Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in The Producers and the mad scientist of Young Frankenstein , passed away. He was 83.
Wilder’s nephew said on Monday that the actor and writer died late on Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. No funeral arrangements have been announced.
Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans.
Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on The Producers , Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein . The last film with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced “Frahn-ken-SHTEEN” was co-written by Brooks and Wilder and earned the pair an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay.
“Gene Wilder, one of the truly great talents of our time, is gone,” Brooks wrote in a statement. “He blessed every film we did together with his special magic and he blessed my life with his friendship. He will be so missed.”
With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a genius such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in Young Frankenstein or bilking Broadway in The Producers . Brooks would call him “God’s perfect prey, the victim in all of us.”
But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozing gunslinger in Blazing Saddles or the charming candy man in the children’s favorite Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . His craziest role- the therapist having an affair with a sheep in Woody Allen’s Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex .
Tweeted Jim Carrey- “Gene Wilder was one of the funniest and sweetest energies ever to take a human form. If there’s a heaven he has a Golden Ticket.”
Cloris Leachman, Wilder’s Young Frankenstein co-star, tweeted, “Oh, Gene, it’s too soon!”
Wilder was close friends with Richard Pryor and their contrasting personas Wilder uptight, Pryor loose were ideal for comedy. They co-starred in four films- Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You. And they created several memorable scenes, particularly when Pryor provided Wilder with directions on how to “act black” as they tried to avoid police in Silver Streak.
The actor is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine, from whom he was estranged.
