Gene Wilder, best known for his role as title character in the 1971 hit Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, passed away Monday at the age of 83 due to complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.
Throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, Wilder was a comedic force, mainly in movies directed by the great Mel Brooks. During the later stages of his screen career, he formed a memorable comedic duo with Richard Pryor, as well.
Wilder was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 11, 1933. Primarily a stage actor in his 20s, Wilder made his feature film debut in the 1967 classic Bonnie and Clyde. From there, he moved on to star in numerous movies by Brooks, beginning with the 1968 musical hit, The Producers, in which he starred alongside Zero Mostel. Wilder garnered a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his role as Leopold Bloom, and his star took off from there to the role for which he became most famous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM
When he read for the lead role in Willy Wonka, Wilder feared that he had not done that good of a job. But director Mel Stuart felt otherwise and offered him the role on the spot. Wilder accepted on one condition: That he could do the now-memorable entrance when Wonka first comes to the gates of his factory.
The rest of the movie became an incredible combination of historical quips and neurotic blips with all the whimsy that could fascinate children, while also having a wry wit that made adults giggle like they were children again. The songs, the longing stares in the distance, and the quirky conversations he had with all the children and their befuddled parents were magic, pure and simple. “Simply look around and view it.”
Wilder had created an entity far different than the one presented in Roald Dahl’s book. (Dahl said after seeing the film initially that he did not like Wilder’s depiction, considering it a caricature of the Wonka he created.). But the unbelievable life Wilder brought to the role made him a fixture of many children’s early movie experiences, which he still is to this day.
From there, his tremendous run continued and in 1974, he made two films with Brooks that are still considered amongst the greatest comedies in history: Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. In Frankenstein, Wilder played the grandson of the original Dr. Frankenstein who had since become a professor trying to separate himself from the works of his grandfather. This sendup of B-movie horror flims still stands the test of time, and is considered one of the greatest single performances of Wilder’s career.
In Saddles, Wilder played The Waco Kid, an alcoholic gunslinger who at one time was the Fastest Gun in the West. But he went a bit wayward to the point where he landed in the jail of the new sheriff of Rock Ridge named Bart, played exquisitely by Cleavon Little. Bart puts the Kid back on the right track, and he returns to his gunslinging ways, helping keep Rock Ridge from being overrun by bandits at the behest of vile politician Hedley (not Heady) Lamarr. A brilliant film that blatantly laughs in the face of racism and preconceived notions of others while being Brooks’ ideal sendup of the tough Western hero, along with literally some of the greatest jokes of all time, “Saddles” is still beloved to this day.
(A quick backstory on Wilder and Saddles: He was not supposed to be in the movie at all and, in fact, had read for the Hedley Lamarr role eventually played by Harvey Korman. When original Waco Kid actor Gig Young showed up drunk in the famous jail scene on the first day of shooting, Wilder flew in to take the role.)
Soon after, Wilder formed a partnership with Pryor, and starred in multiple films with him. Stir Crazy from 1980, where the duo played prison inmates, was a hit comparable to Saddles, a movie in which Pryor had been slated to take the role of Bart. (Pryor had also helped come up with some jokes for the movie at the behest of Brooks.) Pryor and Wilder then went on to make other memorable films such as Hear No Evil, See No Evil and Another You. Their first film together, Silver Streak, earned Wilder a Golden Globe nomination in 1976. The incomparable Sidney Poitier, who directed the duo in Stir Crazy, has said that he believed Pryor and Wilder were the greatest comedic duo ever.
In 1982, Wilder starred in Hanky Panky, and in production for the film, he met the great comedienne Gilda Radner. They began dating and were married in 1984, and remained together until Radner’s unfortunate death in 1989 from ovarian cancer.
In the 1990s, Another You was Wilder’s only big hit, as his 1994-95 sitcom Something Wilder on NBC lasted only one season. He did a couple of made-for-TV movies in 1999, with his final performance coming in The Lady in Question, a thriller for A&E produced after a great rating for his first movie with the network, Murder in a Small Town.
In January 2000, Wilder revealed that he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had been receiving stem-cell treatments. In 2005, his memoir Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art was well-received. He would continue to write in his final years, publishing novels and short stories.
All in all, the creative career of Wilder lasted over half a century, and his comedic prowess is considered legendary amongst peers and fans alike. After his passing, Brooks posted the following on Twitter:
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.
— Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) August 29, 2016
We’ll miss you, Gene. Thanks for the memories.
