Trigger warning: article mentions death
Gilmore Girls star Kelly Bishop remembers receiving the news of her late co-star Edward Herman’s battle with brain cancer. Bishop and Herman had a great friendship offscreen and their chemistry together was highly praised.
In her recently published memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl, Bishop details her reaction upon learning about Harmon’s diagnosis. In an excerpt from her book, Bishop mentioned that she was looking through the newspaper when she came across a headline about the Overboard actor, which completely shocked her.
“I didn’t even know he was sick until a few weeks before he died,” the Dirty Dancing star wrote in her memoir.
She added, “I was flipping through page six of the New York Post … when I came across a brief article about some trouble between Ed and his business manager. I was just skimming through it when I noticed the words, ‘Herman, 71, is battling brain cancer …'”
Bishop also revealed that she stared at the words for about 10 minutes, hoping she had misread the article. She admitted that she was desperately wishing for the news to be a lie. “When I ran out of excuses and I absorbed the news, I felt like I was hit with a terrible blow inside me,” the Bunheads actress revealed.
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On the other hand, Edward Hermann did not publicly announce his cancer diagnosis. The actor passed away in 2014 after battling the disease. After 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 about Hermann’s diagnosis, Kelly Bishop claimed that she tried to contact his wife.
However, the actress revealed that since she didn’t know Harman’s wife well, she approached Lauren Graham and Amy Sherman-Palladino. Graham played Harman’s onscreen daughter in Gilmore Girls, while Sherman-Palladino is the show’s producer. Bishop revealed that both were equally shocked to hear the news.
“We were having a hard time even knowing what to say other than ‘Oh my God’ and ‘Please don’t let this be true,'” the actress said.
Talking about their roles in the show, Edward Herrmann played Richard Gilmore, while Bishop played Emily Gilmore. The series ran for seven seasons and its episodes are available to stream on Netflix.
Also read: ‘It was a pleasure working with him’: Gilmore Girls star Kelly Bishop recalls memories of working with late co-star Edward Herman