On Rosie O’Donnell’s 50th Birthday, Snakkle Celebrates Her Most Memorable Moments

1980 hair alert! We know, we say that every time. But it's hard not to. Will feathered hair ever make a comeback? We doubt it. Never say never, though.

Rosie O'Donnell was on Star Search enough that Ed McMahon referred to her as one of their "Star Search family members." What's fun about this clip of Rosie's 1984 appearance is that you can see the beginnings of a comedic personality that has only gotten deeper over time. Also, she's a funny stand-up comic.

Rosie scored a recurring role as Maggie O'Brien on the Nell Carter sitcom Gimme a Break! Here she is in the 1986 episode "Christmas in New York," offering up some helpful holiday advice: "If you have to give a gift to somebody you don't like, give 'em a fruitcake." Three guesses what gift Nell gets 10 minutes later.

Whoa! Hold on there. Rosie the VJ? Yep. 1988, VH1—back when the "VH" actually stood for "Video Hits"—and Rosie O'Donnell was indeed a VJ. Here she is with fellow "jocks" Bobby Rivers and Roger Rose.

Rosie's turn as third baseperson Doris Murphy is one of many highlights in the terrific Penny Marshall movie A League of Their Own. Doris is, shall we say, outspoken—"You think there are men in this country who ain't seen your bosoms?" is one of her lines. The cast also included Madonna, and Tom Hanks, who spoke the immortal words, "There's no crying in baseball!"

Rosie did a lot of movies before she became better known for simply being herself. In Sleepless in Seattle, Rosie plays the wise friend of the leading lady, who in this case is Meg Ryan. O'Donnell delivers bons mots such as, "You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie."

Rosie is terrific in Harriet the Spy, as is a young Michelle Trachtenberg. Fun bit of trivia—Harriet the Spy was the first film produced by Nickelodeon Movies. Harriet was based on Louise Fitzhugh's novel, which remains popular to this day, despite the fact that it was published in 1964.

Exit to Eden is one of the stranger moments of Rosie's career. She plays a cop who visits an S&M vacation resort undercover with her partner, Dan Aykroyd. She received a Razzie Award for her performance, as well as her part in Car 54, Where Are You? and The Flintstones, roles that were actually weirder than her part in Eden; all three films were released in 1994. This is one of those times that we're inclined to blame the material, not the actress.

Rosie rocketed to megastar status as the host of The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1996-2002). The daytime talk show was really a nighttime talk show that aired during the day. Rosie told jokes, had the biggest celebrities on as guests—such as Madonna, pictured here—and was influential enough to get her audience to spend their money on entertainment she was passionate about. For example, she is widely credited with helping turn the Broadway musical Titanic into a bona fide hit, despite the fact that it was, well, a Broadway musical about the sinking of the Titanic. Here is the cast appearing on her show.

Remember magazines? We know, they're still around... for now. Rosie was born when O'Donnell took over as the editor of McCall's, eventually changing the name of the publication so it matched her own. Rosie magazine shut down in 2003. An ugly legal battle with publishers Gruner+Jahr USA followed. The case was dismissed, and Gruner+Jahr are now out of the magazine business. O'Donnell, however, is still around.

Find Me is a combination of childhood memoir and O'Donnell's experiences trying to help a young woman named Stacie after the troubled girl called Rosie's adoption hotline. The book reached No. 2 on the New York Times best-seller list. O'Donnell published a second memoir, Celebrity Detox: (The Fame Game), in 2007.

It was all smiles when Rosie O'Donnell joined The View in 2006 as a cohost and moderator, replacing Meredith Vieira. The thing is, when you hire Rosie O'Donnell, you get Rosie O'Donnell. That was a good thing for ratings, which skyrocketed during Rosie's run. Not everyone was pleased, however.

Yeah, the smiling isn't so much in evidence in this image from 2007. By then the producers of The View had decided that the audience wanted to see O'Donnell argue with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The numbers would indicate that they were correct—as we said earlier, ratings for the View were much higher during Rosie's time as cohost than they were before or after. O'Donnell, however, decided that she didn't like arguing on television every day, and left before her contract was up.

Rosie has been outspoken about her love of theater for most of her career, and she continues to see shows whenever she can. Here she is with her family at the opening of Off-Broadway's Love, Loss, and What I Wore in 2009. Oh, and she was in the show as well.

Rosie's latest talk-show endeavor, The Rosie Show on OWN, lasted just a few months. O'Donnell handled the news with class, thanking Oprah Winfrey for the opportunity, and even retweeting Donald Trump's obnoxious comment about the show's untimely end. Here is a short video Rosie posted before the final taping, "last walk down to the studio." We have a feeling she won't be gone from the airwaves for too long.