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Jerome Wilder (Silberman)

Hebrew: ג'רום ג'ין וילדר (סילברמן)
Also Known As: "Gene Wilder", "Jerome"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Death: August 29, 2016 (83)
Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States (Complications from Alzheimer's disease)
Immediate Family:

Son of William J Silberman and Jeanne Silberman
Husband of Gilda Radner and Private
Ex-husband of Private and Private
Father of Private
Brother of Corinne Perlman

Occupation: Comedian, Actor, Author, Screenwriter, Film director, Writer
Managed by: Randy Schoenberg
Last Updated:
view all

Immediate Family

About Gene Wilder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wilder

Jerome Silberman, known professionally as Gene Wilder (born June 11, 1933 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), was an American stage and screen comic actor, director, screenwriter, author, and activist.

Wilder began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in the TV-series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962. 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 1968 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, the latter of which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder also wrote Young Frankenstein, making it the first movie Mel Brooks directed but did not personally write. Wilder is known for his 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). Wilder has directed and written several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).

His third wife was actress Gilda Radner, with whom he starred in three films. Her 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.

Since his most recent contribution to acting in 2003, Wilder has turned his attention to writing. He has 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).

He continues to receive critical acclaim, and is regarded as one of the most appealing comedic actors of the second half of the 20th century.

Work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wilder#Work



http://variety.com/2016/film/news/gene-wilder-dead-dies-willie-wonk...

Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka’ Star and Comedic Icon, Dies at 83

Richard Natale

307 
Gene Wilder DeadSTEVE WOOD/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK AUGUST 29, 2016 | 12:22PM PT

Gene Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died Monday at his home in Stamford, Conn. His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83.

His nephew said in a statement, “We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones — this illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality. The decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn’t vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him “there’s Willy Wonka,” would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or trouble and causing delight to travel to worry, disappointment or confusion. He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.

He continued to enjoy art, music, and kissing with his leading lady of the last twenty-five years, Karen. He danced down a church aisle at a wedding as parent of the groom and ring bearer, held countless afternoon movie western marathons and delighted in the the company of beloved ones.”

He had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1989.

The comic actor, who was twice Oscar nominated, for his role in “The Producers” and for co-penning “Young Frankenstein” with Mel Brooks, usually portrayed a neurotic who veered between total hysteria and dewy-eyed tenderness. “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria,” he told Time magazine in 1970. “After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.”

Habit or not, he got a great deal of mileage out of his persona in the 1970s for directors like Mel Brooks and Woody Allen, leading to a few less successful stints behind the camera, the best of which was “The Woman in Red,” co-starring then-wife Gilda Radner. Wilder was devastated by Radner’s death from ovarian cancer in 1989 and worked only intermittently after that. He tried his hand briefly at a sitcom in 1994, “Something Wilder,” and won an Emmy in 2003 for a guest role on “Will & Grace.”

His professional debut came in Off Broadway’s “Roots” in 1961, followed by a stint on Broadway in Graham Greene’s comedy “The Complaisant Lover,” which won him a Clarence Derwent Award as promising newcomer. His performance in the 1963 production of Brecht’s “Mother Courage” was seen by Mel Brooks, whose future wife, Anne Bancroft, was starring in the production; a friendship with Brooks would lead to some of Wilder’s most successful film work. For the time being, however, Wilder continued to work onstage, in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1963 and “Dynamite Tonight” and “The White House” the following year. He then understudied Alan Arkin and Gabriel Dell in “Luv,” eventually taking over the role.

Wilder also worked in television in 1962’s “The Sound of Hunting,” “The Interrogators,” “Windfall” and in the 1966 TV production of “Death of a Salesman” with Lee J. Cobb. He later starred in TV movies including “Thursday’s Game” and the comedy-variety special “Annie and the Hoods,” both in 1974.

In 1967 Wilder essayed his first memorable bigscreen neurotic, Eugene Grizzard, a kidnapped undertaker in Arthur Penn’s classic “Bonnie and Clyde.”

(RELATED article- internal- links Gene Wilder Willy Wonka Dead Gene Wilder Life and Career in Photos)

Then came “The Producers,” in which he played the hysterical Leo Bloom, an accountant lured into a money bilking scheme by a theatrical producer played by Zero Mostel. Directed and written by Brooks, the film brought Wilder an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. With that, his film career was born.

