Gilmore Girls Actress Kelly Bishop shares how she learned about co-star Edward Herrmann’s cancer: ‘I Just Happened to Come Across…’
Trigger Warning: The article contains mention of death
Gilmore Girls star Kelly Bishop remembers receiving the news about her late co-star Edward Herrmann battling brain cancer. Bishop and Herrmann shared a strong friendship offscreen, and their onscreen chemistry was highly praised.
In her recently published memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl, Bishop shared her reaction to finding out about Herrmann’s diagnosis. In an excerpt from her book, Bishop mentioned how she was taken aback when she saw a headline about the Overboard actor while reading the newspaper.
The Dirty Dancing star wrote in her memoir, “I hadn’t even known he was sick until one day, just a couple of weeks before he died.”
She went on to say, “I was reading Page Six of the New York Post… when I saw a brief article about some issues between Ed and his business manager. I was just scanning when I read the words, ‘Herrmann, 71, who is battling brain cancer…'”
Bishop also mentioned how she stared at those words for almost 10 minutes, hoping that she had misread the article. She confessed that she desperately wished for the news to be false. The Bunheads actress revealed, “When I couldn’t deny the truth anymore, it felt like a devastating blow to the gut.”
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On the other hand, Edward Herrmann never publicly disclosed his cancer diagnosis. The actor passed away in 2014 after his battle with the disease. Following his death, his wife and manager released a statement to inform his fans and well-wishers. After learning about Herrmann’s illness, Kelly Bishop mentioned that she attempted to contact his wife.
However, as she didn’t know Herrmann’s wife well, she reached out to Lauren Graham and Amy Sherman-Palladino instead. Graham played Herrmann’s onscreen daughter in Gilmore Girls, while Sherman-Palladino is the show’s creator. Bishop shared that both were equally shocked by the news.
The actress said, “We struggled to find the right words beyond, ‘Oh my God,’ and ‘Please, let this not be true.'”
Edward Herrmann played Richard Gilmore, while Bishop portrayed Emily Gilmore in the show. The series aired for seven seasons and is available for streaming on Netflix.
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