Trigger Warning: The article contains mention of death
Gilmore Girls star Kelly Bishop recalls getting news of his late co-star Edward Herrmann battling brain cancer. Bishop and Herrmann shared a great bond of friendship offscreen, and their chemistry together was quite lauded.
In her newly released memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl, Bishop detailed her reaction to learning of Herrmann’s diagnosis. In one excerpt from her book, Bishop mentioned that she was scanning the newspaper when she came across a headline about the Overboard actor, which left her completely shocked.
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 continued, “I happened to be scanning Page Six of the New York Post… when I noticed a brief article about some trouble between Ed and his business manager. I was just skimming until I came across the words, ‘Herrmann, 71, who is battling brain cancer…'”
Bishop also shared that she stared at the words for nearly 10 minutes, hoping she had misread the article. She admitted that she was desperately wishing for the news to be untrue. The Bunheads actress revealed, “When I ran out of desperate excuses and let the news sink in, it felt like a vicious gut punch.”
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On the other hand, Edward Herrmann did not publicly announce his cancer diagnosis. The actor passed away in 2014 after battling the disease. Following the 71-year-old’s death, his wife and manager released a statement, sharing the unfortunate news with his fans and well-wishers. After learning of Herrmann’s diagnosis, Kelly Bishop claimed that she tried to reach out to his wife.
However, the actress explained that because she did not know Herrmann’s wife well, she instead contacted Lauren Graham and Amy Sherman-Palladino. Graham played the role of Herrmann’s onscreen daughter in Gilmore Girls, while Sherman-Palladino is the creator of the show. Bishop mentioned that both were equally shocked upon hearing the news.
The actress stated, “We struggled to even figure out what to say beyond, ‘Oh my God,’ and ‘Please don’t let this be true.'”
As for their roles in the show, Edward Herrmann portrayed Richard Gilmore, while Bishop played Emily Gilmore. The series ran for seven seasons, and the episodes are available to stream on Netflix.
