Happy 50th ‘SNL!’ Here’s a look back at the show’s very first cast

AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Live from New York! It’s 50 seasons later for “SNL.”

The landmark NBC sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” premiered Oct. 11, 1975, with drop-dead dark humor and pratfalls, George Carlin as host and not one but two musical guests: Billy Preston and Janis Ian.

On Saturday nights, in those early years, young people gathered around TVs to watch the Lorne Michaels production that served up counterculture to the mass market via the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.

Fast forward to this year, Sept. 28, when the first episode of “SNL’s” half-century season is set to air in a lead-up to a three-hour live primetime special Feb. 16 on, gasp, a Sunday. Jean Smart will host to open the season.

Over the decades, some seasons were better than others, with breakout stars like Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell and more. So what became of the freshman “SNL” class?

John Belushi

“National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “Continental Divide,” “Neighbors” and all things The Blues Brothers. Belushi left “SNL” in 1979 to pursue music and film projects.

Following years of drug use, he died March 5, 1982, at 33 after overdosing at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Belushi’s death stunned friends and fans and symbolized the end of the hard-living ’70s.

Belushi birthed his “Joliet” Jake Blues, joining fellow “SNL” cast member Dan Aykroyd as brother Elwood. Their TV debut as the brothers blue came on “SNL” in 1978.

The sunglass-wearing, dark-suited Blues Brothers took on a fame of their own with the self-titled 1980 movie. After Belushi’s death, “Blues Brothers 2000” was released in 1998 in tribute with most of the first film’s original cast.

Gilda Radner

Nasally Roseanne Roseannadanna. Weird teen Lisa Loopner. Weekend Update’s “never mind” complainer Emily Litella. Radner contributed an endearing sweetness to the inaugural season of “SNL.” She stayed for five years.

In 1979, the Emmy and Grammy winner took to Broadway to perform a one-woman show, “Gilda Live.” Included were some of her most beloved “SNL” characters, including Baba Wawa, a spoof of Barbara Walters. The show was filmed and released as a movie.

Radner died in 1989 at 42 after a long battle with ovarian cancer. A documentary about her, “Love Gilda,” was released in 2018.

Chevy Chase

Chase was the first to utter the words: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” The first cast member to leave the show, he has a long list of post-“SNL” credits.

Initially hired as a writer, he was known on “SNL” for “Weekend Update,” his bumbling President Gerald Ford and his feuds with cast members. Bill Murray replaced Chase in the middle of season two.

In his post-“SNL” years, there were two “Fletch” movies. There was “Caddyshack,” “The Three Amigos!” and five “Vacation” movies, though his appearance in the 2015 one was a cameo.

Now 80, Chase has taken in recent years to hosting screenings with audience Q&As for the enduring “Christmas Vacation.”

Laraine Newman

She left “SNL” in 1980 after portraying Connie Conehead, Valley Girl stewardess Sherry and ditzy public access TV co-host Christie Christina.

Newman, 72, has spoken openly about her struggles with depression and drug addiction during that time. She got sober in 1987.

Steady film, TV and voice work followed. She was the antagonist in the 1991 comedy “Problem Child 2,” appeared in 1993’s “Coneheads” as Connie’s Aunt Laarta and performed in episodes of “Friends” and “3rd Rock from the Sun.” She lent her voice to several animated hit films, including “Wall-E,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3″ and “Tangled.”

In 2017, with the rest of “SNL’s” original cast, she was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Dan Aykroyd

When he wasn’t bleeding out as Julia Child or declaring, “Jane, you ignorant slut!” on “Weekend Update,” Aykroyd swagged with Steve Martin as one of two wild and crazy guys, and led the Conehead family as patriarch Beldar.

He lent so much more to “SNL” before leaving in 1979, including his half of The Blues Brothers and impersonations of talk show host Tom Snyder, Rod Serling and two presidents: Nixon and Carter.

With Belushi, his close friend, and backed by legit players, the bluesy and soulful brothers caught on as a band. They played gigs and released a multimillion-selling album, “Briefcase Full of Blues.”

His post-“SNL” work took him even higher. Hit after hit followed “The Blues Brothers”: “Neighbors” in 1981, “Trading Places” in 1983 and 1984’s “Ghostbusters.” Aykroyd earned a supporting actor Oscar nomination for 1989’s “Driving Miss Daisy.”

With Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Isaac Tigrett, Aykroyd co-founded House of Blues, a chain of live music halls and restaurants.

Jane Curtin

Curtin left “SNL,” in 1980, after five seasons. She was a master of deadpan, often playing the straight woman off such outsized performers as Belushi and Radner. A regular on “Weekend Update,” she was also known for the Coneheads sketches as matriarch Prymaat and as Enid Loopner with fellow nerds Radner and Murray.

Curtin, 76, has spoken about being bothered by the drug-fueled lifestyles of some of her castmates. She won two Emmys for her 1980s sitcom “Kate & Allie.” She later starred as Dr. Mary Albright in the hit series “3rd Rock from the Sun.”

Garrett Morris

Initially hired as a writer, he was the oldest on “SNL’s” first cast at 37. He came to the show after 17 years as a singer and arranger with Harry Belafonte, as a stage actor, as a playwright and as a civil rights activist who helped desegregate Actor’s Equity.

He remained on “SNL” until 1980. He was known for his character Chico Escuela, the Dominican baseball player whose catchphrase, “Baseball has been berry, berry good to me,” caught on in pop culture. He also performed as the shouting interpreter in the “News for the Hard of Hearing” segments and did impersonations of James Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali.

In 1994, Morris was shot and seriously wounded in an attempted holdup in Los Angeles.

In the ’80s, Morris appeared in a string of horror films. Later, he was a regular on the series “2 Broke Girls” and performed on TV comedies “Martin,” “The Jamie Foxx Show” and “The Wayans Brothers.”