Biography
Born in Milwaukee, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Wilder studied drama at the University of Iowa and later attended Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK. He served in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958.
Returning to the United States, Wilder sought work in the theater supporting himself by driving a limousine and teaching fencing. His career started with the theater in various off Broadway shows before making it on the Great White Way. It was on Broadway that he had a particularly good year in 1961 with the plays "The Complaisant Lover" and "Roots" and garnered the Clement Derwent Award. It was several years later when casting for Mother Courage and Her Children in 1964 with actress Anne Bancroft that gave his career an even greater boost. She was dating comedian Mel Brooks at the time. Brooks took a liking to Wilder and cast him in several films.
His first big part was in Bonnie and Clyde where he played an undertaker abducted by the couple. Perhaps two of his best known roles are as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and as Leo Bloom in The Producers.
In the late 1970s and 1980s he appeared in a number of movies with Richard Pryor, making them the most prolific inter-racial comedy double act in movies during the period.
In 1979 he starred alongside Harrison Ford in the comedy 'The Frisco Kid'.
Wilder was married to Saturday Night Live actress Gilda Radner from 1984 until her death from ovarian cancer in 1989. Since then he has remained active in promoting cancer awareness and treatment. Wilder himself was hospitalized with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1999 and made a full recovery in 2000.
He has been married to actress Karen Boyer since 1991.
On March 1, 2005 Wilder released his highly-personal memoir Kiss Me Like A Stranger, an account of his life covering everything from his childhood, when his mother died of heart disease, up through his wife's death. He has been praised for the openness and honesty of his writing, setting it apart from other Hollywood memoirs.
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
Recent controversy
Gene Wilder is probably best known for his role as Willy Wonka in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Prior to the release of Tim Burton's 2005 remake of the movie (entitled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Wilder said the remake was "all about money," and that there was no need to remake the 1971 film. Wilder has noted that, if the remake "has to be done," he saw Johnny Depp as a perfect choice to reprise the role of Willy Wonka. Tim Burton felt that the 1971 version was "sappy" and that he "rate[s] [the musical] Chitty Chitty Bang Bang higher." However, many fans of the 1971 film still prefer it and Wilder's interpretation of Wonka to Burton's version and Depp's take.
Filmography
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Producers (1968)
Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972)
Rhinoceros (1974)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Little Prince (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) (also director)
Silver Streak (1976)
The World's Greatest Lover (1977) (also producer, director and writer)
The Frisco Kid (1979)
Sunday Lovers (1980) (also director and writer)
Stir Crazy (1980)
Hanky Panky (1982)
The Woman in Red (1984) (also director and writer)
Haunted Honeymoon (1986) (also director and writer)
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) (also writer)
Funny About Love (1990)
Another You (1991)
Stuart Little (film) (1999)
Upcoming:
Instant Karma (2006) (voice)
Stage appearances
The Complaisant Lover (Broadway, 1962)
Mother Courage and Her Children (Broadway, 1963)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Broadway, 1963)
The White House (Broadway, 1964)
Luv (Broadway, 1966)
Laughter on the 23rd Floor (London, 1996)
Trivia
Wilder was the voice of "Letterman" on the children's educational television series The Electric Company from 1972 to 1977.
Wilder played congas on "Life During Wartime" and "I Zimbra", two tracks from the 1979 album Fear of Music by Talking Heads.
