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. That started his relationship with the incomparable Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka.
Advertisement
Mel Brooks reminisced about his longtime pal and collaborator Gene Wilder on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night, and he didn’t disappoint.
Brooks clearly knew how amusing Wilder could be from the moment he met him.
Wilder, who died as a result of Alzheimer’s, was 83 years old. “You are Leo Bloom, ‘” Brooks said, recalling a conversation he had with Wilder.
Wilder went on to nab a supporting actor Oscar nomination for the role and starred in two other iconic Brooks films: “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein”. The very first time he met Gene was when Mel’s late wife, Anne Bancroft, was in the play Mother Courage and Gene was playing a chaplain.
Tim Burton’s version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory falls among these modern films dismissed by Wilder. Brooks would call him “God’s ideal prey, the victim in all of us”. Gene Wilder was a great Comedy Icon and his fans who are simply touched by his talent have paid tribute to the actor on social media. “I said, ‘Look in the mirror. And the big number in it is ‘Springtime for Hitler.’ Yeah, you’re gonna get the money!”
Advertisement
“I took the script and I said to Gene, ‘We got the money”. But if you go to some movies, can’t they just stop and talk, just talk, instead of swearing? When, “miracle of miracles”, he finally did get the money and told Wilder, the actor “burst into tears”. “I can’t call him”, Brooks added. “It was a wonderful moment”, the Oscar victor recalled. “I said, ‘What the hell is that?’ and he said, “Well, I had an idea”.
