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Anne Beatts Dies: Pioneering 'Saturday Night Live' Writer, 'Square Pegs' Creator Was 74
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/anne-beatts-dies-pioneering-saturday-174114107.html
Greg Evans
Thu, April 8, 2021, 1:41 PM·5 min read
Anne Beatts, an original Saturday Night Live writer who created some of the show’s earliest breakthrough characters, among them the nerdy high schoolers Todd DiLaMuca and Lisa Loopner, died yesterday. She was 74.
Her death was announced in a tweet by SNL original cast member Laraine Newman. A cause of death has not been disclosed..
Beatts, who also created the 1982 CBS sitcom Square Pegs starring Sarah Jessica Parker, began her career in comedy writing with a stint at National Lampoon magazine, becoming the Harvard Lampoon spin-off’s first female editor. She wrote one of the magazine’s most notorious spoofs – an ad for the Volkswagen Beetle that featured a photograph of the floating automobile with the copy line, “If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he’d be President today.” Volkswagen sued, ensuring the parody’s notoriety beyond the magazine’s readership.
While at the Lampoon, she met and began a romantic relationship with writer Michael O’Donoghue, and the two would soon take part in the development of Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live.
-/snip-
Greg Evans
Thu, April 8, 2021, 1:41 PM·5 min read
Anne Beatts, an original Saturday Night Live writer who created some of the show’s earliest breakthrough characters, among them the nerdy high schoolers Todd DiLaMuca and Lisa Loopner, died yesterday. She was 74.
Her death was announced in a tweet by SNL original cast member Laraine Newman. A cause of death has not been disclosed..
Beatts, who also created the 1982 CBS sitcom Square Pegs starring Sarah Jessica Parker, began her career in comedy writing with a stint at National Lampoon magazine, becoming the Harvard Lampoon spin-off’s first female editor. She wrote one of the magazine’s most notorious spoofs – an ad for the Volkswagen Beetle that featured a photograph of the floating automobile with the copy line, “If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he’d be President today.” Volkswagen sued, ensuring the parody’s notoriety beyond the magazine’s readership.
While at the Lampoon, she met and began a romantic relationship with writer Michael O’Donoghue, and the two would soon take part in the development of Lorne Michaels’ Saturday Night Live.
-/snip-
One of my comedy heroes.
Cross gently, Anne. 
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I’ve forgotten the name. And yes, she was an icon. A pioneer. May she cross easy.
