This date in 1933 saw the birth of the American actor Gene Wilder. 10 things you might not know about him.
His real name was Jerome Silberman. He changed it to Gene Wilder because he didn’t think "Jerry Silberman in Macbeth" sounded right. "Wilder" was after author Thornton Wilder, while "Gene" came from the character Eugene Gant in Thomas Wolfe's first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, and also a distant relative of his, who’d been a bomber in the second world war and whom he admired.
He was eight when he caught the acting bug. His mother was ill, and her doctor said that he should try and make her laugh. His sister was studying acting, too, and after watching her perform he asked her teacher if he could join the class. He was 11. The teacher said that if he was still interested when he turned 13, he could. The day after his 13th birthday, he called the teacher who accepted him.
He was bullied at one of his schools as he was the only Jewish boy in the school. About his faith, he would later say he was proud to be Jewish but didn’t believe in any of it apart from the Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Wilder studied Communication and Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa, graduating in 1955. He then attended Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, England.
He studied fencing, and after learning the sport for just six months became the first freshman to win the All-School Fencing Championship. He would later work as a fencing instructor to support himself while studying acting (he also drove limos) and later still, alongside acting, was a fencing choreographer.
He was drafted into the army in 1956 and served as a paramedic in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Valley Forge Army Hospital, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Wilder's first professional acting job was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he played the Second Officer in Herbert Berghof's production of Twelfth Night in 1959. His first screen role was as a hostage in Bonnie and Clyde, who was thrown out of the car when he told his kidnappers he was an undertaker. His first leading role was in a film called Mother Courage and Her Children. This was where he met Mel Brooks, who was dating his co star. One of his most famous roles was as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, even though it was a flop at the Box office at first. Fred Astaire, Joel Grey, Ron Moody, and Jon Pertwee had all been considered; Roald Dahl wanted to cast Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers had begged Dahl for the role. However, director Mel Stuart cast Wilder immediately after hearing him recite a few lines. Wilder refused to watch the 2005 remake because was a fan of Johnny Depp and feared he might be disappointed.
He married four times. His first wife was Mary Mercier, from 1960 to 1965; Mary Schutz, a friend of his sister, from 1967 to 1974 – she had a daughter, Katharine, from a previous relationship. Wilder adopted her but they became estranged when she grew up; Gilda Radner, from 1984 until her death in 1989 from ovarian cancer (the disease which his mother also died of); and Karen Webb, who he married in 1991.
He eventually gave up acting in films because he was “tired of watching the bombing, shooting, killing, swearing, and 3-D.” He said he’d consider returning to the big screen if the right script came along but in the mean time, he’d stick to television, and spend more time on his hobbies: watercolour painting and writing (He wrote several memoirs and novels, including one called Even Dogs Learn How to Swim, which was published after he died.
He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in 2016 at the age of 83. He’d been diagnosed three years earlier, but kept it quiet because he didn’t want the children who knew him as Willy Wonka to get upset. He died listening to his favourite song, Over the Rainbow sung by Ella Fitzgerald.
No comments:
Post a Comment