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00:00In 1996, Madeleine joined Bill Cosby and Felicia Rashad in the cast of CBS's Cosby.
00:06It's very refreshing to have a show that's doing this well. I've never been on television this long in my
00:11entire life.
00:12Ladies, please, let's not get hysterical.
00:14Well, ladies, ladies, ladies getting hysterical.
00:17Oh, oh, I see. Oh, oh, oh, oh, I see. Oh, I see.
00:21This is about, this is about us being women.
00:24And this is about you not having respect for the business sense of women.
00:28My boss is a woman.
00:30Uh-huh. Well, then I know what it is.
00:32That's right.
00:33It's because we happen to be black, isn't it?
00:37Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
00:39Work with me here, Ruth. I'm trying to keep the guy here and I'm running out of ideas.
00:43She didn't know why people were laughing half the time because she was so serious.
00:49But that's what made it funny.
00:51She really believed every moment of her performance.
00:55While shooting the second season of Cosby, Madeline was handed the script for Judy Berlin, a small independent film by
01:02first-time director Eric Mendelson.
01:04She was very explicit why she agreed to do this film. Obviously, it wasn't anything to do with money.
01:11She loved the script and she loved Alice Gold. She loved the character. And she wanted to make sure I
01:17did.
01:17The spirit and the energy of the young people making the film just energized her and revitalized her and she
01:24loved it. She was the happiest I've ever seen her.
01:29That happiness was short-lived. While vacationing on Fire Island in September of 1998, Madeline felt bloated and uncomfortable.
01:37She and John immediately returned to the city for Madeline to see her doctor. Nothing could prepare them for the
01:43news.
01:45They found that it was cancer and it had spread. And so they operated right away.
01:53Madeline was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer and had an immediate hysterectomy.
01:58She told no one but her family and close friends. She began chemotherapy but quickly decided to return to Cosby.
02:06She came back and she finished out that season. And we understood that that wasn't necessarily the easiest thing for
02:13her to do.
02:14But she did it and she'd come in and she'd do the work that she had to do.
02:19Never complaining about anything. Never complaining about fatigue. So happy to be working.
02:27Cosby was renewed and despite her illness, Madeline returned for the third season.
02:31She was delighted by the casting of Robert Klein as her love interest.
02:35She said she felt fine. She was fine. Everything was fine. This was a great job and all that.
02:41But I think that she already knew that she was sick then and as it turns out and didn't want
02:47to say anything.
02:48Maddie didn't really want to share the fact that she was ill. She is a very private person.
02:55While still working on Cosby, chemotherapy ultimately made Madeline lose her hair.
03:01She didn't just have to wear a wig. She had to put on her eyebrows and her eyelashes.
03:06Draw them in very carefully when she got up in the morning.
03:10Four episodes into the fourth season of Cosby, Madeline was forced to stop working.
03:15It was August of 1999. She would remain in the hospital until November.
03:19Her brother came to be by her side.
03:23It's so strange that some of the best times we ever had in our entire life together was in that
03:29hospital room just sitting together.
03:32He just treated her like he was her father, you know, that she never had.
03:42You go through this terrible process and you know someone so intimately that way.
03:47And then at the end, then you should have the rest of your life kind of too.
03:53Enjoy the fruits of this hard process.
04:00In this case, I don't.
04:03After a 10-year committed relationship, Madeline and John decided it was time to get married.
04:09I asked her in the hospital, and she said to me, she said,
04:15Gee, I must be very sick if you're asking me to get married.
04:19And I said, No, no, no, that's not why.
04:25So she said yes.
04:29They got married in Madeline's hospital room on October 10, 1999,
04:33with just her brother Jeff and the minister in attendance.
04:36On November 4, Madeline went public with her battle.
04:40She wanted to use this event as something that was just not going to draw attention to her,
04:46but something that was going to give back to people to raise their consciousness and awareness of a disease
04:53that is undetectable until it's almost too late.
05:00I kind of was in denial, and I was like, No, she'll be fine. She's going to get better.
05:05And I think she was too.
05:07She became like a samurai. She just was going to fight this.
05:13She was not going to back down.
05:16I really always thought that she would make it because she was such a fighter.
05:21She fought to her very last breath.
05:24Madeline lost her battle on December 3, 1999.
05:28All I could think about was Madeline as pure light.
