Any Information On Gene Wilder?

Question

He was in a lot of movies in the 70's and 80's. Is he still around?

Answer 1

Comedic actor Gene Wilder caught his first big break playing a small roll in the off-Broadway production of Arnold Wesker's "Roots" and followed quickly with his Broadway debut as the comic valet in "The Complaisant Lover" (both 1961), for which he won the Clement Derwent Award. His other Broadway credits included "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1963, with Kirk Douglas), "The White House" (1964, with Helen Hayes), and "Luv" (1966), but it was a 1963 Broadway production of "Mother Courage and Her Children" that altered the course of his life forever. In its cast was Anne Bancroft, who was dating Mel Brooks at the time, and the relationship established between the two men eventually led to Wilder's becoming part of Brooks' "stock company." His Actor's Studio connection may have helped him land his first feature, Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967), in which he drew much favorable attention in a small but memorable role as a frightened young undertaker abducted by the legendary duo.

Wilder's performance as the endearingly frantic Leo Bloom in "The Producers" (1967) kicked off his celebrated collaboration with Brooks and garnered him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. His career gained momentum as he played a swashbuckler in Bud Yorkin's "Start the Revolution without Me" (1970), the candy impresario of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) and a sheep-smitten doctor in Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about * (* but were afraid to ask)" (197). But the hilarity was just beginning, Wilder reteamed with Brooks for the inspired lunacy of "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" (both 1974), earning his second Oscar nomination for his first-time screenwriting efforts (along with Brooks) on the latter. Spurred by these triumphs, Wilder made his directorial debut (in addition to acting and starring) with "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (1975), featuring actors from the Brooks' troupe like Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise.

Wilder's subsequent behind-the-camera genre spoofs have, on the whole, been disappointing, with the exception of "The Woman in Red" (1984), a broad remake of the French farce "Pardon Mon Affaire". His first association with Richard Pryor had come on "Blazing Saddles", but Pryor (co-screenwriter) had lost out in his bid for the Cleavon Little role. The two first acted together in the highly entertaining and commercially successful "Silver Streak" (1976) and scored at the box office again with "Stir Crazy" (1980), but their later efforts ("See No Evil, Hear No Evil" 1989, "Another You" 1991) were mediocre, the final film particularly marred by Pryor's all-too-apparent real-life health problems. Ironically, "Hanky Panky" (1982), Wilder's first of three films with his late wife Gilda Radner, would have paired him with Pryor, but Pryor's unavailability necessitated rewriting the part for Radner. Wilder starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom "Something Wilder" (1994-95) and made his London stage debut in Neil Simon's "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" in 1996.

Also Credited As: Jerry SilbermanBorn: on 06/11/1933 in Milwaukee, WisconsinJob Titles: Actor, Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Chauffeur, Fencing teacher, SalesmanFamily
Daughter: Katharine Anastasia Silberman. mother, Mary Joan Schutz
Father: William J Silberman. Russian immigrant; manufactured miniature and bottles
Mother: Jeanne Silberman.

Significant Others
Wife: Gilda Radner. married from September 18, 1984 until her from cancer on May 20, 1989
Wife: Karen Webb. married on September 8, 1991; born c. 1950; met in 1988 while helping Wilder prepare to play a deaf man in the film "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" (1989); administrator for New York League for the Hard of Hearing
Wife: Mary Joan Silberman. married on October 27, 1967; divorced in 1974
Wife: Mary Mercier. divorced
Education
University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, BA, 1955
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bristol, England, 1955-56
Actors Studio, New York, New York
Milestones
1956 Served with US Army
1961 Broadway debut as the comic valet in "The Complaisant Lover"
1961 Off-Broadway acting debut in "Roots"
1963 Portrayed Billy Bibbit in original NYC stage production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
1966 Acted in CBS movie presentation of Arthur Miller's % of a Salesman"; played Bernard
1967 Film acting debut in "Bonnie and Clyde"
1968 Earned Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Mel Brooks' "The Producers"
1971 Offered a tour de force in title role of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"
1972 Played a memorable comic turn as a man who fell in love with a sheep for the segment of Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know about * (*but were afraid to ask)"
1974 Co-screenwriting debut (with director Brooks), "Young Frankenstein"; also starred
1974 Reteamed with Brooks for "Blazing Saddles"; shared Best Screenplay Oscar nomination
1975 Film directing and solo screenwriting debut, "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother"; also acted
1976 Starred opposite Richard Pryor in "Silver Streak"
1977 Film producing debut (also director, writer and actor), "The World's Greatest Lover"; composed a song for picture
1980 Reunited with Pryor for "Stir Crazy"
1982 Starred opposite future wife Gilda Radner in Sidney Poitier's "Hanky Panky"
1984 Directed and acted in "The Woman in Red"; second film with Radner
1986 Last feature with Radner, "Haunted Honeymoon"; produced, directed and acted
1989 Reteamed with Pryor for the misfire "See No Evil, Hear No Evil"
1990 Helped establish the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles (date approximate)
1991 Last film to date with Pryor, "Another You"
1996 Made London stage debut in Neil Simon's "Laughter on the 23rd Floor"
2000 Disclosed a 1999 diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Starred as a sensitive, emotional adman and late-in-life father in the short-lived NBC sitcom "Something Wilder"
Taught fencing and worked as a toy salesman and as a chauffeur

he's already

Answer 2

Gene Wilder is 73 and lives in Connecticut with his 4th wife. He was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment several years ago, and is now healthy.

The links give more information, the last one being a pretty good interview in which he says he still gets movie scripts regularly, but turns them down because he is unimpressed with the material.

Great question, I love his movies and it was fun to catch up on him.

Answer 3

In Blazing Saddles he played a reformed drunk sharpshooting deputy sheriff. [I think]
Willy Wonker in Willy Wonker And The Chocolate Factory.

Answer 4

it looks likes he is still around. Accourding to wikipedia, he's lending his voice for a project called: Instant Karma

Answer 5

I listened to his memior and in it he said that he got corn-holed as a kid.

Answer 6

noooooooo

Answer 7

Yes, he's still kickin'.

Answer 8

he is funny