Gene Wilder Dies at 83

Gene Wilder, the actor, writer and director of unforgettable stage and screen comedies, died earlier this month from complications from Alzheimer’s disease in Stamford, Connecticut, according to a statement from his nephew. Wilder was 83.

Wilder reportedly became a comic performer in order to cheer up his dying mother. He was one of the great collaborators in movie comedy. Wilder collaborated with Mel Brooks when he played Leopold Bloom in The Producers (1968 ), which got him nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and on 1974's Blazing Saddles and as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, which Wilder co-wrote. Wilder also directed the audience-favorite “Putting on the Ritz” scene.

He also paired with Richard Pryor, who co-wrote Blazing Saddles and acted with Wilder in Silver Streak (1976) and Stir Crazy (1980) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991), both of which were written and directed by Wilder.

Wilder may be best known for playing the iconic title role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, director Mel Stuart’s 1971 musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Wilder beat out both Fred Astaire and Joel Grey for the role. Best known for his comic works, Wilder was first noticed on screen for his nervous funeral director role in Bonnie and Clyde (1967).

Gene Wilder was born Jerry Silberman in Milwaukee in 1933. He changed his name after he was discharged from the army. Gene was the name of the main character in Thomas Wolfe’s novel Look Homeward, Angel. Wilder was borrowed from Thornton Wilder.

Wilder played the part of Willy Loman in his own adaptation of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman while still in high school. He  graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.A. in theater. He continued theater studies at the Old Vic School in Bristol, England, where he became the first American to win the all-school fencing championship. He is doing his own stunts in Bud Yorkin’s Start the Revolution Without Me (1970).

Wilder studied acting with Herbert Berghof and Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. His first stage role came in 1961 in the off-Broadway play Roots. He followed that with an Clarence Derwent Award-winning role in Graham Greene’s comedy The Complaisant Lover.

Wilder met Mel Brooks while he was co-starring with Brooks’ then-future-wife Anne Bancroft in a Broadway production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children in 1963. Wilder hit the stage for the plays One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1963 and Dynamite Tonight and The White House in 1964.

In 1965, Wilder understudied for Alan Arkin and ex-Dead End Kid Gabriel Dell in Luv, eventually taking the lead. He made his TV debut in the series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962.

Wilder played the sheep-loving Dr. Doug Ross in Woody Allen’s film adaptation of the how-to book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). He teamed with Zero Mostel again when he co-starred as Stanley in the 1974 film adaptation of Eugène Ionesco's play Rhinoceros.

Wilder wrote, produced, directed and starred as Rudy Hickman, also known as Rudy Valentine in The World's Greatest Lover in 1977.

Wilder also appeared in in the 1990 film Funny About Love, the 1994 NBC sitcom Something Wilder and the 1999 made-for-television adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. He also acted in the TV movie Murder in a Small Town and The Lady in Question and appeared on two episodes of NBC's Will & Grace.

Less than two years after Wilder married Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died on May 20, 1989, at age 42. Wilder wrote and directed The Woman in Red (1984) and starred in two other films with Radner. After she died, Wilder became actively involved in promoting awareness of ovarian cancer and helped found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club. Wilder was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and treated with radiation and stem cell transplants in 1999.

In 2003 he wrote the memoir Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art in 2005 and the story collection What Is This Thing Called Love? (2010). He also wrote the novels My French Whore (2007), The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008) and Something to Remember You By (2013).

Wilder is survived by his daughter, Katharine, who he adopted in 1967.