But in this terrible situation, they were also a dysfunctional family not able to accept the fact that Gay was dying.
"We would do a scene and when it ended, you wouldn't hear Bob yell, `Cut.Ī happy Jewish clan, the Sagets had trouble facing up to the dreadful truth when Gay was told she was going to die. I was devastated for Bob because it was his sister's story and it was very hard for him sometimes, but also because of my own sister. "But it wasn't only Barbra's problems that put me in an emotional state.
Here I am shooting a movie about the true story of how a young woman died from this horrible disease and I've just found out that my sister has it. The anguished actress recalls: "I was going through a kind of devastation making this film.
So we both just ignored it.īut a few months later, when Bergen landed her role in tonight's drama, she realized where she had heard the name of the weird-sounding disease before.īergen, who reteamed with Mitchum for her Emmy-nominated performance as his wife in the classic TV miniseries "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance," recalls: "I phoned Barbra and said, `Listen, I'm reading this script about scleroderma and I don't think we should kid around with this.Īfter Bergen's moment of realization, her stricken sister immediately consulted a scleroderma specialist in Santa Barbara, Calif. "Naturally, neither Barbra or I had ever heard of it. "She finally told me that a doctor had told her she could have this thing called scleroderma. "She'd been complaining for about a year of not feeling well and about the fact that her legs felt funny.
In extreme cases of this most mysterious of illnesses, victims not only endure their skin hardening to the point where they are unable to bend their limbs they must also suffer appalling pain as their internal organs fossilize in the same awful way.īergen, who co-starred with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in the original "Cape Fear" movie, says: "My sister called me about six months before I ever heard of `For Hope. In a terrible twist of irony, the 66-year-old actress was auditioning for her role when her sister Barbra, 57, was finally diagnosed as having the disease. Gay Saget died three years ago, at age 42, after losing a five-year battle against scleroderma the disease that slowly and agonizingly turns its victims' skin and internal organs to stone.įor the cast of "For Hope," watching Saget re-create the tragedy of his sister's life was a painful experience.īut none found it more painful than veteran actress Polly Bergen, who plays Saget and Gay's mom. Saget is survived by his wife Kelly Rizzo children Aubrey Saget, Jennifer Belle Saget and Lara Melanie Saget and ex-wife Sherri Kramer.The wisecracking presenter moves behind the cameras to direct a harrowing film based on the tragic real-life story of his older sister. His sister, Gay Saget, was diagnosed with scleroderma and died in 1993, Variety reported. Saget was also a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation and raised money to help fight the autoimmune disease. Saget also hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos” from 1989 untl 1997, and narrated CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” throughout its nine-season run that ended in 2014, the entertainment news outlet reported. The fan-favorite also spawned the Netflix sequel series, “Fuller House,” which ran for five seasons and saw Saget reprise his role as Danny Tanner in 10 of the program’s 75 episodes between 20, Variety reported.
“Full House” ran for eight seasons and 192 episodes from 1987 to 1994, reaching more than 17 million viewers during its peak in Season 5.
Despite his “squeaky-clean image” on “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Saget’s “raunchy, profanity-laden stand-up routines” catered to more adult audiences, the newspaper reported. TMZ was the first to report Saget’s death.Īccording to The New York Times, Saget was born in Philadelphia, and graduated from Temple University in 1978, before building his following in comedy clubs.