Gene Wilder

His final novel, "Even Dogs Learn How to Swim", was released in April 2017. The audio version, for which he performed the narration, was directed by his nephew filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman. It was created over five days in a recording studio near the actor's Stamford, Connecticut home two years before his death.

He was offered a cameo role in The BFG (2016), which, like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), was based on a book by Roald Dahl, but he declined.

Wilder guest-starred in Will & Grace: Boardroom and a Parked Place (2002) as Will Truman's new boss, Mr. Stein. As Will is trying to boost Stein's confidence, he has Stein shout "I am Stein! I am Stein!" In an outtake from the episode Will (played by actor Eric McCormack) stands up and shouts "You're Frankenstein!".

In October 2001, he read from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as part of a special benefit performance held at the Westport Country Playhouse to support families affected by the September 11 attacks. Also in 2001, Wilder donated a collection of scripts, correspondences, documents, photographs, and clipped images to the University of Iowa Libraries.

In 1999, Wilder was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy. The following year, he was treated with adult stem-cell therapy. He made a full recovery.

In 1991, the Best Man at his wedding was his nephew, director-screenwriter Jordan Walker-Pearlman. Twenty-four years later, Wilder served as Best Man Emeritus, Ring Bearer, and Parent of the Groom at Walker-Pearlman's wedding to Elizabeth Hunter. He was recorded dancing down the aisle. According to Wilder's memoir, "Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art", he considered his nephew, whom he helped to raise as his son.

Wilder adopted his second wife (Mary Joan Schutz)'s daughter, Katharine Anastasia, but the two reportedly became estranged when she was in her early 20s. After his third wife, Gilda Radner, died of ovarian cancer, Wilder co-founded Gilda's Club, a support group to raise awareness of the disease. Wilder's fourth wife and widow, Karen Boyer, is a former speech pathologist. They first met when he consulted with her about playing the role of a deaf man in See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).

He was considered for the Moon King in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), which went to Robin Williams.

Acting mentor and friend of Kelly LeBrock. He became a surrogate father to her when her own father died. The two remained close friends after the release of The Woman in Red (1984). Wilder was also friends with Mel Brooks, whom he worked with in three films: The Producers (1967), Young Frankenstein (1974) and Blazing Saddles (1974).

He was set to reunite with Richard Pryor in Trading Places (1983) until Pryor dropped out. When Eddie Murphy was cast, he requested that Wilder be replaced, as he did not want to come-off as a poor substitute for Pryor.

Ironically, Hanky Panky (1982), Wilder's first of three films with his wife Gilda Radner, originally was written to pair him with Richard Pryor again, but Pryor's unavailability necessitated rewriting the part for Radner.

Was offered the role of Corky in Magic (1978) by director Richard Attenborough and screenwriter William Goldman but was rejected by producer Joseph E. Levine as he did not want a comedic actor in the role. The role then went to Sir Anthony Hopkins. Wilder went on to say it was the role he regretted missing out on the most in his career.

Mel Brooks wanted him to star in High Anxiety (1977), which he turned down due to scheduling conflicts. Brooks took the role himself.

Pryor and Wilder first acted together in the commercially successful Silver Streak (1976) and scored at the box office again with Stir Crazy (1980), but their later efforts were mediocre.

Wilder made his directorial debut (in addition to acting and starring) with The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975).

Wilder re-teamed with Mel Brooks for the inspired lunacy of Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974), earning his second Oscar nomination for his first-time screen-writing efforts (along with Mel Brooks) on the latter.

His first association with Richard Pryor had come on Blazing Saddles (1974), but Pryor (also co-screenwriter) had lost out in his bid for the Cleavon Little role.

He was offered Red Buttons' role in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), which he turned down due to scheduling conflicts.

His performance as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) is ranked #38 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

His career gained momentum as he played a swashbuckler in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), the candy impresario of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and a sheep-smitten doctor in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972).

Wilder was a supporter of the Democratic Party for many years, and staunchly opposed U.S. actions in the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. He supported Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential election. That same year, he campaigned, along with Elaine May and Renée Taylor, on behalf of Eugene McCarthy, Allard Lowenstein and Paul O'Dwyer.

Wilder's Actor's Studio connection may have helped him land his first feature, Bonnie and Clyde (1967), in which he drew much favorable attention in a small but memorable role as a frightened young undertaker abducted by the legendary duo.

Wilder's performance as the endearingly frantic Leo Bloom in The Producers (1967) kicked off his celebrated collaboration with Mel Brooks and garnered him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor.

His other Broadway credits included "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1963, with Kirk Douglas), "The White House" (1964, with Helen Hayes) and "Luv" (1966), but it was a 1963 Broadway production of "Mother Courage and Her Children" that altered the course of his life forever. In its cast was Anne Bancroft, who was dating Mel Brooks at the time, and the relationship established between the two men eventually led to Wilder becoming part of Brooks' "stock company".

Won the Clarence Derwent award for the Broadway play "The Complaisant Lover" in 1962.

Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Jeanne (Baer) and William J. Silberman, who manufactured miniature whiskey and beer bottles. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant, while his Illinois-born mother was of Russian Jewish descent. Wilder caught his first big break playing a small role in the off-Broadway production of Arnold Wesker's "Roots" and followed quickly with his Broadway debut as the comic valet in "The Complaisant Lover" (both 1961), for which he won the Clement Derwent Award.

While serving in the United States Army from 1956-1958, he was assigned as a Medic to the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Valley Forge General Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He worked in treating psychiatric patients.

Attended and graduated from Washington High School (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) in 1951. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1955. He was a lifelong brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.

Wilder was born to an Ukrainian Jewish immigrant father and an Illinois-born mother of Russian Jewish descent; he had a Bar Mitzvah when he was 13 years old in 1946.

For an American Film Institute poll, Wilder designated The Circus (1928) as his favourite film.