Sagan Lewis

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. Lewis was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised across the river in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She received her master of fine arts from the graduate acting program at the University of California, San Diego. Lewis began acting professionally during the late 1970s. She met her future husband, television producer and screenwriter Tom Fontana, in 1978 while auditioning at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. Fontana was working as an assistant to the theatre festival's artistic director at the time of their meeting. In 1980, Lewis moved to Los Angeles when Fontana became a writer on the NBC drama, St. Elsewhere. She was soon co-starring on St. Elsewhere, when the showrunner, Bruce Paltrow, created the role of Dr. Jacqueline Wade specifically for her. She appeared in several television films throughout the 1980s, including Cocaine: One Man's Seduction (1983), which starred Dennis Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, and Jeffrey Tambor. Lewis also appeared in the final half hour of the series finale of M*A*S*H, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", in 1983.