Actress Jan Hooks, best known for her five years as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, died Thursday morning in New York City from a "serious illness," TMZ reports. She was 57.

Hooks was on SNL from 1986 to 1991, acclaimed for her impressions of Bette Davis, Sinéad O'Connor, Hillary Clinton, Kathy Lee Gifford, and as one-half of the Sweeney Sisters with Nora Dunn.

After SNL, she starred in the final two seasons of CBS' Designing Women, replacing Jean Smart. She worked with fellow SNL alum Tina Fey on 30 Rock, playing Jane Krakowski's scheming mother Verna.

[Image of Hooks at the 1988 Emmys via Wikimedia]