Legend: Gene Wilder

***** CONTENT WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO BLACKFACE, ANTI-SEMITISM, BULLYING, SEXUAL ASSAULT, MISCARRIAGE, CANCER, AND ALZHEIMER’S *****

Gene Wilder would have celebrated his 90th birthday today. An Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated actor, writer, director, and comedian, Wilder had a unique gift for finding humor in the darkest of places.

Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father and maternal grandparents were all Russian-Jewish immigrants. Wilder became interested in performing at the age of eight; his mom was sick with rheumatic fever and the doctor whispered in his ear, “try to make her laugh”. At eleven, he begged his sister’s acting coach to accept him as a student. The teacher told him if he was still interested at age thirteen to let him know; Wilder called him the day after his thirteenth birthday and was immediately accepted.

After a brief, traumatic stint at Black-Foxe Military Institute in Los Angeles, where he was bullied and sexually assaulted because he was the only Jewish student, Wilder returned to Milwaukee. He became active in the local theater community, making his professional debut at fifteen in a production of Romeo and Juliet. After graduating from Washington High School in 1951, he studied Communication and Theater Arts at the University of Iowa, then was accepted to the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England.

Wilder was drafted into the Army in 1956, serving in the medical corps at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania. Upon his release from the Army, he spent three years studying with Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at the famed HB Studio in New York’s Greenwich Village. During this time, Wilder changed his name after deciding that “Jerry Silberman in Macbeth” just didn’t sound right. He joined the Actors Studio and found some success off-Broadway.

In 1963, Wilder co-starred in the original Broadway adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in which he played the tragic Billy Bibbit, and in Mother Courage and Her Children. His leading lady in the latter was Anne Bancroft, who introduced Wilder to her then-boyfriend (and future husband) Mel Brooks. Brooks mentioned a screenplay he’d been working on – Springtime for Hitler – and Wilder verbally agreed to play Leo Bloom if the movie ever got, ahem, produced. In the meantime, Wilder made his film debut in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.

Also in 1967, Brooks’ long-gestating script finally made it to the big screen as The Producers, which earned Wilder his first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actor). Brooks, in his directorial debut, won his only Oscar for The Producers, for Best Original Screenplay. Wilder and Brooks made two more movies together, each one more iconic than the last. More on those in a bit.

After appearances in 1970’s Start the Revolution Without Me and Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx, Wilder landed what would become his signature role: Willy Wonka. Though Roald Dahl famously hated the 1971 movie adaptation of his beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wilder’s Wonka has delighted and terrified generations of children (me included). Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) and Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee) at a special screening of the film, and they shared the most wonderful memories of Wilder and the making of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

In 1974, Wilder reteamed with Brooks not once, but twice, for Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. The two iconic comedies, which earned a combined five Oscar nominations and a box office take of almost $200 million, sealed the duo’s status as one of the greatest actor/director combinations in cinema history. For Young Frankenstein, my favorite of the Brooks-Wilder collaborations, Wilder received his second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay (he shared the nod with Brooks). Wilder made two more films in 1974, Rhinoceros and the sci-fi fantasy musical The Little Prince. Based on the beloved novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, with music and lyrics by Lerner & Loewe, The Little Prince co-stars Wilder as The Fox, one of several characters the titular prince encounters on his journey to Earth.

In 1976, Wilder collaborated with Richard Pryor for the first time in the buddy comedy-action flick Silver Streak. They would go on to make three more films together, including 1980’s Stir Crazy (directed by Sidney Poitier) and 1989’s See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Some of the humor in these films has not aged well (blackface isn’t funny, and neither is any of See No Evil, Hear No Evil) but Wilder and Pryor had amazing chemistry and became lifelong friends.

In 1979, Wilder starred with Harrison Ford in The Frisco Kid, which Wilder referred to as “Young Frankenstein meets the Dirty Dozen” (fun fact: Ford’s role was written for John Wayne, who either asked for too much money or turned the role down due to “vulgarity” in the script, depending on who you ask). I distinctly remember seeing (and enjoying) The Frisco Kid in the theater, though I don’t think I’ve watched it since, so I have no idea how well it’s held up. I can tell you that the film’s director, Robert Aldrich, once said of Wilder, “With the exception of Bette Davis, Gene is the best actor I’ve worked with.”

On August 13, 1981, several years after divorcing his first wife Mary, Wilder met Gilda Radner on the set of Hanky Panky. At the time, Radner was married to musician and SNL bandleader G.E. Smith, but she and Wilder became good friends. Radner and Smith divorced in 1982, the same year Hanky Panky, the second collaboration between Wilder and Sidney Poitier, was released. Wilder and Radner married in 1984, and though they wanted children, Radner suffered a series of miscarriages before being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. The pair made one more movie together, 1986’s Haunted Honeymoon. On May 20, 1989, Radner passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Wilder by her side.

After Radner’s death, Wilder only made two more feature films, 1990’s Funny About Love and 1991’s Another You, his final collaboration with Richard Pryor. He made some television appearances, including an eponymous NBC sitcom (1994’s Something Wilder) and a performance as The Mock Turtle in a 1999 made-for-television movie adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. His final role, a two-episode arc on Will & Grace, earned Wilder an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Acting offers continued to come his way, but Wilder instead spent his time painting, writing, and pursuing philanthropic endeavors like the non-profit Gilda’s Club.

Wilder died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on August 29, 2016. He was 83 years old. He kept his diagnosis hidden for three years, because he didn’t want to make Willy Wonka fans sad. As his nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman put it, Wilder “…simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.” About a month ago, the trailer to a documentary feature titled Remembering Gene Wilder was released. Featuring clips from his beloved filmography and interviews with friends and collaborators like Mel Brooks, Carol Kane, Alan Alda, Peter Ostrum (Willy Wonka‘s Charlie Bucket), Rain Pryor, and Wilder’s third wife, Karen, Remembering Gene Wilder promises to honor one of the all-time greats. Like Wilder himself, this trailer made me smile and brought tears to my eyes.