Gene Wilder
Biography
Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, singer-songwriter, and author. He began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in an episode of the TV series The Play of the Week in 1961. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde, Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film The Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, which Wilder co-wrote, garnering the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is known for his iconic portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991), as well as starring in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). He directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984). With his third wife, Gilda Radner, he starred in three films, the last two of which he also directed. Her 1989 death from ovarian cancer led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club. After his last acting performance in 2003 – a guest role on Will & Grace for which he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – he turned his attention to writing. He produced a memoir in 2005, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art; a collection of stories, What Is This Thing Called Love? (2010); and the novels My French Whore (2007), The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008), and Something to Remember You By (2013).
Known For
Willy Wonka
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Eugene Grizzard
Bonnie and Clyde
Dr. Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein
Self
Making Frankensense of Young Frankenstein
Leo Bloom
The Producers
Dave Lyons
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Jim
Blazing Saddles
Theodore Pierce
The Woman in Red
George Caldwell
Silver Streak
Skip Donahue
Stir Crazy
Larry Abbot
Haunted Honeymoon
George / Abe Fielding
Another You
Dr. Doug Ross
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask
Mock Turtle
Alice in Wonderland
Michael Jordon
Hanky Panky
(archive footage)
Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!
Self (archive footage)
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Sigerson Holmes
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
The Fox
The Little Prince
Rudy Valentine / Rudy Hickman
The World's Greatest Lover
Avram
The Frisco Kid
Duffy Bergman
Funny About Love
Stanley
Rhinoceros
Leo Bloom (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Claude / Philippe
Start the Revolution Without Me
Quackser Fortune
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Dr. Frankenstein (archive footage)
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Cash Carter
Murder in a Small Town
Skippy (sketch 'Skippy')
Les Séducteurs
Self (archive footage)
Wilder
Narrator (voice)
EXPO: Magic of the White City
Self
The Last Laugh
Harry Evers
Thursday's Game
Self
Role Model: Gene Wilder
Self
Hello Actors Studio
Ernie (Story 4)
The Trouble With People
Self - Special Appearence
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Remembering Gene Wilder
Lord Ravensbane
Scarecrow
Self
Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation
Herb Waterman
Acts of Love and Other Comedies
Self (archive footage)
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
Self
Pure Imagination: The Story of 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'
Larry 'Cash' Carter
The Lady in Question
Bernard
Death of a Salesman
George / Skip Donahue (archive footage)
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
Self (archive footage)
Love, Gilda
Self
Back in the Saddle
Self
The Making of 'The Producers'
Self
Blacks and Jews
Self (archive footage)
Private Screenings: Robert Osborne
Self (archive footage)
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
Himself
Gene Wilder: Be in the Moment, Today
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
53
Gender
Male
Birthday
1933-06-11
Place of Birth
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Also Known As
Jerome Silberman