on August 29th 2016 we said farewell to
comedy legend Gene Wilder who passed
away from complications of Alzheimer
disease at 83
Wilders work left an indelible
impression especially his classic
collaborations with Mel Brooks Mel
Stewart Woody Allen and Richard Pryor as
we take the time to mark his passing and
celebrate his career let's take a look
back at his life and explore some things
you probably didn't know about this
beloved star
gene Wilder wasn't his real name Wilder
was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee
Wisconsin his father and maternal
grandparents were Russian Jewish
immigrants while Wilder identified as
Jewish he never considered himself
particularly religious what do you call
this book John in this 2005 memoir
Wilder explained I have no other
religion I feel very Jewish and I feel
very grateful to be Jewish but I don't
believe in God or anything to do with
the Jewish religion as his acting career
took off an off-broadway stage
productions he decided he needed a stage
name and I didn't want to be introduced
as Jerry Silberman I couldn't picture
Jerry Silverman in Hamlet he chose gene
for both a cousin he admired and the
character of Eugene Gant and the novel
look homeward angel the last name Wilder
was inspired by Thornton Wilder an
author whose work he greatly enjoyed
meeting with Mel Wilders acting career
started with stage productions both on
and off Broadway after a role in the
1961 production of roots Wilder took a
role in 1963 is the complete lever from
which he received a Derwent Award for
Best Performance by an actor and a non
featured role his next stage role in
Mother Courage and her children helped
forge a life-altering connection I was
in a play called Mother Courage by
Berthold Brecht starring and bankrupt
whose boyfriend was Mel Brooks and Mel
came by to pick her up each evening
after the show
Brooks helped Wilder through scene deep
struggling with and the rest is history
Brooks was writing a screenplay called
springtime for Hitler which would
eventually become the 1968 movie their
producers Brooks felt that Wilder was
perfect for the role of Leo bloom and
his oscar-nominated appearance in the
movie launched his budding film career
conditions you make me extremely happy
willy wonka's amazing introduction when
wilder audition for the title role in
1971 s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate
Factory
director Mel Stuart offered well to the
part practically on the spot wilder
accepted but under one condition
he wanted to give audiences a very
special first introduction to Wonka
while they're told Stuart I'd like to do
it if I can come out and all the crowd
quiets down and I'm using a cane oh my
god
Willy Wonka is crippled and I walked
slowly and you can hear a pin drop and
my cane gets stuck in a brick and I do I
fall over on my face and do a forward
somersault and jump up and they all
start to applaud he said what Mel
Stewart so what do you want to do that
for I said because no one will know from
that point on whether I'm lying or
telling the truth Trading Places
when Wilder and Richard Pryor paired up
in the hit 1976 film Silver Streak they
struck comedy gold revealing a seemingly
effortless screen chemistry they'd be
called upon to recapture repeatedly
throughout their careers according to
director John Landis if it hadn't been
for priors problems with addiction he
would have seen them star in Trading
Places instead of Dan Aykroyd and Eddie
Murphy for marriages while they're
married Mary Mercer in 1960 and after a
divorce he was married again in 1967 to
Mary Joan Schultz but after his second
divorce in 1974 he remained unattached
that was until 1981 when he met Saturday
Night Live actress Gilda Radner on the
set of the movie hanky panky
they married in 1984 but the marriage
would be cut short by devastating news
Reiner started experiencing fatigue and
upper leg pain while filming 1986's
haunted honeymoon and after several
false diagnoses she was diagnosed with
stage 5 ovarian cancer which took her
life in 1989 and I did believe with all
my heart that she was going to pull
through and survive I was an idiot
during the filming of see no evil hear
no evil while there met Karen Webb who
coached him in his lip reading for the
role I had no idea I'm sorry
now you know can I get the job after
radner's death the two reconnected
marrying in 1991 Webb and Wilder would
remain together until his passing in
2016 he didn't miss Hollywood after
retiring from acting Wilder only offered
a handful of interviews in his
exhaustive 2002 interview with Larry
King Wilder revealed while he hadn't
been seen in Hollywood for years he
simply doesn't like it I don't want to
come out funny but I don't like show
business I love I love acting in films I
love it but you do I love it painting I
like the show but I don't like the
business he beat cancer wilder himself
was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma
in 1999 after undergoing chemotherapy
and radiation treatments as lymphoma
entered remission but doctors let welder
know there was a good chance the cancer
would return his oncologist recommended
a stem-cell transplant after the
radiation and the chemo that came in
thought out the stem cells sang happy
birthday to me
and I said what is this is the beginning
of your new life the radical treatment
worked and the cancer was in complete
remission by 2002 but in 2013 Wilder
would be diagnosed with Alzheimer
disease which took his life in 2016
Ella Fitzgerald helped him say goodbye
Wilder loved Fitzgerald's music and his
nephew Jordan Walker Pearlman described
genes final moment in a statement from
his family quote as our hands clutched
and he performed one last breath the
music speaker which was set to random
began to blare out one of his favorites
Ella Fitzgerald there's a picture of he
and Ella meeting at a London Bistro some
years ago that was among his cherished
possessions she was singing somewhere
over the rainbow as he was taken away
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