Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

So many bastards, so little time.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

He really is that stupid.

You are here: Home / Absent Friends / RIP / Rest in Peace, Gene Wilder

Reader Interactions

143Comments

  7. 7.

    David Hunt

    Crap. I was just wondering why everyone I know on twitter was talking about how great Gene Wilder was. I agreed with all of it, but I didn’t make the connection to why they were saying it.

    …

    Crap.

    Rest in Peace, sir. You certainly earned it.

  9. 9.

    germy

    Mel Brooks ‏@MelBrooks 18m18 minutes ago
    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.

  10. 10.

    The Red Pen

    I can imagine he’s in the afterlife with his long-departed wife, Gilda Radner. He left behind a great legacy.

  11. 11.

    Susan K of the tech support

    I remember going to see Blazing Saddles in the theatre with my Mom. R-rated movie, ooh la-la! I was underage. I still remember wearing funky embroidered overalls and a bandana on my head. And of how good it felt to be taken to an R movie by my mother.

    We laughed through it all. Campfire fart jokes, yep. We liked Wilder because he resembled a friend of ours. (seriously. Uncanny. resemblance)

    I’ll always associate him with that experience, which was a feel good on many levels.

    Years later, I watched a Criterion Laser Disc* of Young Frankenstein–one of my first experiences with all the extras, and of feeling amazement at his work in that movie and of the utmost esteem that he and Mel Brooks had for each other. That’s another lasting memory of him– a person who does good work and is highly respected.

    RIP Gene Wilder.

    *yeah, remember Laser Disc?

  12. 12.

    dexwood

    Thanks for all the laughs, Gene. We just watched The Producers, again, Friday night. Poor Mel Brooks must feel like the last man standing.

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    RIP. He was such a gentleman, and so funny. He made me laugh even when he had no lines to speak, just because his face was so expressive

  15. 15.

    Keith G

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: I think it is a pretty good year and seems likely to get a bit better.** Gene made it into his 80s and was suffering, probably really suffering, from Alzheimer’s disease. I am not going to carp on about how bad such a passing is. It is not.

    **I’ve a lil cancer thing to deal with, but we are going to clobber the GOP, so it’s still a good year.

  17. 17.

    Edmunddantes

    So weird but watching one of his last interviews, he was asked “what is the one Thing you want people to know about you?”

    I’m not a funny guy or comedian. I can be funny in movies but that’s not me. (Paraphrasing)

    RIP Gene Wilder

    PS screw Alzheimer’s.

  19. 19.

    burnspbesq

    The Waco Kid rides off into the sunset … In a limo, with Count Basie playing in the background. One last time.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    I didn’t know he had Alzheimer’s, but he disappeared from public view so abruptly that I suspected it was something like that.

    His very first movie role was in “Bonnie and Clyde” in a small but memorable part.

  21. 21.

    Immanentize

    Geez — I have been turning my son onto his films for the last year.

    “Put. The candle. Back!”

  23. 23.

    JR in WV

    Will never forget that moment when, in Young Frankenstein, he saw the castle door and said “My God, What Knockers!” and Madeline Kahn said ‘Why, thank you!”

    ROTFLMAO

    And Blazing Saddles, also, too. Never saw Willy Wonka, maybe too old when it came out…. is it worth digging up?

    A master of his craft, no doubt. RIP funny man!

    Fuck ALZ, and cancer also too.

    This year sucks so far. Come new years they’ll be able to fill the newspapers with obits from this year.

    RIP Gene!

  24. 24.

    Drunkenhausfrau

    I still think this may be the rapture, and only the great artists are being taken.

  25. 25.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JR in WV: Willy Wonka is my favorite kids’ movie. It’s hilarious in a dark way. Well worth watching. It’s on tv (cable) all the time.

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, people who love “Young Frankenstein” should consider also watching the three movies that Wilder and Brooks built it from: “Frankenstein,” “Bride of Frankenstein,” and “Son of Frankenstein.” Gene Wilder is definitely mixing elements of both Colin Clive and Basil Rathbone in his performance.

