Madeline Kahn was killingly funny, always. And it was tough on her

“I can’t even really tell a joke. I find being funny very hard work. I am always asked about it and I feel guilty saying that, but it’s the truth. I love my work but it ain’t easy.”
— Madeline Kahn

She created some of the funniest moments in the movies , so it is something to learn that Madeline Kahn had to work hard to get a laugh. She revealed this in a 1993 New York Times profile.

Kahn trained as an opera singer, and somewhere along the line, people noticed she could command a scene and kill with comedy.

Mel Brooks put her back-to-back in career-defining roles: saloon singer Lili von Schtupp in Blazing Saddles, and then Elizabeth, the fiancée to Young Frankenstein who finds true love (and poo-poo undies) with Peter Boyle’s Monster.

Let’s revisit I’m Tired from Blazing Saddles; Kahn was justly nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress.

Madeline Kahn died in 1999 of ovarian cancer. She was only 57.

A bench dedicated to her memory is in Central Park in New York City, not far from the reservoir.