By Travis Johnson
Comedy legend Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83, it has been reported, ending a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. The Oscar-nominated actor died in his Connecticut home.
Wilder was perhaps best known during his career for his collaborations with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor. His first film with Brooks, 1968’s The Producers, saw him nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, and he went on to appear in Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein (both 1974). Brooks paid tribute to his old friend via 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
Wilder first worked with Pryor on 1976’s Silver Streak, but it wasn’t until 1980’s Stir Crazy, directed by Sidney Poitier, that the comic pairing became iconic. They would go on to appear in See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991), with the latter being Pryor’s final big screen starring role, thanks to the increasingly obvious symptoms of his multiple sclerosis.
Of course, mention must be made of Wilder’s turn in the title role of 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Wilder’s top-hatted candy maker is both a fun and threatening figure, something a new generation of parents and children discover every year when the classic film reaches fresh audiences. The character has gone on to become an internet meme.
Following a series of TV movies in 1999, Wilder entered semi-retirement, although he did crop up on the television series Will & Grace a few times in the early 2000s. His later years saw him turn to writing, and he released, with oncologist Steven Piver, the book, Gilda’s Disease, in 1998, which tells the story of his third wife, Gilda Radner, and her unsuccessful battle against ovarian cancer. The memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, followed in 2005, and the novels, My French Whore and The Woman Who Wouldn’t, in 2007 and 2008, respectively. He published a short story collection, What Is This Thing Called Love?, in 2010 and his third and final novel, Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance, in 2013.
In a statement released after his death, Wilder’s nephew, filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman, said:
“We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones — this illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognise those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality. The decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn’t vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him “there’s Willy Wonka,” would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or trouble and causing delight to travel to worry, disappointment or confusion. He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.
“He continued to enjoy art, music, and kissing with his leading lady of the last twenty-five years, Karen. He danced down a church aisle at a wedding as parent of the groom and ring bearer, held countless afternoon movie western marathons and delighted in the the company of beloved ones.”