  27. 27.

    BGinCHI

    If you haven’t seen “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) in a while, rewatch it and you’ll be surprised at the terrific small role Wilder has as a briefly kidnapped swell.

    I don’t know how Penn kept him from stealing the scenes….

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Not sure how observant he was

    According to Wikipedia, probably not very observant:

    Wilder was raised Jewish, but held only the Golden Rule as his philosophy. He described himself as a “Jewish-Buddhist-Atheist” in an interview published in 2005.

    But he would surely have known the Kaddish as a child, and I think would probably appreciate your linking to it.

  30. 30.

    Immanentize

    @Drunkenhausfrau: It’s funny you say that — we have had a huge exodus from my university — mostly the good people — and we have characterized it as a slow motion rapture. Maybe that is what’s happening? God(dess) (or your favorite deity figure) needs to be entertained and is relieving the great ones from this old world.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Someone please let me out of mod? I deleted the raw link but it didn’t help. Thanks!

  32. 32.

    Ceci n'est pas mon nym

    “Young Frankenstein” was probably my favorite Mel Brooks movie, and I heard somewhere (perhaps Brooks said it in an interview) that much of the idea and the writing came from Wilder. Which just raised him exponentially in my “how funny is this guy” scale.

    Peter Boyle is also, sadly, gone quite some time. Years ago. Everybody on that film was just amazing. Think it’s time to re-watch it.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    Such a wonderful talent. And he also seemed to be a gentle man (official obits, don’t let me down!).

    He had a great body of work. Not only his work with Mel Brooks, but I really enjoyed his work with Richard Pryor.

    On the wonderful movie podcast, The Canon, film critics Devin Faraci and Amy Nicholson discuss “Blazing Saddles.” It’s funny. There is a consensus that an atmosphere of caution and “political correctness” would prevent a film like this from being made today. Of course, in a couple of interviews, Mel Brooks said it was tough enough getting the film done in 1974. Brooks had final cut, but still had to fight to keep some gags in the film (some of the gay innuendo, more than anything else). The current movie in the theaters, the surprisingly enjoyable “Sausage Party” is in many ways, a comedy in the spirit of Saddles. But twice as rude, and maybe two thirds as consistently funny.

    I knew that Cleavon Little got his starring role because the studios thought that Richard Pryor would be too unreliable. But I did not know that actor Gig Young originally had the role that went to Gene Wilder, and that Young had an alcoholic meltdown on the first day of shooting, and Wilder was a last minute replacement.

    Little and Wilder make a great team in the film. The magic of the movies.

  35. 35.

    Tokyokie

    @BGinCHI: I don’t think Penn succeeded in keeping Wilder from stealing the five minutes in which he appeared in Bonnie and Clyde.

  37. 37.

    debit

    @Librarian: Hah! I buy De Cecco pasta and the first time I saw it, I misread the name as De Cece and have ever since referred to it as “The Corsican Pasta!”

  38. 38.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @burnspbesq:

    Actually, his family’s statement on his passing was that he was with all of his family, and his last breath on earth was accompanied by Ella Fitzgerald’s version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which was played randomly, apparently, by the music system in the room. I think that’s lovely!

  39. 39.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    He did a lot of fine work but Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles…if he’d just done those two movies he’d have a place in the comedy movie hall of fame. Rest in peace Gene.

  40. 40.

    jacy

    Terribly sad he’s gone. The boys were just watching Young Frankenstein this weekend. So much of Wilder’s work is timeless and will be enjoyed for years to come.

  41. 41.