He next starred in a dual role with Donald Sutherland in “Start the Revolution Without Me,” in which he displayed his fencing abilities. It was followed by another middling comedy, “Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx,” also in 1970.

In 1971 he stepped into the shoes of Willy Wonka, one of his most beloved and gentle characters. Based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was not an immediate hit but became a children’s favorite over the years. The same cannot be said for the 1974 Stanley Donen-directed musical version of “The Little Prince,” in which Wilder appeared as the fox. He had somewhat better luck in Woody Allen’s spoof “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex,” appearing in a hilarious segment in which he played a doctor who falls in love with a sheep named Daisy.

Full-fledged film stardom came with two other Brooks comedies, both in 1974: Western spoof “Blazing Saddles” and a wacko adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous book entitled “Young Frankenstein,” in which Wilder portrayed the mad scientist with his signature mixture of hysteria and sweetness.

Working with Brooks spurred Wilder to write and direct his own comedies, though none reached the heights of his collaborations with Brooks. The first of these was “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” (1975), in which he included such Brooks regulars as Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman. It was followed by 1977’s “The World’s Greatest Lover,” which he also produced.

Wilder fared better, however, when he was working solely in front of the camera, particularly in a number of films in which he co-starred with Richard Pryor.

The first of these was 1976’s “Silver Streak,” a spoof of film thrillers set on trains; 1980’s “Stir Crazy” was an even bigger hit, grossing more than $100 million. Wilder and Pryor’s two other pairings, “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You,” provided diminishing returns, however.

While filming “Hanky Panky” in 1982, Wilder met “Saturday Night Live” comedienne Radner. She became his third wife shortly thereafter. Wilder and Radner co-starred in his most successful directing stint, “The Woman in Red” in 1984, and then “Haunted Honeymoon.” But Radner grew ill with cancer, and he devoted himself to her care, working sporadically after that and hardly at all after her death in 1989.

In the early ’90s he appeared in his last film with Pryor and another comedy, “Funny About Love.” In addition to the failed TV series “Something Wilder” in 1994, he wrote and starred in the A&E mystery telepics “The Lady in Question” and “Murder in a Small Town” in 1999. He also appeared as the Mock Turtle in a 1999 NBC adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.”

He last acted in a couple of episodes of “Will and Grace” in 2002-03 as Mr. Stein, winning an Emmy.

He was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee and began studying acting at the age of 12. After getting his B.A. from the U. of Iowa in 1955, Wilder enrolled in the Old Vic Theater school in Bristol, where he learned acting technique and fencing. When he returned to the U.S. he taught fencing and did other odd jobs while studying with Herbert Berghof’s HB Studio and at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg.

Wilder’s memoir “Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art” was published in 2005. After that he wrote fiction: the 2007 novel “My French Whore”; 2008’s “The Woman Who Wouldn’t”; a collection of stories, “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” in 2010; and the novella “Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance” in 2013.

Wilder was interviewed by Alec Baldwin for the one-hour TCM documentary “Role Model: Gene Wilder” in 2008. The actor was also active in raising cancer awareness in the wake of Radner’s death.

He is survived by his fourth wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991 and his nephew. His sister Corinne, predeceased him in January 2016.

Before Radner, Wilder was married to the actress-playwright Mary Mercier and Mary Joan Schutz (aka Jo Ayers).

About Gene Wilder (עברית)

ג'ין ויילדר

''''''(באנגלית: Gene Wilder; ‏11 ביוני 1933 – 29 באוגוסט 2016) היה שחקן קולנוע, במאי קולנוע, מפיק, זמר, מלחין, מחבר ותסריטאי יהודי-אמריקאי.[1]

תוכן עניינים 1 ביוגרפיה 2 סרטים שהשתתף בהם 3 פרסים ומועמדויות 4 קישורים חיצוניים 5 הערות שוליים ביוגרפיה נולד בשם ג'רום זילברמן (Jerome Silberman) במילווקי, ויסקונסין שבארצות הברית למשפחה יהודית ממוצא רוסי.

