Wilder, who died Sunday from complications of Alzheimer’s disease at age 83, stars in both classics directed by Mel Brooks.
Advertisement
The filmmaker shared stories about his friend Gene Wilder with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night. “But I don’t know, when it happens it’s still tremendous”. They would break for lunch and Gene and I would always buy a chocolate bar and share it on the way back to the set. I went backstage and Gene was in a Murray Schisgal play called ‘Luv.’ He was wonderful in it. The two became fast friends and wound up producing a number of films that are still revered to this day like Young Frankenstein and The Producers.
Brooks recalled first meeting Wilder when the late comedian was working with Brooks’s future wife, Anne Bancroft, in “Mother Courage”. Brooks said that once he had gathered the money for the movie and told Wilder that he would be playing Leo Bloom, the late actor began to openly cry.
In the aftermath of Wilder’s death, Brooks wrote on Twitter, “One of the truly great talents of our time”.
Monday brought the terrible 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.
“I thought the script was very good, but something was missing”, Wilder told Robert Osborne of the Willy Wonka production during a 92nd Street Y discussion in 2013, IndieWire notes.
Glittering confetti and paper stars rained down over the audience, as frontman Chris Martin sang the same lyrics Wilder did in 1971’s “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”.
Advertisement
Brooks recalled numerous famous stories about his relationship with Wilder. “Why are they laughing at me?” “You’re going to get the money”. “It was a wonderful moment”.