    Ceci n'est pas mon nym

    @Brachiator: My wife was a classmate in one class with Max Brooks, son of Mel (and also author of the Zombie Survival Guide and therefore responsible for a lot of the current zombie craze). He related this story about “Blazing Saddles”: When Mel screened it for the studio execs, they sat there stony-faced. Didn’t crack a smile. Were ready to cancel its release. Mel organized a second screening with all the lower-level studio workers, the secretaries and other “help”, and they laughed their asses off. Which was enough to convince the suits to release it.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    RIP. I think he and Mel Brooks brought out the best in each other. I don’t think either ever topped Young Frankenstein after they split up (though I hold the original Producers is Brooks’ best).

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    The way Mel Brooks tells it, Wilder REALLY wanted the part of the Waco Kid, but Brooks was wedded to his idea of having the character be an older mentor, not a contemporary. Wilder had been giving Brooks notes on the character all along, so Brooks was able to call him at the last minute.

    Also, not everyone knows that the character of Mongo was primarily written by Richard Pryor. He LOVED that character.

  44. 44.

    Cacti

    My grandmother also passed from Alzheimer’s at age 83. So did my wife’s. It’s a tough and a sad thing to see happen to someone you love. My condolences to his family.

    For my own part, thanks for the laughs and memories. I’ll have to watch Willy Wonka with my boys this evening.

  45. 45.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    @Keith G: Very sorry to hear about your cancer — I hope you make an easy, full, quick recovery.

    I think it’s okay that people feel a collective sense of loss when someone they grew up watching and liking, and someone with whom they associate so many positive memories, passes — no matter how old. Expressing that sadness isn’t the same as “carping,” or wanting the person who passed to continue suffering.

    And while I’m feeling good about our chances in November, I’ll truly believe we’ve got it in the bag when Hillary is called as the winner after the polls close. Also: what do Trump’s supporters do when he loses? Not sure we know yet — they could slink back under the rocks whence they came, or they could go even crazier.

    So yeah, fuck this year.

  46. 46.

    Tokyokie

    @Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Wilder has screenwriting credits for both Young Frankenstein And Blazing Saddles (along with Mel Brooks for the former and Brooks, Andrew Bergman, and Richard Pryor for the latter). I’ve heard that for Saddles, Pryor wrote the Jew jokes, and the other three wrote the black jokes, with each side trying to outdo the other (and both sides writing the Irish, etc. jokes). I’ve also heard that Wilder had a bit of a falling out with Brooks over being insufficiently credited for the book of the Broadway musical of Young Frankenstein, but I assume they reconciled. Brooks seems like a guy who doesn’t much hold grudges and is difficult to dislike.

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    2016 sucks! We’ve lost Bowie, Frey, Rickman, Prince, and now this, and the fucking Presidential campaign has another 60 odd days to go of the tiny-fingered, cheeto-faced, ferret-wearing shitgibbon spouting his neo-Nazi crap all over the airwaves, rabidly supported by his followers, the common clay of the New West, you know, morons.

    RIP Gene Wilder, Victor Franken-STEEN, Willy Wonka, the Waco Kid, and most certainly Leo Bloom.

  49. 49.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JR in WV: “Willy Wonka” is surreal and disturbing, and probably way funnier for adults than for children (it terrified me as a kid). Highly recommended.

    I always thought it was interesting that Roald Dahl hated the finished film and refused to let anyone film the sequel, because he had some degree of creative control, and it’s definitely got the nasty, misanthropic edge that lies just under the surface of all of Dahl’s writing (he was, by all accounts, a terrible human being).

    The early part of the movie before they get to the chocolate factory is a little slow going, and some of the musical numbers are excessively saccharine (pun intended). But Wilder’s performance is a marvel.

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    @Keith G:

    Gene made it into his 80s and was suffering, probably really suffering, from Alzheimer’s disease. I am not going to carp on about how bad such a passing is. It is not

    Dad made it into his 80s with Alzheimer’s. Your last line says it all. I wasn’t thankful that he passed but I was very thankful that his suffering was over. You want to know what hell is? Get or know very well, someone with Alzheimer’s. You will soon know. It is the shittiest Ground Hog Day movie you’ve ever imagined.

