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Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Acting · Writing

Born June 11, 1933, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

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).

Filmography

Appearances as themselves (32)
  • 2026Wilder — Self (archive footage)
  • 2024Remembering Gene Wilder — Self (archive footage)
  • 2018Love, Gilda — Self (archive footage)
  • 2018Mel Brooks: Unwrapped — Self (archive footage)
  • 2016The Last Laugh — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
  • 2014Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West — Self (archive footage)
  • 2013Mel Brooks: Make a Noise — Self (archive footage)
  • 2010Gene Wilder: Be in the Moment, Today — Himself
  • 2008Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation — Self
  • 2008Role Model: Gene Wilder — Self
  • Legends — Self
  • Parkinson — Self - Guest
  • After They Were Famous — Self (archive footage)
  • 2002The Making of 'The Producers' — Self
  • 2001Back in the Saddle — Self
  • 2001Pure Imagination: The Story of 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' — Self
  • 1997Blacks and Jews — Self
  • The View — Self
  • 1996Making Frankensense of Young Frankenstein — Self
  • The Frank Skinner Show — Self
  • Inside the Actors Studio — Self
  • Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest
  • 1991A Party For Richard Pryor — Self
  • 1988Hello Actors Studio — Self
  • 1982Baryshnikov in Hollywood — Self - Special Appearence
  • Wogan — Self
  • CBS News Sunday Morning — Self - Guest
  • Ciné regards — Self
  • Please Turn the Page — Self
  • Les Rendez-vous du dimanche — Self
  • Film '72 — Self
  • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
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