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Quick Facts
Best Known For
Actor Gene Wilder became a children's hero as the star of Mel Brook's film adaptation of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Videos see all videos
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Gene Wilder - Willy Wonka (1:14)
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Mel Brooks - Comedic Start (1:11)
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Roald Dahl - The Novels (2:28)
Gene Wilder - Willy Wonka
Watch a short video about Gene Wilder to learn how he recovered after the loss of his wife Gilda Radner.
Mel Brooks - Comedic Start
Watch a short video about Mel Brooks and learn about his childhood and how this funny man gained cult status with the Broadway production of "The Producers."
Roald Dahl - The Novels
A look at the many novels of author Roald Dahl from the creative team behind "Matilda the Musical." Video courtesy of AKA NYC.
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Play NowGene Wilder. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:58, May 18, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558.
Gene Wilder. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558 [Accessed 18 May 2013].
"Gene Wilder." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 18 2013, 11:58 http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558.
"Gene Wilder," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558 [accessed May 18, 2013].
"Gene Wilder," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558 (accessed May 18, 2013).
Gene Wilder [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 18] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558.
Gene Wilder, http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558 (last visited May 18, 2013).
Gene Wilder. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/gene-wilder-17191558. Accessed May 18, 2013.
In 1974, Gene Wilder began writing and starring in his own films, starting with 1974's Young Frankenstein (in which he played Dr. Frederick Frankenstein). He also wrote, directed and starred in 1975's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and 1977's The World's Greatest Lover; the latter was a critical and commercial flop. He starred with comedian Richard Pryor in 1976's Silver Streak,
Contents
the first of four collaborations with Pryor.
Relationship with Gilda Radner
In 1981, Gene Wilder co-starred with Gilda Radner, a comedienne best known for her role as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live, in the Sidney Poitier-directed Hanky Panky. Although both were married at the time, they started a relationship on-set, and sought divorces so that they could be married in 1984. The two had great affection for each other, though Wilder later recalled being frustrated by her neediness. While trying to become pregnant, Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and passed away in 1989. To honor her memory, Wilder started Gilda's Club, a support group for cancer patients.
Retirement
By the 1990s, a string of flopped movies and a quickly canceled television show led Wilder to effectively retire from show business. In 1999, he announced that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, from which he recovered with the help of chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. Though he appeared as a guest star on Will and Grace in 2003, he has since given up on show business: "I like show, but I don't like the business." In 2005, he published a memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art.
Personal Life
Gene Wilder lives with his fourth wife, Karen Webb, in Connecticut. He continues to write, and has published two novels and a collection of short stories since 2007. "I'm not a natural writer like, let's say -- I'm not talking about Arthur Miller, that's a whole other thing -- but let's say Woody Allen. But the more I've written, the more I've found that there is a deep well in me somewhere that wants to express things that I'm not going to find unless I write them myself."
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
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