בתחילת שנות השישים השתתף בכמה מחזות מצולמים לטלוויזיה, וב-1966 השתתף בעיבוד טלוויזיוני למחזהו של ארתור מילר, "מותו של סוכן". את הקריירה הקולנועית שלו החל בסרטים "בוני וקלייד" ב-1967, ובסרט "המפיקים" בגרסתו מ-1968, בו גילם את דמותו של לאו בלום. סרט זה בוים על ידי מל ברוקס, שוויילדר חבר אליו לסרטים נוספים - "פרנקנשטיין הצעיר" ו"אוכפים לוהטים".

מאוחר יותר חבר לריצ'רד פריור ושניהם הופיעו יחדיו בארבעה סרטים, בהם "קו הכסף" ו"לא ראיתי לא שמעתי".

בשנת 1971 שיחק בעיבוד המוזיקלי לספרו של רואלד דאל "וילי וונקה ומפעל השוקולד" בתפקיד וילי ונקה, תפקיד זה האיץ את הפופולריות שלו בתחום המשחק בתעשיית הקולנוע.

ב-1984 כתב וביים את סרטו "האישה באדום", בו כיכב לצד הדוגמנית קלי לה-ברוק(אנ') והשחקנית והקומיקאית גילדה רדנר. רדנר הופיעה לצד ויילדר גם בסרט "האנקי פאנקי" מ-1982. בעקבות היכרותם, נוצר בין ויילדר ורדנר קשר רומנטי והם נישאו ב-1984.

מותה של רדנר ב-1989 מסרטן השחלות הפך את ויילדר לפעיל בתחום מניעת הסרטן והוא הקים בלוס אנג'לס את "מרכז גילדה רדנר" לגילוי מוקדם של סרטן השחלות.

סרט הקולנוע האחרון בו השתתף היה "המיליונר הזה הוא עני", בשנת 1991. שלוש שנים אחר כך כיכב בסדרת טלוויזיה קומית בת 15 פרקים. ב-1999 כיכב בשני סרטי טלוויזיה בלשיים. באותה שנה השתתף בהפקה הטלוויזיונית המושקעת של "אליס בארץ הפלאות", בתפקיד "הצב-לא-צב".

הופעתו האחרונה כשחקן הייתה ב-2003, בפרק "סקס, מפסידנים ווידאוטייפ" מתוך סדרת הטלוויזיה "ויל וגרייס". אז פרש ממשחק והחל בקריירה של סופר.

כתב ארבעה ספרים, והאחרון בהם, "מה זה הדבר הזה, אהבה?" יצא לאור ב-2010.

ויילדר נפטר כתוצאה מסיבוכים במחלת אלצהיימר ב-29 באוגוסט 2016.[2][3][4][5]

סרטים שהשתתף בהם (1999) אליס בארץ הפלאות (סרט טלוויזיה) (1991) המיליונר הזה הוא עני (1990) אהבות מצחיקות (1989) לא ראיתי לא שמעתי (שותף בתסריט) (1986) ירח דבש מכושף (גם במאי ותסריטאי) (1984) האישה באדום (גם במאי ותסריטאי) (1982) הנקי פנקי (1980) שגעון על תנאי (1979) רבי אברהם במערב הפרוע (1977) המאהב הגדול בעולם (גם במאי ותסריטאי) (1976) קו הכסף (1975) ההרפתקאה של אחיו החכם יותר של שרלוק הולמס (גם במאי ותסריטאי) (1974) פרנקנשטיין הצעיר (גם שותף בתסריט) (1974) אוכפים לוהטים (1974) הנסיך הקטן (בתפקיד השועל) (1974) יום חמישי המוזר (1974) קרנפים (לצדו של זירו מוסטל, שותפו ל"המפיקים") (1972) כל מה שרצית לדעת על מין ולא העזת לשאול (1972) הדחליל (מחזה טלוויזיוני) (1971) וילי וונקה ומפעל השוקולד (1970) Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970) התחילו את המהפכה בלעדי (1968) המפיקים (1967) בוני וקלייד פרסים ומועמדויות שנה פרס קטגוריה כותרת תפקיד תוצאה 1962 פרס קלרנס דרוונט (אנ') Best Performance by an Actor in a Nonfeatured Role The Complaisant Lover (אנ') Hotel Valet זכייה 1968 פרס אוסקר (41st) פרס אוסקר לשחקן המשנה הטוב ביותר המפיקים ליאו בלום מועמדות 1971 פרס גלובוס הזהב פרס גלובוס הזהב לשחקן הטוב ביותר - סרט קומדיה או מוזיקלי וילי וונקה ומפעל השוקולד ווילי וונקה מועמדות 1974 פרס אוסקר (47th) פרס אוסקר לתסריט המעובד הטוב ביותר פרנקנשטיין הצעיר ד"ר פרנקונסטין מועמדות 1976 פרס גלובוס הזהב פרס גלובוס הזהב לשחקן הטוב ביותר - סרט קומדיה או מוזיקלי קו הכסף ג'ורג' מועמדות 2003 פרס אמי לבידור בפריים טיים פרס אמי לבידור בפריים-טיים לשחקן אורח יוצא מן הכלל בסדרה קומית ויל וגרייס מר שטיין זכייה קישורים חיצוניים ויקישיתוף מדיה וקבצים בנושא ג'ין ויילדר בוויקישיתוף Green globe.svg אתר האינטרנט הרשמי

