Jerome Silberman was born on June 11, 1933, and died on August 28, 2016.
He was known professionally as Gene Wilder,
He was an American stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author.
He started his career on stage, and made his screen debut in the TV-series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962.
Even though his first film role was playing a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde, his first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Which was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974’s Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, which Gene Wilder co-wrote, garnering the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
He was wildly known for his 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).
He directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984).
Wilder’s third wife was actress Gilda Radner, with whom he starred in three films.
She died 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.
2003 was his most recent contribution to acting, Wilder turned his attention to writing.
In 2005, Wilder produced a memoir, 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).
He died at home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Gene Wilder passed away at 83 years old.