Gene Wilder dead :(

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Dr Frook
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Gene Wilder dead :(

Postby Dr Frook » 29 Aug 2016, 21:24

I loved him in Willy Wonka... :(

Hollywood star Gene Wilder, who delighted audiences with his comic turns in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and several Mel Brooks classics including Blazing Saddles and The Producers, has died age 83.

Wilder died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer's disease, his family said, adding the actor had "co-existed" with the disease for the past three years.

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Gene Wilder's most famous roles

From Willy Wonka to Young Frankenstein and Silver Streak, look back at some of his most famous film roles.
"It is with indescribable sadness and blues, but with spiritual gratitude for the life lived that I announce the passing of husband, parent and universal artist Gene Wilder," read the statement, penned by nephew Jordan Walker-Pearman.

"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 exposed to an adult referencing illness."

Wilder's barely contained hysteria made him a go-to lead for director-writer Brooks, who cast him in Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and The Producers in the 1960s and '70s.

"Gene Wilder - one of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship," Brooks said on Twitter.


For what role will you remember Gene Wilder?

Besides his classic collaborations with Brooks, the two-time Oscar nominated Wilder paired memorably with comedian Richard Pryor in hits Silver Streak and Stir Crazy.

But his most cherished role would come in 1971, as the title character in the timeless musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The film would transcend generations, and Wilder's trademark physical comedy and expressive blue eyes would bring the character first introduced in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to life.

"It wasn't a success when it came out. And I heard some talk about mothers who thought it was cruel to the children," Wilder said of the original Willy Wonka film.

"What they and everyone else found out later on was that maybe some mothers felt that way, but the children didn't feel that way. The children understood the movie very well."

Wilder was openly critical of the 2005 remake of the film, starring Johnny Depp, which he described as a "mistake".

"I think it's an insult. It's probably Warner Brothers' insult. Johnny Depp, I think, is a good actor, but I don't care for that director [Tim Burton]. He's a talented man, but I don't care for him doing stuff like he did," he said.

Actor promoted cancer awareness

Wilder also was active in promoting ovarian cancer awareness and treatment after his wife, Saturday Night Live comedian Gilda Radner, whom he married in 1984, died of the disease in 1989.

He helped found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Centre in Los Angeles and co-founded Gilda's Club, a support group that has branches throughout the country.

Wilder was hospitalised in 1999 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma but was said to be in complete remission in 2005.

Wilder lived in Stamford in a house built in 1734 that he had shared with Radner, writing and painting watercolours with his wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991.
The BUGBLATTER BEAST HAS SPOKEN, ALL HAIL THE BLATTERER!
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