05:38I remember feeling light has returned to light.
05:43I wish I could have maybe made her laugh in the late stage of stuff,
05:51but that's not the way she wanted it.
05:54And my goodness, when you're fading, you should at least be able to choose how you do it.
06:00And I guess she did that with the same dignity and privacy that she did everything else.
06:08Bill announced to the writers that the next show would be a tribute to Madeline.
06:15Loving Madeline aired on December 29 at the request of Bill Cosby.
06:21He said, No, we will not be replacing Madeline because Madeline cannot be replaced.
06:28And there'll be no explanation of her absence.
06:31Everyone carries her inside.
06:34Everyone loves her.
06:36Her dressing room was left intact.
06:41The entire time Madeline was sick, Judy Berlin had been making the rounds of film festivals.
06:47I said, Oh, Madeline, you know, we had a great time at this festival.
06:49And I have to tell you, they were screaming for you.
06:53And she said, Oh, you know, it's great.
06:54Because sometimes I remember that while I'm here in my little dark space,
06:59I'm attached to this big bright light called Judy Berlin.
07:02And it's going around the world to festivals.
07:04And I'm so proud of my performance.
07:07Who's your best lady, Art?
07:10I'll be home later.
07:11No, come on, Art.
07:14What?
07:16Come on, who's your best lady?
07:20You are.
07:22No, come on, for real.
07:24Oh, for Christ.
07:28My best lady?
07:30Oh, Mrs. Wasserman across the street.
07:33Oh, you are so mean.
07:35Oh, my paramour.
07:41I'll be home later.
07:50She said, That's how I wanted to represent myself.
07:54The premiere of Madeline's final film was held on February 24th, 2000.
08:00The producers of the film wanted to honor Madeline Kahn.
08:06So they decided to dedicate the premiere of Judy Berlin to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund in memory of Madeline
08:12Kahn to help really realize her dream of advancing research.
08:16Cast members, Madeline's friends, family, and celebrities were out in full force for Judy Berlin's poignant premiere.
08:24Oh, Madeline Kahn, we worship you, we worship you.
08:27We still do.
08:28I just think she's so talented and so wonderful at what she does.
08:33She doesn't skip a beat.
08:35Her Marlene Dietrich song in Blazing Saddles was about as good as anything anybody ever did.
08:40Throughout the star-studded celebration, the message was not lost.
08:45Ovarian cancer is one of the most difficult diseases to detect because there is no effective method of early detection.
08:51There is no equivalent to a mammogram, to a pap test, bloating, abdominal swelling, fatigue.
08:58Symptoms that women experience on a daily basis makes the disease so, so challenging to diagnose.
09:05Madeline's legacy lives on in her classic body of work.
09:08John and Jeff have adopted a bench in the Central Park she loved.
09:12The plaque reads, In Loving Memory of Madeline Kahn.
09:16A gala celebration of her life was held at Lincoln Center.
09:19And the memories will always remain in the hearts of those who loved her.
09:26She's one of those special people that can make you laugh and can make things magical.
09:32She appreciated every moment in life.
09:34God decided to create Madeline Kahn.
09:37I just don't think that she ever realized what she meant to the world.
09:42Madeline Kahn was an icon.
09:44You race over all these memories.
09:47I wish you could just recapture all those times.
09:49She was able to be Madeline Kahn.
09:52I miss her.
09:54There is not a day or a week or something when I, something doesn't remind me of her, her take
10:03-off, you know, her nasality.
10:08True.
10:10You know, and you think you'd cry because she's dead and she saw you, but you laugh.
10:14You laugh, you scream.
10:15It takes a unique combination of talent and drive and luck to be a successful performer.
10:23And Madeline had those three things.
10:26And she used to say, it's an accident that I'm here, that I've had this long career.
10:31There were so many different aspects to it with music and film and television and the stage.
10:37It's not luck that you're talented enough to do all these things and that you've worked hard enough to make
10:44yourself available for them.
10:48She never said it, but she could have said to people, you ain't seen nothing yet.
10:55I'm not having the 장o.
10:56I'm not having the 놓una movie because of you.
10:56I like Loewat Commerz 근데 paid taxes on, which are my odds is to cover the event.
10:56Yeah, that feels weird.
10:57What love did that talk about the health care room instead?
10:57So let me know.