Gene Wilder
Known for: Acting
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).
Filmography
Series
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
Series
The View
Self
1997
Series
CBS News Sunday Morning
Self - Guest
1979
Series
Will & Grace
Mr. Stein
1998
Series
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest
1993
Series
Ciné regards
Self
1978
Series
Wogan
Self
1982
Series
The Defenders
Waiter
1961
Film '72
Self
1971
Series
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Self
1975
Series
The Electric Company
Letterman (voice)
1971
Film
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka
1971
Series
The Frank Skinner Show
Self
1995
Series
Legends
Self
2006
Film
Bonnie and Clyde
Eugene Grizzard
1967
Film
Young Frankenstein
Dr. Frankenstein
1974
Film
Blazing Saddles
Jim
1974
Film
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Dave Lyons
1989
Please Turn the Page
Self
1977
Film
The Woman in Red
Theodore Pierce
1984
Film
The Producers
Leo Bloom
1968
Film
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But Were Afraid to Ask
Dr. Doug Ross
1972
Series
Something Wilder
Gene Bergman
1994
Film
Stir Crazy
Skip Donahue
1980
Film
Silver Streak
George Caldwell
1976
Film
Alice in Wonderland
Mock Turtle
1999
Film
Another You
George / Abe Fielding
1991
Series
After They Were Famous
Self (archive footage)
2002
Film
Hanky Panky
Michael Jordon
1982
Film
The Frisco Kid
Avram
1979
Film
The World's Greatest Lover
Rudy Valentine / Rudy Hickman
1977
Film
The Little Prince
The Fox
1974
Film
Funny About Love
Duffy Bergman
1990
Series
The DuPont Show of the Week
Muller
1961
Series
The DuPont Show of the Week
Reporter
1961
Film
Haunted Honeymoon
Larry Abbot
1986
Wilder
Self (archive footage)
Film
The Last Laugh
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2016
Film
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Sigerson Holmes
1975
Film
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
George / Skip Donahue (archive footage)
2013
Film
Start the Revolution Without Me
Claude / Philippe
1970
Film
Remembering Gene Wilder
Self (archive footage)
2024
Film
Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!
(archive footage)
2003
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Dr. Frankenstein (archive footage)
1991
Film
Private Screenings: Robert Osborne
Self (archive footage)
2014
Film
Hello Actors Studio
Self
1988
Film
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Self (archive footage)
2013
Film
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Quackser Fortune
1970
Film
Thursday's Game
Harry Evers
1974
Film
Sunday Lovers
Skippy (sketch 'Skippy')
1980
Film
Love, Gilda
Self (archive footage)
2018
Film
Rhinoceros
Stanley
1974
Film
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Leo Bloom (archive footage) (uncredited)
2007
Film
Murder in a Small Town
Cash Carter
1999
Film
Blacks and Jews
Self
1997
Series
Inside the Actors Studio
Self
1994
Film
Acts of Love and Other Comedies
Herb Waterman
1973
Film
Pure Imagination: The Story of 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'
Self
2001
Film
Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation
Self
2008
Film
The Making of 'The Producers'
Self
2002
Film
Role Model: Gene Wilder
Self
2008
Film
Death of a Salesman
Bernard
1966
Film
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
Self (archive footage)
2018
Film
The Lady in Question
Larry 'Cash' Carter
1999
The Trouble With People
Ernie (Story 4)
1972
Film
Scarecrow
Lord Ravensbane
1972
Film
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
Self (archive footage)
2014
Film
EXPO: Magic of the White City
Narrator (voice)
2005
Film
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
Self - Special Appearence
1982
Film
Making Frankensense of Young Frankenstein
Self
1996
Film
Back in the Saddle
Self
2001
Gene Wilder: Be in the Moment, Today
Himself
2010