Gimme a Break! (1981): 15 Shocking Facts You Totally Missed

Gimme a Break!: 15 wild facts you never knew Nell Carter won a Tony and an Emmy for the same performance in Ain't Misbehavin'. She had also been cast as Effie White in the original development of Dreamgirls before leaving to take a TV role. Jennifer Holliday took over and made it legendary. Behind the powerhouse performances, Nell was fighting addiction throughout the entire run of the show, spending up to two thousand dollars a day on cocaine at her worst. She got sober after a crisis visit to Liza Minnelli in London. Dolph Sweet, who played Chief Kaniski, was a WWII navigator who was shot down over Romania and spent two years as a prisoner of war. He later ran the drama department at Barnard College before making his Broadway debut in his forties. He was battling stomach cancer through Season 4, died three days before his final episode aired, and Nell delivered her tribute to him on the same day she attended his funeral. Grandpa Kaniski was played by a Yale-educated actor who had appeared in the original Star Trek pilot, Spartacus, Cleopatra, and performed with Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. Helen Hunt auditioned for Katie Kaniski and didn't get it. Telma Hopkins, who played Nell's best friend Addie, was the voice behind "shut your mouth" in the Isaac Hayes Shaft theme. Joey Lawrence spent his summers off set touring with Nell Carter and Sammy Davis Jr. The show accidentally created the blueprint for Punky Brewster through a backdoor pilot NBC passed on. And the bonus: the final episode aired with no indication it was the last one. NBC cancelled the show and audiences assumed another season was coming. It never did. ⏱ Timestamps in the chapters below 👇 Comment which fact blew your mind