Wilder ‘blessed every film’ says Mel Brooks
Gene Wilder, whose wild curls and startling blue eyes brought a frantic air to roles in the movies Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, died yesterday at the age of 83, his family said.
Wilder, whose best work included collaborations with director-writer Mel Brooks and actor-comedian Richard Pryor, died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Wilder’s nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, said the actor had chosen to keep his illness secret so that children who knew him as Willy Wonka would not equate the whimsical character with an adult disease.
Wilder’s barely contained hysteria made him a go-to lead for Brooks, who cast him in Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and The Producers.
‘‘Gene Wilder – one of the truly great talents of our time.
‘‘He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship,’’ Brooks tweeted.
Besides his classic collaborations with Brooks, Wilder paired memorably with comedian Richard Pryor in hits Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.
Wilder also was active in promoting ovarian cancer awareness after his wife, comedian Gilda Radner, whom he married in 1984, died of the disease in 1989.
He helped found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and cofounded Gilda’s Club, a support organization that has branches throughout the United States.
Born Jerome Silberman to Russian immigrants in Milwaukee, Wilder studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre in Bristol, England, and then studied method acting at the Actors Studio.
A leading role in a play that also starred Anne Bancroft, who was dating her future husband Brooks, led to Wilder becoming a top member of Brooks’ stock company of crazies, some of whom branched out with Wilder into other film ventures.