Off-Broadway, Broadway, and film actor Gene Wilder has died. Variety has a lovely obituary:
He was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee and began studying acting at the age of 12. After getting his B.A. from the U. of Iowa in 1955, Wilder enrolled in the Old Vic Theater school in Bristol, where he learned acting technique and fencing. When he returned to the U.S. he taught fencing and did other odd jobs while studying with Herbert Berghof’s HB Studio and at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg.
Wilder’s memoir “Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art†was published in 2005. After that he wrote fiction: the 2007 novel “My French Whoreâ€; 2008’s “The Woman Who Wouldn’tâ€; a collection of stories, “What Is This Thing Called Love?,†in 2010; and the novella “Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance†in 2013.
Wilder was interviewed by Alec Baldwin for the one-hour TCM documentary “Role Model: Gene Wilder†in 2008. The actor was also active in raising cancer awareness in the wake of Radner’s death.
He is survived by his fourth wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991 and his nephew. His sister Corinne, predeceased him in January 2016.
In explaining why Mr. Wilder’s illness wasn’t more widely known, his nephew is quoted as saying: “He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.”
We could use more smiles in the world and now there’s one fewer smile-bringer.
