He was also twice nominated for an Oscar, once for his role in The Producers and a second time for co-writing Young Frankenstein. But that kindness made his frazzled qualities all the more fun – his characters, when pushed to the edge, were hilarious and nobody did a freak out like Wilder (hell, Leo Bloom redefined the freak out with his blue blanket).
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Then added, “If you found happiness, real happiness, then it would be stupid to waste your life mourning”.
Wilder’s stressed-out accountant Leo Bloom turned out to be the flawless foil for Zero Mostel’s grifter producer Max Bialystock, which included devolving into a screaming mess when deprived of his “blue blanket”.
Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933. Her future husband, filmmaker Mel Brooks was in the audience, and it would eventually lead to a fruitful cinematic collaboration. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant who imported alcohol bottles. “Just skip over it, sing and dance over it, and get on to the good stuff.’ And he was right”, Wilder later explained. “He also portrayed a boozing gunslinger in Blazing Saddles”. In 1982, while making the generally forgettable “Hanky-Panky”, he fell in love with co-star Gilda Radner.
With Brooks alumni Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman, Wilder made his directorial debut with 1975’s “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother”, and directed several other movies with uneven results. At the time, Wilder left open the possibility that he would return to film for the right project, but aside from a few TV roles (he did a brief stint on Will & Grace in the early aughts), he largely stayed out of acting for the last 15 years of his life.
Wilder’s first feature film role was in director Arthur Penn’s New Hollywood classic in a minor but memorable role as one of the titular outlaw couple’s hostages.
As for why he stopped appearing on the big screen, Wilder said in 2013 he was turned off by the noise and foul language in modern movies. A constant presence, Wilder was in movies that I watched again and again and again growing up. I didn’t want to do ones with bombing and loud and swearing, so much swearing going on.
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Wilder is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine, from whom he was estranged.