  52. 52.

    geg6

    Damn, this has been the worst year for my celebrity heroes.

    I so loved Gene Wilder in everything he did. Saw it all and loved it all. If I believed in a heaven, it would make me happy to think of him together with Gilda and Richard. So many great movies!

  55. 55.

    Trollhattan

    @Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Not only is “Young Frankenstein” my favorite Brooks movie, it’s permanently forged into my top-ten films list. I can’t watch it too often (note to self: Halloween is coming).

    Thank you, Gene.

  58. 58.

    billcoop4

    According to Variety, Wilder’s nephew said, regarding the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, “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.”

    :(

    WMC

  59. 59.

    bluefish

    @Ceci n’est pas mon nym: I went to see Young Frankenstein in the old movie theaters back in the day. Saw it three or four times in a row. Loved it so much. Still. “Go, go ahead, say it! He was my my my … boyfriend!” Sounded very Wilde to me.

    My 21-year old is bummed. He loves Willy Wonka. The evil water rolling thrill ride best of all. He was so scary and so scary great in that.

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne

    @Tokyokie:

    Apparently Mel Brooks has a pretty hot temper but, as you said, usually doesn’t hold grudges. There’s a semi-famous story about him getting into a phone argument with someone (may have been Wilder), slamming the phone down in rage, and then sheepishly calling back the next day saying, Hey, I heard there was a guy impersonating me on the phone yesterday and acting like a real jerk. Can you believe that guy? Who acts like that?

    Like I said above, by all accounts “Young Frankenstein” was Gene Wilder’s baby, so I can understand why he would be upset about not getting the credit he deserved.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Poopyman: I loved the end of that sketch…he’s sitting on sidewalk, his back to the building, drinking Woolite…

  62. 62.

    geg6

    @JR in WV:

    You are never too old to enjoy Gene as Willie! Ever! Whereas the people who made the travesty of a remake with Johnny Depp should face a firing squad.

  63. 63.

    ruemara

    I got all choked up when it broke. This year is being so strange. It’s one of painful goodbyes.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    The way Mel Brooks tells it, Wilder REALLY wanted the part of the Waco Kid, but Brooks was wedded to his idea of having the character be an older mentor, not a contemporary. Wilder had been giving Brooks notes on the character all along, so Brooks was able to call him at the last minute.

    Makes sense. This may explain how Wilder was able to get into the role with little apparent delay after the departure of Young. And Wilder really seems to understand the character. It’s a comedy, but the Waco Kid is not a comedy sketch. And the interaction of Wilder and Little is really quite wonderful.

    It’s also apt that another actor in the film kinda backed into the role. Madeline Kahn had apparently been fired, by Lucille Ball, no less, from the movie adaptation of “Mame,” and so was available for her great comic role in “Saddles.” “Mame,” which was not very good, was Lucille Ball’s last film performance.

  65. 65.

    R-Jud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    he was, by all accounts, a terrible human being

    I’ve just finished reading Storyteller, a biography of Dahl. He was difficult and selfish, certainly, but not terrible.

    He lived an absolutely astonishing life–pilot, spy (he worked in Washington at the British Embassy during WWII and was close friends with FDR’s second VP Henry Wallace), writer– and for nearly all of his adulthood he was in constant, chronic pain from his wartime injuries. And if I’m remembering correctly, the one thing he DID eventually admit liking about Willy Wonka was Wilder.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    “Are we awake?”
    “We’re not sure. Are we … Black?”
    “Yes, we are.”
    “Then we’re awake. But we’re very puzzled.”

    And, okay, I’ll be the first perv to say it: he was HAWT in the 1970s. Even Willy Wonka was scary and attractive at the same time.

  68. 68.

    dexwood

    @Shell:

    I like The Producers for Mostel and Wilder, certainly, but Kenneth Mars and Dick Shawn always crack me up.

