Mel Brooks got emotional while sharing stories about the late Gene Wilder – his longtime friend and frequent collaborator – with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday on “The Tonight Show”. Meanwhile, actor Gene Wilder had been in a few stage performances, small TV roles and minor spots in feature films. Their creative friendship continued as they wrote “Young Frankenstein” and Wilder’s legendary role in “Blazing Saddles”.
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Also while on Fallon, Brooks recalled his childhood in Brooklyn.
Monday brought the bad news that Gene Wilder had passed away, and since then, tributes to the legendary comedic actor have been pouring in on social media and television.
Wilder had scoffed at the notion that the 1967 film “The Producers” would ever get made.
Brooks had originally planned to appear on Fallon’s show to promote Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of the Making of the Film, as well as a talk at Radio City Music Hall on September 2.
Wilder and Brooks consistently worked with each other throughout their careers.
Mel Brooks is “still reeling” from the loss of fellow comedy veteran Gene Wilder, even though he was fully aware of his old friend’s ailing health. “I met him when my late wife Anne Bancroft was doing Mother Courage, a Bertolt Brecht play, and Gene was in it”, he said.
Denise Nickerson, who played Violet Beauregarde in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, remembered Gene Wilder as “tender-hearted”. “Yeah, you’re going to get the money!”
“I think it’s an insult”, he said.
“He said, ‘I had an idea”.
“The greatest comedic mind of my childhood is now gone”, actor Josh Gad wrote on Twitter.
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“(The email read), ‘Dearest James, I don’t do or go where you were hoping, but I’ll be looking for you. I can’t call him. And the big number in it is Springtime for Hitler.