של ג'ין ויילדר IMDB Logo 2016.svg ג'ין ויילדר , במסד הנתונים הקולנועיים IMDb (באנגלית) Allmovie Logo.png ג'ין ויילדר , באתר AllMovie (באנגלית) Rotten Tomatoes logo.svg ג'ין ויילדר , באתר Rotten Tomatoes (באנגלית) ג'ין ויילדר , באתר Box Office Mojo (באנגלית) ג'ין ויילדר , באתר "Find a Grave" (באנגלית) https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92%27%D7%99%D7%9F_%D7%95%D7%99%D7...

------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wilder

Jerome Silberman, known professionally as Gene Wilder (born June 11, 1933 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), was an American stage and screen comic actor, director, screenwriter, author, and activist.

Wilder began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in the TV-series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962. 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 1968 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, the latter of which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder also wrote Young Frankenstein, making it the first movie Mel Brooks directed but did not personally write. Wilder is known for his 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). Wilder has directed and written several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).

His third wife was actress Gilda Radner, with whom he starred in three films. Her 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.

Since his most recent contribution to acting in 2003, Wilder has turned his attention to writing. He has 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).

He continues to receive critical acclaim, and is regarded as one of the most appealing comedic actors of the second half of the 20th century.

Work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wilder#Work



http://variety.com/2016/film/news/gene-wilder-dead-dies-willie-wonk...

Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka’ Star and Comedic Icon, Dies at 83

Richard Natale

307 
Gene Wilder DeadSTEVE WOOD/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK AUGUST 29, 2016 | 12:22PM PT

Gene Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died Monday at his home in Stamford, Conn. His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83.

His nephew said in a statement, “We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones — this illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality. The decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn’t vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him “there’s Willy Wonka,” would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or trouble and causing delight to travel to worry, disappointment or confusion. He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.

He continued to enjoy art, music, and kissing with his leading lady of the last twenty-five years, Karen. He danced down a church aisle at a wedding as parent of the groom and ring bearer, held countless afternoon movie western marathons and delighted in the the company of beloved ones.”

He had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1989.

The comic actor, who was twice Oscar nominated, for his role in “The Producers” and for co-penning “Young Frankenstein” with Mel Brooks, usually portrayed a neurotic who veered between total hysteria and dewy-eyed tenderness. “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria,” he told Time magazine in 1970. “After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.”

Habit or not, he got a great deal of mileage out of his persona in the 1970s for directors like Mel Brooks and Woody Allen, leading to a few less successful stints behind the camera, the best of which was “The Woman in Red,” co-starring then-wife Gilda Radner. Wilder was devastated by Radner’s death from ovarian cancer in 1989 and worked only intermittently after that. He tried his hand briefly at a sitcom in 1994, “Something Wilder,” and won an Emmy in 2003 for a guest role on “Will & Grace.”

His professional debut came in Off Broadway’s “Roots” in 1961, followed by a stint on Broadway in Graham Greene’s comedy “The Complaisant Lover,” which won him a Clarence Derwent Award as promising newcomer. His performance in the 1963 production of Brecht’s “Mother Courage” was seen by Mel Brooks, whose future wife, Anne Bancroft, was starring in the production; a friendship with Brooks would lead to some of Wilder’s most successful film work. For the time being, however, Wilder continued to work onstage, in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1963 and “Dynamite Tonight” and “The White House” the following year. He then understudied Alan Arkin and Gabriel Dell in “Luv,” eventually taking over the role.