  71. 71.

    scav

    @Matt McIrvin: Personally, wasn’t much scared by Willy Wonka as a child — the scarey bit was when the power went out just as the kid was either dropped down or up the tube. THAT meant the forest fire had crossed the road and taken out the power lines so nothing to do but go upstairs and watch the orange glow. (That was the only paved road out of the canyon.) Makes for an vivid, odd, but very personal mental detour anytime I was that movie again.

  72. 72.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    Alzheimers claimed Mrs. C’s mom and my grandfather; both my grandmother and my dad are dealing with it now. It’s a real nasty bastard of a disease.

    Also, very much want to see 2016 in the rearview. It has sucked mightily.

    Wilder’s work was awesome to watch; I noticed that even people who don’t normally go for farce (like Mrs. C.) will watch him. That’s an experience that I miss.

    RIP, Mr. Wilder, and thanks.

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I will politely ask again: if there is a Front-Pager around, would you kindly let me out of moderation? The comment is between #27 and #28, and it’s been there for 40 minutes. Thank you!

  76. 76.

    Fair Economist

    Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were two of the most memorable comedies of my childhood. Very happy I had the chance to see them (and in retrospect, surprised my parents let me see them so young). Sherlock Holmes’ Younger Brother was too much for my mom, though, and she dragged me from the theatre when Wilder was fondling Madeline Kahn’s breasts. I protested that I understood what was going on and didn’t see how it was that big a deal but somehow that didn’t change her opinion. The fact that I was saying that at 10 might actually have made it worse.

    He was much older than I thought he was. I didn’t realize that “Young” Frankenstein was over 40.

  77. 77.

    Miss Bianca

    Ooohhh, nooooooo!!

    Damn….today is my dad’s birthday, so I’ve been thinking about him all day. He would have been 91, but he died at 73. That just seems way too young.

    RIP, Gene. : (

  79. 79.

    gogol's wife

    @Poopyman:

    Yeah, that was a good one. He’s brilliant in pretty much everything I’ve seen. Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers alone constitute a damn fine body of work.

  81. 81.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    My first experience of Young Frankenstein was channel surfing late one night and turning to some old B&W horror movie, thinking “great, one of those tepid 30’s horror movies” and then realizing what insane things the actors were saying to each other. They got the tone, look and rhythm perfect on that one.

  82. 82.

    karen marie

    Completely inappropriate for funny people to die in this especially unfunny time. Sorry to see Mr. Wilder go. I hope that, despite my own personal belief to the contrary, he does in fact get to see his Gilda again.

  83. 83.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    You want to know what hell is? Get or know very well, someone with Alzheimer’s. You will soon know. It is the shittiest Ground Hog Day movie you’ve ever imagined.

    @Ruckus: The hard part is that that person is dead – usually long dead – by the time the body quits working. But they are still physically around and sometimes have a bit of lucidity, it’s like a cruel, mocking God popping in, reminding you of everything you’ve lost. I’ve known two who left that way. That’s quite enough.

    ETA: Had a neighbor go that way. He couldn’t remember my name, his kids, his long dead wife or my name…but he always offered me a cigarette. Somewhere in that brain, he remembered I was his smoking buddy. That was fucking brutal. So even after I quit, I had one more with the old guy as they were packing up his house (he had no idea it was his house) to take him to the home. He died a few months later, thankfully.

    But it ain’t the worst way to die by a longshot. Not how I’d want to go personally, but it beats a lot of the alternatives.

  85. 85.

    Hal

    All these reunited with Gilda comments I’m seeing everywhere are sweet, but Gene Wilder has been married to his current wife for 25 years and they apparently were deeply in love. I hope she’s not too hurt by being an afterthought in so many condolences today.

  86. 86.

    Miss Bianca

    @danielx: Anybody doubt that that was really Clevon Little, rather than Sherriff Bart, who was cracking up at Gene’s delivery of that line?

    Yea, the golden Brooks/Wilder trifecta – The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. I’ll be watching those over and over till I die.

  88. 88.

