Anne Beatts Dead: Original 'SNL' Writer, 'Square Pegs' Creator was 74

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Anne Beatts, a pioneering feminine comedy author who helped launch “Saturday Evening Reside” and created the Eighties cult-favorite sitcom “Sq. Pegs,” died Wednesday at her house in West Hollywood. She was 74.

Beatts’ dying was confirmed by her longtime good friend Rona Edwards.

Beatts was a revered determine in comedy circles given her lengthy resume. She and then-writing accomplice Rosie Shuster have been among the many only a few girls to work on “SNL” on the time of its debut in 1975 on NBC. Beatts was additionally the primary feminine contributing editor to Nationwide Lampoon.

Within the early Eighties, Beatts created the CBS comedy “Sq. Pegs,” which was a launching pad for Sarah Jessica Parker. The sequence that revolved round a gaggle of awkward highschool college students was embraced by critics as a breath of recent air for TV on the time, reflecting the burgeoning youth tradition of the Eighties. However the present was canceled resulting from low rankings after a one-season run in 1982-83.

Engaged on the primary 5 seasons of “SNL,” Beatts and Shuster created a number of the most memorable early sketches and characters together with Todd and Lisa Lupner, Uncle Roy, Laraine Newman’s Youngster Psychiatrist, Irwin Mainway and Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute. Beatts returned to “SNL” in 1999 to seek the advice of on the twenty fifth anniversary particular.

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In 1995, Beatts served as showrunner of “The Stephanie Miller Present,” a syndicated late-night strip that ran for one season.

In recent times Beatts labored as an teacher at Chapman College’s Dodge Faculty of Movie and Media Arts. She was a extensively revealed creator, essayist and columnist. She penned a humor column that ran within the Los Angeles Instances’ Sunday version from 1997-98. Among the many books she helped write or co-edit have been “Saturday Evening Reside” (Avon, 1977), “Titters: The First Assortment of Humor by Ladies” (Macmillan, 1976), and “Titters 101” (Putnam’s, 1984), and co-authored “The Mother E book” (Dell, 1986).

She additionally additionally wrote for Broadway productions “Gilda: Reside” the Tony-nominated musical “Chief of the Pack.”

After her “SNL” years, Beatts remained shut with Judy Belushi, widow of the “SNL” celebrity who died in 1982. Beatts and Judy Belushi developed an animated sequence and different properties tied to “The Blues Brothers” characters that Belushi and his comedy accomplice, Dan Aykroyd, created.

Authentic “SNL” star Laraine Newman paid tribute to Beatts on Twitter as phrase of her dying surfaced on Thursday.