Susan Jane Lewis (November 30, 1952 – August 7, 2016) was an American actress, best known for co-starring as Dr. Jacqueline Wade on the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
medical drama ''
St. Elsewhere
''St. Elsewhere'' was an American medical drama television series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. The series stars Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd, and William Daniels as ...
''. Her other television credits included a multiple-episode recurring role as Judge Susan Aandahl on NBC's ''
Homicide: Life on the Street'' during the 1990s, and the television films ''
Cocaine: One Man's Seduction'' (1983) and ''Full Ride''.
Lewis was born in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...
, and raised across the river in
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...
.
[ She received her ]master of fine arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...
from the graduate acting program at the University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
.[
Lewis began acting professionally during the late 1970s.][ She met her future husband, television producer and screenwriter ]Tom Fontana
Tom Fontana (born September 12, 1951) is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer. Fontana worked on NBC's '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' and created HBO's ''Oz.''
Early life and education
Fontana was born on the west si ...
, in 1978 while auditioning at the Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. I ...
in .[ Fontana was working as an assistant to the theatre festival's ]artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...
at the time of their meeting.[
In 1980, Lewis moved to Los Angeles when Fontana became a writer on the NBC drama, ''St. Elsewhere''.][ She was soon co-starring on ''St. Elsewhere'', when the ]showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...
, Bruce Paltrow, created the role of Dr. Jacqueline Wade specifically for her.[ She appeared in several television films throughout the 1980s, including ''Cocaine: One Man's Seduction'' (1983), which starred ]Dennis Weaver
William Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until just before his death in 2006. Weave ...
, Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...
, and Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom '' The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...
.[ Lewis also appeared in the final half hour of the ]series finale
A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...
of ''M*A*S*H
''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker (auth ...
'', "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", in 1983.[
Lewis was cast in a multiple-episode recurring role as Judge Susan Aandahl on ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' from 1995 to 1999.][
Sagan Lewis and Tom Fontana married for the first time on December 18, 1982, at ceremony held at the ]Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
home of Bruce Paltrow and his wife, actress Blythe Danner
Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on ''Huff'' (2004–2006), and a ...
.[ They divorced in 1993.][ Following the divorce, Lewis moved to Maui and then to ]Sedona, Arizona
Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031. It is within the Coconino Nation ...
, where she taught at the Zaki Gordon Institute of Independent Film (now known as the Sedona Film School) and served as the program director of the Sedona International Film Festival for seven years.[ She also gave birth to her son, Jade Scott Lewis, about three years after her divorce.][
However, Lewis and Fontana later reconnected when her son went to graduate school in New York.][ Fontana proposed to her over the Christmas holiday in 2014.][ They remarried in July 2015 and remained together until her death from cancer in 2016.][ In an interview with the '']New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', published in the article "You Married Them Once, but What About Twice?" in March 2016, Lewis talked about her divorce and remarriage to Fontana, explaining, "I was sad when we split up. It was hard for both of us, but we knew it was necessary. He understood that I needed to explore other worlds." They held wedding parties in Tribeca
Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...
(New York City), Los Angeles, Omaha (her hometown), and Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
(Fontana's hometown).[ Lewis and Fontana wrote on their invitations, "After 22 years, the divorce didn't work out."][
After a six-year battle with cancer, Lewis died at her home in ]Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
on August 7, 2016, at the age of 63.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Sagan
1952 births
2016 deaths
American television actresses
American stage actresses
University of California, San Diego alumni
Actresses from Omaha, Nebraska
People from Council Bluffs, Iowa
People from Sedona, Arizona
Actresses from New York City
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
21st-century American women