    Trollhattan

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    Most common comparison I see is to ALS, which is somewhat Alzheimer’s inverse: your mind is intact and utterly aware of progressively losing control of your own body to its inevitable (okay, Stephen Hawking aside) fate.

    Don’t want either, thanks very much.

  89. 89.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne: I had a major movie-star-crush on Gene Wilder when I was a kid. Never really got over it, in fact. Something about that goofy-sexy combination really slays me.

  90. 90.

    Trollhattan

    @Hal:
    I doubt it. Gilda was much beloved and very public performer who truly did die far too young and under tragic circumstances. Surely she understood that when they married.

  91. 91.

    Brachiator

    The passing of legendary Mexican singer Juan Gabriel was also noted today. The singer died on August 28. He sold hundreds of millions of records, and his eighteenth studio album, Recuerdos, Vol. II, holds the distinction of being the best-selling album of all-time in Mexico, with over eight million copies sold.

    Here is Abrázame Muy Fuerte (Hug me tightly)

  92. 92.

    dedc79

    @SiubhanDuinne: Came across this article on the subject of Wilder’s jewishness:

    “I’m going to tell you what my religion is,” Wilder announces, leaping to the point. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Period. Terminato. Finito.” (I can’t help hearing Wonka’s voice in the factory: “Finito!”) “I have no other religion. I feel very Jewish and I feel very grateful to be Jewish. But I don’t believe in God or anything to do with the Jewish religion.”

    On his experience of antisemitism:

    When I ask whether Wilder was conscious of being in a minority growing up, he tells a doleful story. “My mother was very ill and she had heard from distant relatives that there was a military academy in Los Angeles [the Black-Foxe Military Institute]. And she talked my father into sending me to the military academy to stay there for a year. And I got so excited—I thought we’d be playing war games. I got there and I was the only Jew—I was thirteen—and they beat me up or insulted me every day that I was there.”

    He tells me he fought back only once. I ask what happened. “I got beat up,” he replies flatly. “They didn’t hit my face: They’d make my arms black and blue, so when I came home for Christmas vacation, I was wearing long sleeves and my mother didn’t know right away. My mother had thought I was going to learn about sex, and how to play the piano, and bridge, and how to dance. I think she’d seen Tyrone Power in Diplomatic Courier. She asked me to play something on the piano and I played ‘Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen’ very badly. It was so bad and she was so disappointed, she walked out of the room, which was a cruel thing for her to do. And when I changed for dinner, I took off my uniform shirt and she walked in and saw all the bruises all over my body. And I started to cry. She’d had no idea. I’d written to my father, but he hadn’t told her. And she just held me.” Wilder’s voice has gotten quieter. His parents pulled him out of the school.

    That wasn’t the last of the childhood hazing. He was mocked in junior high school, and he reproduces the jeering so quickly, I realize it’s at the tip of his memory. “ ‘Hey, Jew Boy! Why don’t you ask the Jew Boy?’”

    I remark that this experience must have had some kind of impact. “I don’t know how it could not have,” Wilder allows. “But again, I didn’t associate it with any religious philosophy; only the fact that I was something called ‘Jewish’ and why did they hate me just because of it? I was always afraid to talk about the teasing at home because my mother was so ill.”

  94. 94.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Mnemosyne: IMHO Madeleine Kahn’s signature YF shtick was “Oh, Sweet Mystery Of Life, I’ve Found You!” Mit der Schwanzstucke…

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    Alzheimers claimed Mrs. C’s mom and my grandfather; both my grandmother and my dad are dealing with it now. It’s a real nasty bastard of a disease.

    Garden-variety dementia ain’t no picnic neither. Mom started showing signs of it at age 94. She moved on in the middle of her 102nd year (mercifully, her last months in some sort of pain or fright no one could diagnose or soothe). The Long Goodbye sux.

    Also, very much want to see 2016 in the rearview. It has sucked mightily.

