Gene Wilder

**Gene Wilder** (**Jerome Silberman**; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. He was most famous for his acting work and in particular for the movies he made with Mel Brooks which include _The Producers_, _Blazing Saddles_ and _Young Frankenstein_. He also played the part of Willy Wonka in the musical movie _Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory_.

Wilder studied Communication and Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa.

Wilder was drafted into the Army on September 10, 1956.

An unauthorized  biography of Wilder called _Gene Wilder: Funny and Sad_ by Brian Scott Mednick was published in December 2010 by BearManor Media.

Wilder died from Alzheimer's disease on August 29, 2016 in Stamford, Connecticut at age 83.

### Movies

|style="background:#b0c4de;"|Year|style="background:#b0c4de;"|Title|style="background:#b0c4de;"|Role|style="background:#b0c4de;"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1967|_Bonnie and Clyde_|Eugene Grizzard||||||
|1968|_The Producers_|Leo Bloom|Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|||||
|rowspan= 2|1970|_Start the Revolution Without Me_|The twins Claude and Philippe|||||
|_Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx_|Quackser Fortune|||||||
|1971|_Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory_|Willy Wonka|Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy|||||
|rowspan= 2|1972|_Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)_|Dr. Doug Ross|||||
|_The Scarecrow_|Lord Ravensbane/The Scarecrow|Television||||||
|rowspan= 5|1974|_Rhinoceros_|Stanley|Based on Eugène Ionesco's play _Rhinoceros_||||
|_Blazing Saddles_|Jim, "The Waco Kid"|||||||
|_The Little Prince_|The Fox|||||||
|_Thursday's Game_|Harry Evers|Television||||||
|_Young Frankenstein_|Dr. Frankenstein|Co-written with Mel Brooks Nominated – Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay||||||
|1975|_The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother_|Sigerson Holmes|Also director and writer|||||
|1976|_Silver Streak_|George Caldwell|Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy|||||
|1977|_The World's Greatest Lover_|Rudy Valentine, aka Rudy Hickman|Also producer, director, and writer|||||
|1979|_The Frisco Kid_|Avram Belinski||||||
|rowspan= 2|1980|_Sunday Lovers_|Skippy|Directed "Skippy" segment||||
|_Stir Crazy_|Skip Donahue|||||||
|1982|_Hanky Panky_|Michael Jordon||||||
|1984|_The Woman in Red_|Teddy Pierce|Also director and writer|||||
|1986|_Haunted Honeymoon_|Larry Abbot|Also director and writer|||||
|1989|_See No Evil, Hear No Evil_|Dave Lyons|Also writer|||||
|1990|_Funny About Love_|Duffy Bergman||||||
|1991|_Another You_|George/Abe Fielding||||||
|rowspan= 3|1999|_Murder in a Small Town_|Larry "Cash" Carter|Television||||
|_Alice in Wonderland_|The Mock Turtle|||||||
|_The Lady in Question_|Larry "Cash" Carter|Television||||||

### Television

- Voice for _The Electric Company_'s segment _The Adventures of Letterman_ (60 episodes, 1972–77)
- _Something Wilder_ (1994–95)
- _Will & Grace_ (2002) Episode _"Boardroom and a Parked Place"_ (Guest Star – Mr. Stein)
- _Will & Grace_ (2003) Episode _"Sex, Losers & Videotape"_ (Guest Star – Mr. Stein)

### Stage

- _The Complaisant Lover_ (Broadway, 1962)
- _Mother Courage and Her Children_ (Broadway, 1963)
- Death Of A Salesman
- _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ (Broadway, 1963)
- _The White House_ (Broadway, 1964)
- _Luv_ (Broadway, 1966)
- _Laughter on the 23rd Floor_ (London, 1996)
- _The Scarecrow_ (Broadway, 1972)
- _Rhinoceros_ (1974)

## Infobox (military person)

- **embed**: yes
- **allegiance**: United States
- **branch**: United States Army
- **serviceyears**: 1956–1958


## Infobox (person)

- **image**: Gene Wilder 1970.JPG
- **alt**: A black-and-white photo of Wilder smiling
- **caption**: Wilder in 1970
- **birth name**: Jerome Silberman
- **birth place**: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
- **death place**: Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
- **children**: 1
- **relatives**: Jordan Walker-Pearlman (nephew)
- **signature**: Gene Wilder (signature).png