Gene Wilder

Biography

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).

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The View

Will & Grace

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

CBS News Sunday Morning

Wogan

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

The Defenders

All Movies (53)

• Remembering Gene Wilder2024 · as Self (archive footage)
• Love, Gilda2018 · as Self (archive footage)
• Mel Brooks: Unwrapped2018 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Last Laugh2016 · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West2014 · as Self (archive footage)
• Private Screenings: Robert Osborne2014 · as Self (archive footage)
• Mel Brooks: Make a Noise2013 · as Self (archive footage)
• Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic2013 · as George / Skip Donahue (archive footage)
• Gene Wilder: Be in the Moment, Today2010 · as Himself
• Role Model: Gene Wilder2008 · as Self
• Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation2008 · as Self
• Hitler: The Comedy Years2007 · as Leo Bloom (archive footage) (uncredited)
• EXPO: Magic of the White City2005 · as Narrator (voice)
• Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!2003 · as (archive footage)
• The Making of 'The Producers'2002 · as Self
• Pure Imagination: The Story of 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'2001 · as Self
• Back in the Saddle2001 · as Self
• The Lady in Question1999 · as Larry 'Cash' Carter
• Alice in Wonderland1999 · as Mock Turtle
• Murder in a Small Town1999 · as Cash Carter
• Blacks and Jews1997 · as Self
• Making Frankensense of Young Frankenstein1996 · as Self
• Another You1991 · as George / Abe Fielding
• Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook1991 · as Dr. Frankenstein (archive footage)
• Funny About Love1990 · as Duffy Bergman
• See No Evil, Hear No Evil1989 · as Dave Lyons
• Hello Actors Studio1988 · as Self
• Haunted Honeymoon1986 · as Larry Abbot
• The Woman in Red1984 · as Theodore Pierce
• Hanky Panky1982 · as Michael Jordon
• Baryshnikov in Hollywood1982 · as Self - Special Appearence
• Stir Crazy1980 · as Skip Donahue
• Sunday Lovers1980 · as Skippy (sketch 'Skippy')
• The Frisco Kid1979 · as Avram
• The World's Greatest Lover1977 · as Rudy Valentine / Rudy Hickman
• Silver Streak1976 · as George Caldwell
• The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother1975 · as Sigerson Holmes
• Young Frankenstein1974 · as Dr. Frankenstein
• The Little Prince1974 · as The Fox
• Thursday's Game1974 · as Harry Evers
• Blazing Saddles1974 · as Jim
• Rhinoceros1974 · as Stanley
• Acts of Love and Other Comedies1973 · as Herb Waterman
• The Trouble With People1972 · as Ernie (Story 4)
• Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask1972 · as Dr. Doug Ross
• Scarecrow1972 · as Lord Ravensbane
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory1971 · as Willy Wonka
• Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx1970 · as Quackser Fortune
• Start the Revolution Without Me1970 · as Claude / Philippe
• The Producers1968 · as Leo Bloom
• Bonnie and Clyde1967 · as Eugene Grizzard
• Death of a Salesman1966 · as Bernard
• Wilder— · as Self (archive footage)

All TV Shows (18)

• Legends2006 · as Self
• After They Were Famous2002 · as Self (archive footage)
• Will & Grace1998 · as Mr. Stein
• The View1997 · as Self
• The Frank Skinner Show1995 · as Self
• Something Wilder1994 · as Gene Bergman
• Inside the Actors Studio1994 · as Self
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien1993 · as Self - Guest
• Wogan1982 · as Self
• CBS News Sunday Morning1979 · as Self - Guest
• Please Turn the Page1977 · as Self
• Les Rendez-vous du dimanche1975 · as Self
• Film '721971 · as Self
• The Electric Company1971 · as Letterman (voice)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson1962 · as Self
• The DuPont Show of the Week1961 · as Reporter
• The DuPont Show of the Week1961 · as Muller
• The Defenders1961 · as Waiter