Sagan Lewis, ‘St. Elsewhere’ Actress, Dies at 63
Sagan Lewis, co-star of NBC’s ’80s medical drama “St. Elsewhere” and wife of Emmy-winning television creator Tom Fontana, died Sunday at home in New York City, after a six-year battle with cancer. She was 63.
Lewis co-starred for seven seasons on “St. Elsewhere” as Dr. Jacqueline Wade. She went on to appear in television movies such as “Full Ride” and “Cocaine: One Man’s Seduction.” In the late ’90s, she had a recurring as role Judge Susan Aandahl on “Homicide: Life on the Street.” She appeared in the final half hour of the “M*A*S*H” TV series as well.
The Omaha, Neb. native attended the U. of California at San Diego, where she received a Masters of Fine Arts in Acting.
In 1978, Lewis met Fontana, then an aspiring writer, while auditioning for the acting company at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. In 1980, Lewis and Fontana went to Los Angeles where he became a writer on the NBC drama “St. Elsewhere.” The series’ showrunner, Bruce Paltrow, created a regular role for Lewis.
Lewis married Fontana at the Santa Monica home of Paltrow and his wife, actress Blythe Danner. The couple divorced in 1993 but later reconnected and remarried in July 2015.
Lewis is survived by her husband, her son Jade Scott Lewis, and sisters Robin Schultz and Laurie Rittenbach as well as brothers James Paul Lewis, John Mickey and Joseph Mickey.
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