Comedic actress Jan Hooks passed away last Thursday, October 9, 2014 at age 57. The cause of death has not been revealed, though family members have stated that she had been ill for some time.

Born in Decatur, Georgia in 1957 she joined a comedy troupe in Atlanta called New Wit’s End Players. There she met Bonnie and Terry Turner, whom she worked with at TBS before joining Saturday Night Live. Hooks rose to fame doing her sly impressions of Sinead O’Connor, Tammy Faye Bakker, and Ivana Trump among others. She worked on the show in the ‘80s with Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Nora Dunn, Kevin Nealon, and Dana Carvey. Hooks had a character-actress attitude immersing herself in the characters, delivering plenty of laughs with her amazing timing.

She was on SNL from 1986 to 1991 then went on to a part in Designing Women. Hooks is well known as the Alamo tour guide in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure in 1985. She made appearances on 30 Rock (created by the Turners), 3rd Rock from the Sun, and provided the voice of Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon the wife of Apu on The Simpsons. Hooks also appeared in Batman Returns as the woman who tries to put gloves on the Penguin, Coneheads, and Simon Burch.