Monday, August 29, 2016

Gene Wilder

I'm not so funny. Gilda was funny.
I'm funny on camera sometimes.
In life, once in a while.
Once in a while.
But she was funny.
She spent more time worrying about being liked than anything else.
- Gene Wilder
Jerome Silberman AKA Gene Wilder
June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016
Gene Wilder died at the age of 83 at home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer's disease. HWilder began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in the TV series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde, Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor


This was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, which Wilder co-wrote, garnering the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder is known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard PryorSilver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991).[1] Wilder directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984).

"From what was once an inarticulate mass of lifeless tissues, may I now present a cultured, sophisticated, man about town!"

His third wife was actress Gilda Radner, with whom he starred in three films. Her death from ovarian cancer led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club.

After his last contribution to acting in 2003, Wilder turned his attention to writing. He produced a memoir in 2005,Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art; a collection of stories, What Is This Thing Called Love?(2010); and the novels My French Whore (2007), The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008) and Something to Remember You By (2013).


Good Night  Mr. Wilder

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa

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