Anne Beatts, groundbreaking comedy writer, dead at 74

Starting in 1975 and running for five seasons, Beatts was among a team of gifted writers who helped make 'Saturday Night Live' a cultural phenomenon.

Anne Beatts, a groundbreaking comedy writer with a taste for sweetness and the macabre who was on the original staff of 'Saturday Night Live' and later created the cult sitcom 'Square Pegs', has died. She was 74. Beatts died Wednesday at her home in West Hollywood, California, according to her close friend Rona Edwards. Edwards, a film producer and a fellow faculty member at Chapman University, did not immediately know the cause of death. Starting in 1975 and running for five seasons, Beatts was among a team of gifted writers that included Rosie Shuster, Alan Zweibel, Marilyn Suzanne Miller and such cast members as Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase who helped make 'Saturday Night Live' a cultural phenomenon.