For all those who have grown up watching some classics will remember Gene Wilder for his remarkable role as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
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Walker-Pearlman said Wilder’s Alzheimer’s, which he had kept private, “never stole his ability to recognise those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality”.
Mr Walker-Pearlman said in a statement: “He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world”. Laughter is a gift.
Singer Josh Groban tweeted: “Thank you Gene Wilder for the wonderful, the weird, the pure imagination”.
He said: “I sent him an email, asking if he’d come and do a bit and he sent me an email back where he, in the history of people saying no to things, it couldn’t have been nicer”. When he was 6, Wilders mother suffered a heart attack that left her a semi-invalid.
Born Jerome Silberman to Russian immigrants in Milwaukee, Wilder studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre in Bristol, England, and then studied method acting at the Actors Studio. He soon began improvising comedy skits to entertain her, the first indication of his future career.
Directed and written by Brooks, the film brought Wilder an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor.
That same year, he adopted the stage name Gene Wilder and made both his off-Broadway and Broadway debuts.
The director showed Wilder an early script entitled “Springtime for Hitler”, which would eventually become “The Producers”. Wilders nephew said Monday, Aug. 29, 2016, that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimers disease. “Rest with the stars, Gene Wilder”.
His performance in the 1963 production of Brecht’s Mother Courage was seen by Mel Brooks. “He’s a talented man, but I don’t care for him doing stuff like he did”, he said.
He went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. / AFP PHOTO / EMMANUEL DUNANDEMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images (FILES) This file photo taken on September 7, 1984 shows United States actor and director Gene Wilder poses with his wife Gilda Radner, during the 10th American Film Festival of Deauville.
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Wilder lived in Stamford in a house built in 1734 that he had shared with Radner, writing and painting watercolours with his wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991. Actor Sean Hayes also paid tribute to Wilder, posting an image of himself with the star during what would be WIlder’s last on-screen appearance in comedy series Will & Grace between 2002 and 2003.