    Cosign that sentiment, Ben. Let’s get the electoral hay in the barn & wave it byebye. :(

  97. 97.

    randy khan

    I saw Wilder when he was promoting his autobiography/memoir, so that must have been around 2005. He told a really interesting story about Willy Wonka and the scene where you first see him. (Here.) Essentially, Wilder conceived the whole thing, including the tumbling at the end of Wonka’s walk, to convey the idea that you couldn’t know what to expect from him. And apparently he had to fight to get it into the movie.

    He probably should have won an Oscar somewhere along the way, but he was a leading man in comedies, and what few acting Oscars go to comedies seem to go to people in supporting roles.

  100. 100.

    nutella

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “Willy Wonka” is surreal and disturbing, and probably way funnier for adults than for children (it terrified me as a kid). Highly recommended.

    Most people look at me funny when I say Willy Wonka is unsuitable for children, so I’m glad to find someone who agrees.

    Wilder was great in it.

  101. 101.

    MomSense

    Oh no. Fuck fucking Alzheimer’s.

    One of the things I’ve always loved about Gene Wikder is that he has this wonderful softness and compassionate expression in his eyes. A sensitive and beautiful soul. RIP

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hal:

    The story with his current wife was very sweet — IIRC, she was asked to recruit him to do spoken word books for the blind but had no idea who he was. It sounded like he really appreciated that she loved him for himself and not because he was famous.

  106. 106.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    RIP Gene Wilder.
    Fuck 2016
    Can we has some puppehs pics? Walter?Thurston?Lily? Even Rosie will do. Something happy and positive instead of 2016.

  107. 107.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Garden-variety dementia ain’t no picnic neither. Mom started showing signs of it at age 94. She moved on in the middle of her 102nd year (mercifully, her last months in some sort of pain or fright no one could diagnose or soothe). The Long Goodbye sux.

    My father-in-law. Horrible.

  109. 109.

    Mr.Mack

    Yeah. Currently caring for my FiL who has dementia…it truly IS groundhog day, every day. I lost my mom and my mother in law to Alzheimers, it is similar but there are marked differences. Neither is desirable. By the way…Big Silver Streak fan here.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hal:

    Also, too, by every account Wilder gave, Gilda basically ordered him to get married again because she wanted him to be happy after she was gone, so his widow has 25 years of that knowledge to counterbalance the rest.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @scav: When I saw “E.T.” in a theater, the projector broke down for several minutes in between E. T.’s death and resurrection. Lots of upset kids in that theater.

  112. 112.

    Gemina13

    Mom died of multi-organ failure brought on by a broken hip when she was 80, itself brought on by “complications from Alzheimer’s.” Namely, she tried to get out of bed early one morning and lost her balance. It is a hideous nightmare for all involved, and I’ve done my share of cursing the heavens for having to watch that long goodbye.

    Gene Wilder was one of our favorites. Because she loved “Silver Streak,” Mom let me watch “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” She adored him in “Stir Crazy,” even though she thought Richard Pryor was funnier in that one. She also vastly preferred Wilder’s Willy Wonka to Johnny Depp’s; the latter, she said, made her worry he was a pedophile.

    As for people hoping for a Gene & Gilda reunion, I don’t believe it would supplant a future one with his current wife. If there is a hereafter, I doubt marriage has more importance there than love.

  113. 113.

    Matt McIrvin

    @billcoop4:

    “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.”

    A mercy. My grandfather was not so lucky.

  114. 114.

    debbie

    @Mnemosyne:

    NPR had an interview with his son this afternoon (who sounds exactly like his dad). He said Wilder chose not to share the information with the public, that he didn’t want the disease associated with any of his work. I was busy yelling at a jackass driver, so I was momentarily distracted, but Wilder’s performance as Willy Wonka resulted in his being recognized with joy by children everywhere. He didn’t want any of that to be diminished by his illness.

  116. 116.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    Wilder never had children of his own, so I think that was probably his nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, who he helped raise and was very close to.

