apu's wife Manjula (althoughTress MacNeille sometimes substituted for her, and eventually replaced her),^[21] and in theFuturama episode "Bendless Love", as the voice of the robot Angleyne. She starred as Dixie Glick in the seriesPrimetime Glick and the movieJiminy Glick in Lalawood. She had small parts in several other movies, includingBatman Returns (1992) as Jen, thePenguin's image consultant during his campaign to become mayor ofGotham City. Her final on-screen appearances were in two episodes of30 Rock in 2010, playingJenna Maroney's mother, Verna. She guest-starred in the 2013The Cleveland Show episode "Mr. and Mrs. Brown", her final acting job.

According to a 2014Grantland article about her career and death, Hooks's anxiety about acting and passive approach to her career led to her missing out on prestigious auditions and lucrative acting roles. Hooks turned down a role in the 2003 television filmThe Music Man (which went toMolly Shannon) and declined to reprise herSNL sketch "The Sweeney Sisters" withNora Dunn in a special appearance atCarnegie Hall in 2014. Hooks's friendBill Tush speculated that her drinking had made her indifferent toward her career, but also said she might not have wanted more money or fame. Another friend said that Hooks had decided to work only enough to keep herScreen Actors Guild health insurance.^[3]

Following Hooks' death,Tina Fey said that she was angry that Hooks had not had a more successful career, adding that Hooks had been a bigger star onSNL thanRob Schneider and should have had at least as big of a film career as he did.^[22] However, Hooks's friend, film criticAnn Hornaday, said, "It's not like she had doors slammed in her face. A lot of times, she wouldn't even get as far as the door [by] her own choice."^[3]

Hooks was datingKevin Nealon when they were both hired bySaturday Night Live.^[23]

Hooks's doctor had advised her to stop drinking due to liver damage, but according to friend Bill Tush, "she paid him no heed" and did not quit. She was diagnosed withleukemia in February 2009, which was treated over several months and went into remission that May. In April 2014, Hooks discovered a bump on her throat. A biopsy confirmed she had throat cancer, and Hooks was treated atMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The tumor was deemed unresponsive tochemotherapy and continued to grow. Doctors said the only remaining option was a totallaryngectomy, which Hooks declined. She arranged for hospice care and used prescription drugs, wine, and cigarettes to manage the pain. Her ability to speak, eat, and breathe declined.^[3]

Hooks died of throat cancer complications on October 9, 2014, at age 57.^[1][7][3] Her remains were interred in Northview Cemetery inCedartown, Georgia.^[1]

The Simpsons episode "Super Franchise Me" memorialized her on October 12, 2014, with her longtime characterManjula Nahasapeemapetilon honored in the credits.^[24]

SNL paid tribute to Hooks in the third episode of its 40th season on October 11, 2014. Guest hostBill Hader andKristen Wiig introduced a tribute in whichSNL re-aired a short she had filmed withPhil Hartman in 1988, "Love Is a Dream".^[25] This short film had also been re-aired to honor Hartman following his death in 1998. It is described as "a sweet and melodramatic tribute to the 1948 film "The Emperor Waltz", which was directed byBilly Wilder and starredBing Crosby andJoan Fontaine.^[26] The scene casts Hooks as an aging woman who vanishes into her own imagination to sing and share a dance with a long-lost lover (Hartman). Hooks and Hartman appear tolip-sync to the original singing voices from the 1948 film. One critic wrote that the "Jan Hooks tribute showed that Jan did not need to be funny in order to captivate the attention of her audience", as Hooks and Hartman were known to be quiet and reserved off screen.^[27]

• Saturday Night Live parodies of Hillary Clinton

• Jan Hooks atIMDb
• Jan Hooks atFind a Grave

• 1957 births
• 2014 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American actresses
• Actresses from Georgia (U.S. state)
• American film actresses
• American impressionists (entertainers)
• American sketch comedians
• American television actresses
• American voice actresses
• American women comedians
• Deaths from throat cancer in New York (state)
• People from Decatur, Georgia
• University of West Florida alumni
• 20th-century American comedians
• 21st-century American comedians
• Comedians from Georgia (U.S. state)

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