{{Short description|American actress (1952–2016)}} {{Infobox person | name = Sagan Lewis | image = | image_size = | caption = Sagan Lewis, 1988 | birth_name = Susan Jane Lewis | birth_date = {{Birth date|1952|11|30}} | birth_place = {{nowrap|Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|8|7|1952|11|30}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | education = University of California, San Diego {{small|(MFA)}} | occupation = Actress, teacher | known_for = Dr. Jacqueline Wade on ''St. Elsewhere''<br>Judge Susan Aandahl on ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' | years_active = 1977–2009 | spouse = {{plainlist| *{{marriage|Tom Fontana|1982|1993|end=div}} *{{marriage|<!--Tom Fontana-->|2015}} }} | children = 1 }} '''Susan Jane Lewis''' (November 30, 1952 – August 7, 2016) was an American actress, best known for co-starring as Dr. Jacqueline Wade on the NBC medical drama ''St. Elsewhere''. Her other television credits included a multiple-episode recurring role as Judge Susan Aandahl on NBC's ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' during the 1990s, and the television films ''Cocaine: One Man's Seduction'' (1983) and ''Full Ride''.<ref name=deadline>{{cite news|first=Denise|last=Petski|title=Sagan Lewis Dies: Actress & Wife Of Emmy-Winner Tom Fontana Was 63 |url=https://deadline.com/2016/08/sagan-lewis-dies-actress-wife-of-emmy-winning-tv-creator-tom-fontana-1201800960/ |website=Deadline Hollywood |date=2016-08-06 |accessdate=2016-08-16}}</ref><ref name=variety>{{cite news|first=Lamarco|last=McClendon |title=Sagan Lewis, 'St. Elsewhere' Actress, Dies at 63 |url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/obituaries-people-news/sagan-lewis-st-elsewhere-tom-fontana-1201834072/ |work=Variety |date=2016-08-09 |accessdate=2016-08-16}}</ref><ref name=thr>{{cite news|first=Mike|last=Barnes |title=Sagan Lewis, Actress and Wife of Emmy Winner Tom Fontana, Dies at 63 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sagan-lewis-dead-actress-tom-918366 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2016-08-09 |accessdate=2016-08-16}}</ref>
Lewis was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised across the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa.<ref name=thr/> She received her master of fine arts from the graduate acting program at the University of California, San Diego.<ref name=variety/><ref name=thr/>
Lewis began acting professionally during the late 1970s.<ref name=deadline/> She met her future husband, television producer and screenwriter Tom Fontana, in 1978 while auditioning at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.<ref name=deadline/><ref name=variety/> Fontana was working as an assistant to the theatre festival's artistic director at the time of their meeting.<ref name=deadline/>
In 1980, Lewis moved to Los Angeles when Fontana became a writer on the NBC drama, ''St. Elsewhere''.<ref name=deadline/> She was soon co-starring on ''St. Elsewhere'', when the showrunner, Bruce Paltrow, created the role of Dr. Jacqueline Wade specifically for her.<ref name=deadline/><ref name=variety/> She played Dr. Wade, a sensible, competent doctor with a sneakily impish sense of humor, throughout the show's six-year run; initially a rather minor recurring character, Dr. Wade became more prominent in later seasons. Using the name "S.J. Lewis", Lewis also wrote the teleplay for the sixth season ''St. Elsewhere'' episode "Their Town" -- an episode in which her character of Dr. Wade does not appear.
As she was working on ''St. Elsewhere'', Lewis was seen in the final half hour of the series finale of ''M*A*S*H'', "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", in 1983.<ref name=deadline/><ref name=variety/> Lewis also appeared in several television films throughout the 1980s, including ''Cocaine: One Man's Seduction'' (1983), which starred Dennis Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, and Jeffrey Tambor.<ref name=deadline/>
Lewis was cast in a multiple-episode recurring role as Judge Susan Aandahl on ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' from 1995 to 1999.<ref name=deadline/>
Sagan Lewis and Tom Fontana married for the first time on December 18, 1982, at ceremony held at the Santa Monica home of Bruce Paltrow and his wife, actress Blythe Danner.<ref name=variety/><ref name=thr/><ref name=nytimes/> They divorced in 1993.<ref name=deadline/> Following the divorce, Lewis moved to Maui and then to Sedona, Arizona, where she taught at the Zaki Gordon Institute of Independent Film (now known as the Sedona Film School) and served as the program director of the Sedona International Film Festival for seven years.<ref name=thr/> She also gave birth to her son, Jade Scott Lewis, about three years after her divorce.<ref name=nytimes/>
However, Lewis and Fontana later reconnected when her son went to graduate school in New York.<ref name=thr/><ref name=nytimes/> Fontana proposed to her over the Christmas holiday in 2014.<ref name=thr/> They remarried in July 2015 and remained together until her death from cancer in 2016.<ref name=deadline/><ref name=variety/><ref name=thr/> In an interview with the ''New York Times'', published in the article "You Married Them Once, but What About Twice?" in March 2016, Lewis talked about her divorce and remarriage to Fontana, explaining, "I was sad when we split up. It was hard for both of us, but we knew it was necessary. He understood that I needed to explore other worlds."<ref name=thr/><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|first=Abby|last=Ellin |title=You Married Them Once, but What About Twice? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/fashion/weddings/remarriage-divorce.html?_r=0 |work=New York Times |date=2016-03-03 |accessdate=2016-08-16}}</ref> They held wedding parties in Tribeca (New York City), Los Angeles, Omaha (her hometown), and Buffalo, New York (Fontana's hometown).<ref name=nytimes/> Lewis and Fontana wrote on their invitations, "After 22 years, the divorce didn't work out."<ref name=nytimes/>
After a six-year battle with cancer, Lewis died at her home in Manhattan on August 7, 2016, at the age of 63.<ref name=deadline/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0507722|name=Sagan Lewis}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Sagan}} Category:1952 births Category:2016 deaths Category:American television actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:University of California, San Diego alumni Category:Actresses from Omaha, Nebraska Category:People from Council Bluffs, Iowa Category:People from Sedona, Arizona Category:Actresses from New York City Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Category:21st-century American women