    ETA: Yes, I’m checking the web for most of this and don’t actually know it off the top of my head! It’s hard to link on the iPhone, tho.

  118. 118.

    laura

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: my mom. Freed from her suffering dementia for 15 years. Buried a week ago today.
    Oh how she loved Young Frankenstein.
    We shared “Tafetta Darling, Tafetta to you toodear” for decades as our own kiss-kiss, don’t wrinkle my dress parting phrase.
    This year started out bad at the end of December with Lemmy Kilmister and has just picked up speed mowing down musicians, artists, actors and moms.

  119. 119.

    Tokyokie

    An underrated Wilder gem, that nobody’s mentioned, is Start the Revolution Without Me, in which Wilder and Donald Sutherland play two pairs of twins switched at birth. The early scene in which the rich bastard Wilder is told by his wife that his falcon is dead and he refuses to accept it is a hoot. I always hoped that once Nathan Lane finished his initial run in the Broadway version of The Producers that Wilder (who had a nice voice and could play a comic bully if need be) would get to play Max Bialystok, but he may not have been physically able to do so by then.

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    I worked almost every day (except when I was in the navy) with my dad for over 25 yrs. He couldn’t remember me for his last ten yrs. I watched my sister change him and have him stand there while she wiped his ass. He cried the entire time. It’s not just that you can’t remember or are confused, it is the complete loss of dignity, of humanity. My dad lived for about 7 yrs in one home, a 3 bedroom house that had 5 Alzheimer’s patients. The women who ran it were/are saints. They came to his service and cried like it was their dad.
    It’s not that this is a bad way to die, it’s a fucking horrible way to live till you get there.

  123. 123.

    Baud

    I’m a big Silver Streak fan. Not one of his most popular, but it was one of my early favorite movies.

  125. 125.

    dexwood

    I liked it. Early afternoon showing, a joint smoked in the parking lot, the date who is now my wife next to me.

  127. 127.

    John Weiss

    @Gemina13: “As for people hoping for a Gene & Gilda reunion, I don’t believe it would supplant a future one with his current wife. If there is a hereafter, I doubt marriage has more importance there than love.”

    I you’re right.

  128. 128.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    he was the fox in The Little Prince.

    And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye…

  130. 130.

    MikeBoyScout

    It’s all been said already but….

    for me Mr. Wilder represents my youth.
    Blazing Saddles & Young Frankenstein gags never got old, and were a talisman of endless laughter.

    He made our world a funnier place.

  134. 134.

    Joel

    @dexwood: Teri Garr and Cloris Leachman (!) are still alive. But yeah, the roster of actors from the Brooks golden age is getting thin.

  138. 138.

    Elizabelle

    From the NYTimes G. Wilder obit — and Gene would like this:

    In his first major role on Broadway, Mr. Wilder played the chaplain in a 1963 production of Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children.” The production ran for less than two months, and he came to believe that he had been miscast. The good news was that he met the boyfriend of the star, Anne Bancroft: Mel Brooks, who wore a pea coat the night he met Mr. Wilder backstage and told him, “You know, they used to call these urine jackets, but they didn’t sell.”

  140. 140.

    Cain

    @JR in WV:

    Will never forget that moment when, in Young Frankenstein, he saw the castle door and said “My God, What Knockers!” and Madeline Kahn said ‘Why, thank you!”

    Actually, that was Terri Garr who said that. :-) It was the initial visit to the castle when he exclaimed that. I snickered quite a bit. That and the moving hump on Igor’s body. Just freakin hilarious.

  141. 141.

    Bruce K

    The world’s a better place because Gene Wilder walked it for a while. You can’t say that for everyone.

  142. 142.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Joel: Cloris Leachman is still capable of doing really good work. She was hilarious in the short-lived TV show “Raising Hope” – I can’t for the life of my figure out why nobody is giving her the Betty White treatment. They’re contemporaries and she’s every bit as funny as White and had a legendary career.

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