Oy. I am mentally too young for all the people who have passed this year. He’s with his Gilda. May he (and they) rest in peace.
I am so sad. What a great talent.
Oh no! I remember seeing him as Willy wonka. It was one of the few movies we saw in the theater when i was a kid. 
So sad to hear this. Loved him as Willy Wonka and remember seeing this at the movies when I was a kid.
@m0minmd I had the same thought when I read it. I hope he’s at peace now.
I did not realize that he was that old.
Frau Breuker!!!
RIP Jerome Silberman.
I can’t believe he was that old!
Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles - i can still hear my dad laughing.
So sad… hearing that he’d been diagnosed with Alzheimers three years ago and that he directed how he wanted his family to handle the news with the public. Obviously they were successful in honoring his wish! Kudos to them.
I always thought he had beautiful eyes!
His eyes were mesmerizing!
I’ll always remember him first and foremost as Leo Bloom in “The Producers.” This scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66a59bOGTzU
He was so wonderful in every performance. Singing “Puttin on the Ritz” with Peter Boyle in “Young Frankenstein.” Having an adventure in “Bonnie and Clyde.” The Waco Kid in “Blazing Saddles.”
I believe he wrote or co-wrote the screenplay for Young Frankenstein as well as starring in the movie. Think about that for a second. That, ladies and gentlemen, is true talent. I loved him in BS also, who didn’t, it goes without saying, but the other thing I’d like to remember him for isn’t that, it also isn’t the films and collaborations he did with Richard Pryor, no, the thing he did that stands out in my mind was his guest starring role in the TV show Will & Grace. He was sort of done with his entertainment career at that point and was just kind of bringing that thing home for a nice safe landing. He was so funny in that role that it, and Young Frankenstein, which was beyond brilliant, it was just damn near perfection, it was unforgettably great.
A statement from Wilder’s nephew said that the actor hadn’t disclosed his diagnosis to avoid upsetting his fans.
“The decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn’t vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him ‘there’s Willy Wonka,’ would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or trouble and causing delight to travel to worry, disappointment or confusion,” Walker-Perlman’s statement read. “He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.”
The last sentence in that statement pretty much says it all. Great human being who dedicated his life to comedy. It is hard to describe what made him funny exactly. He was able to just hold a look and milk a laugh out of it. If you didn’t see him in his W&G stint you really missed him at his whacky best. It was a damned whacky TV show and he was a very whacky guest star in a show that really knew how to push the envelope.
this is a bummer
When I was 13, flipping channels, I came across The Producers’ classic Springtime for Hitler and Germany scene. My jaw dropped before I started giggling, then laughing, then roaring. Fast forward several years and a friend and I went to see something called Young Frankenstein. I don’t think I had ever laughed so hard at a movie. I don’t think I had ever seen an entire movie audience laugh so hard, dozens and dozens of people doubled over in hysterics.
And then there was the mysterious, magical, edgy Willie Wonka.
Thank you for the laughs, Gene Wilder. You will not be forgotten.
H and I were talking about this tonight, and I said the movie I associate with him most is Silver Streak, and H said Young Frankenstein. Something for everyone!
“It’s Frankensteen.”
Classic.
Sigh. RIP Gene Wilder.