Offbeat comedic genius Gene Wilder dies
LOS ANGELES: 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 died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, the family said in a statement.
Wilder’s nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, said the actor had kept his illness secret so 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 director-writer Mel Brooks, who Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and The Producers the 1960s and 1970s.
“He blessed every film we did with his magic and he blessed me with his friendship,” Brooks said on Twitter.
Besides his classic collaborations with Brooks, Wilder paired memorably with comedian Richard Pryor in hits Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.
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. – Reuters