A comic actress, Sperber is best known for her role as “Amy”, a foil for Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari in the 1980s sitcom Bosom Buddies.
“Besides being one of the funniest women who ever lived, she had a way of lighting up the screen,” said Telma Hopkins, who played the manager of an all-women hotel, where Hanks and Scolari lived, dressed as women, in the series. Sperber also appeared in Back to the Future (Parts I and III) as well as several other TV series.
In 1997, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She used her fame to start the weSPARK Cancer Support Center in Southern California, which provides cancer victims and their families with free support, information on their disease, and social activities. But “cancer did not define her life,” Hopkins said. “Instead, she used the adversity of having cancer to grow more, to help more people, to be more.” But her cancer overcame her, and she died November 29 at home. She was 47.