The “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” star tragically passed away at his home in Stamford, Connecticut from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
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Gene Wilder, the star of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, among many other films, is dead at 83.
His nephew explained why he hadn’t disclosed his illness. “He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world”, he stated. “He blessed every film we did together with his special magic and he blessed my life with his friendship”. With Brooks he created three giant comic hits: The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974).
The actor’s demise was all over Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) on Monday.
As film fans everywhere mourn the death of Gene Wilder, pop duo Karmin remembered the iconic actor and his influence on the pop duo’s art.
Of course Noonan’s adoration for Wilder and his starring role in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory should come as no surprise, as her band recently quasi-covered its standout song “Pure Imagination” for their own “Come With Me (Pure Imagination)”.
Whether conning Broadway investors with a daring scheme in Mel Brooks’ The Producers or conjuring up “pure imagination” as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the frizzy-haired comedic genius kept audiences laughing through almost five decades of iconic performances. The film would go on to become one of the biggest hits of Wilder’s career, and he and Brooks were nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar at the 1975 awards.
“I get five mails, I would say I get five a day – not Saturday or Sunday”, Wilder replied.
Gene Wilder’s face is flawless: seething and wincing and gibbering with nerves and excitement, especially when he was reduced to a cringing mess of anxiety by being deprived of his childhood “blue blanket”.
Wilder starred as unscrupulous “Springtime for Hitler” producer Leo Bloom in this 1968 cult classic, the first of his collaborations with Mel Brooks. “If there’s a heaven he has a Golden Ticket”.
From his breakthrough part in “The Producers”, Wilder excelled at moments of explosive rage or sheer desperation. And the role’s importance can’t be understated: Wilder played one-half of an interracial buddy duo at a time when black actors nearly always existed to buoy their white co-stars.
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The movie was the first he worked on with Brooks, and started a long working relationship that included Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Survivors include his fourth wife, Karen Boyer, a speech therapist who taught him to lip-read for his role as a deaf man in “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” (1989).
