NEED TO KNOW
- Mallory Lewis recalls the final weeks of her mom’s life after being diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer and her continued desire to create
- Mallory tells PEOPLE what she remembers from the time and what surprised her while revisiting it for the new documentary Shari & Lamb Chop
- Shari Lewis died of cancer on August 2, 1998 at age 65
Shari Lewis was always focused on creativity, even in her final days.
The new documentary Shari & Lamb Chop takes a closer look at the ventriloquist’s life and the news that completely changed it. In 1998, Shari was diagnosed with uterine cancer.
Her daughter Mallory noticed that her mom wasn’t eating, as she explains in the documentary. While working together on the children’s TV series The Charlie Horse Music Pizza, Mallory, who had previously worked with her mother as a producer of Lamb Chop’s Play-Along, noticed that Shari couldn’t do some of the performance moves she was used to doing.
“She had a song, ‘I Love a Parade,’ which for years at the end of it, she ran downstage, leaped into the air and landed in splits. When she did it, this time for the show, she just sort of struck a pose. It all felt wrong,” Mallory, 63, recalls.
“So she went to the doctor and the phone rang and mom said, ‘I”ve just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and I have six weeks to live.’ ”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest sories.
At the time, they were working on what would end up being Shari’s final day of filming.
“Mom came in and we were shooting. She was perfect. I mean, she could do Lamb Chop and any other puppet herself, back and forth fast. And she was laying on the floor puppeting and she couldn’t keep Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse separated,” Mallory remembers.
“After about six takes, I looked at her. I said, ‘Okay Mom, we’ve got it.’ And she looked at me and she goes, ‘Can you make it okay in the edit?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I promise.’ And I tapped her on her shoulder and I said, ‘I’ll take her now.’ ”
In archival footage in the documentary, Shari says, “I really believe that the only meaningful religious ceremony is life itself and that every moment is meaningful and that every beautifully turned moment is a rehearsal for the next beautifully turned moment.”
Looking back on Shari’s final day of shooting The Charlie Horse Music Pizza in the documentary, Mallory says, “I thought that I was hiding what I was feeling better.”
“I was her producer, and I was very… Behind the scenes, I was rewriting scripts because I knew I only had one day to shoot three days’ worth of shooting. I mean, I thought I was walking around and nobody could tell I was sad because nobody knew on the set [about Shari’s health] until after we were done shooting,” she says.
“When I look at that yellowed footage — and I know [Shari & Lamp Chop director Lisa D’Apolito] was like, ‘I wish the footage were in better condition’ — but it is a sepia-toned moment. The fact that the footage was sepia-toned, I actually think is perfect. But I was surprised.”
She continues, “When I look at that 36-year-old girl, I wish I could say to her, ‘It is going to be okay. It is going to be really, really hard. And by the way, you’re pregnant’ — because I didn’t know I was pregnant.”
Looking back at Shari’s life fills Mallory with gratitude and emotion. “That footage… The rest of it I can look at with great joy. And I’m very lucky to have hundreds of hours of my mother beautifully lit doing what she loved best. But that section of footage is very hard for me and was surprising. It continues to be hard for me.”
Shari & Lamb Chop debuts in select theaters on July 18.
Read the full article here