Wilder also worked in television in 1962’s “The Sound of Hunting,” “The Interrogators,” “Windfall” and in the 1966 TV production of “Death of a Salesman” with Lee J. Cobb. He later starred in TV movies including “Thursday’s Game” and the comedy-variety special “Annie and the Hoods,” both in 1974.

In 1967 Wilder essayed his first memorable bigscreen neurotic, Eugene Grizzard, a kidnapped undertaker in Arthur Penn’s classic “Bonnie and Clyde.”

(RELATED article- internal- links Gene Wilder Willy Wonka Dead Gene Wilder Life and Career in Photos)

Then came “The Producers,” in which he played the hysterical Leo Bloom, an accountant lured into a money bilking scheme by a theatrical producer played by Zero Mostel. Directed and written by Brooks, the film brought Wilder an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. With that, his film career was born.

He next starred in a dual role with Donald Sutherland in “Start the Revolution Without Me,” in which he displayed his fencing abilities. It was followed by another middling comedy, “Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx,” also in 1970.

In 1971 he stepped into the shoes of Willy Wonka, one of his most beloved and gentle characters. Based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was not an immediate hit but became a children’s favorite over the years. The same cannot be said for the 1974 Stanley Donen-directed musical version of “The Little Prince,” in which Wilder appeared as the fox. He had somewhat better luck in Woody Allen’s spoof “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex,” appearing in a hilarious segment in which he played a doctor who falls in love with a sheep named Daisy.

Full-fledged film stardom came with two other Brooks comedies, both in 1974: Western spoof “Blazing Saddles” and a wacko adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous book entitled “Young Frankenstein,” in which Wilder portrayed the mad scientist with his signature mixture of hysteria and sweetness.

Working with Brooks spurred Wilder to write and direct his own comedies, though none reached the heights of his collaborations with Brooks. The first of these was “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” (1975), in which he included such Brooks regulars as Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman. It was followed by 1977’s “The World’s Greatest Lover,” which he also produced.

Wilder fared better, however, when he was working solely in front of the camera, particularly in a number of films in which he co-starred with Richard Pryor.

The first of these was 1976’s “Silver Streak,” a spoof of film thrillers set on trains; 1980’s “Stir Crazy” was an even bigger hit, grossing more than $100 million. Wilder and Pryor’s two other pairings, “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You,” provided diminishing returns, however.

While filming “Hanky Panky” in 1982, Wilder met “Saturday Night Live” comedienne Radner. She became his third wife shortly thereafter. Wilder and Radner co-starred in his most successful directing stint, “The Woman in Red” in 1984, and then “Haunted Honeymoon.” But Radner grew ill with cancer, and he devoted himself to her care, working sporadically after that and hardly at all after her death in 1989.

In the early ’90s he appeared in his last film with Pryor and another comedy, “Funny About Love.” In addition to the failed TV series “Something Wilder” in 1994, he wrote and starred in the A&E mystery telepics “The Lady in Question” and “Murder in a Small Town” in 1999. He also appeared as the Mock Turtle in a 1999 NBC adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.”

He last acted in a couple of episodes of “Will and Grace” in 2002-03 as Mr. Stein, winning an Emmy.

He was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee and began studying acting at the age of 12. After getting his B.A. from the U. of Iowa in 1955, Wilder enrolled in the Old Vic Theater school in Bristol, where he learned acting technique and fencing. When he returned to the U.S. he taught fencing and did other odd jobs while studying with Herbert Berghof’s HB Studio and at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg.

Wilder’s memoir “Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art” was published in 2005. After that he wrote fiction: the 2007 novel “My French Whore”; 2008’s “The Woman Who Wouldn’t”; a collection of stories, “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” in 2010; and the novella “Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance” in 2013.

Wilder was interviewed by Alec Baldwin for the one-hour TCM documentary “Role Model: Gene Wilder” in 2008. The actor was also active in raising cancer awareness in the wake of Radner’s death.

He is survived by his fourth wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991 and his nephew. His sister Corinne, predeceased him in January 2016.

Before Radner, Wilder was married to the actress-playwright Mary Mercier and Mary Joan Schutz (aka Jo Ayers).

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Gene Wilder's Timeline

1933
June 11, 1933
Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
1994
1994
Age 60
Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
2016
August 29, 2016
Age 83
Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States