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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 2:03 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Jeanne (Baer) and William J. Silberman, who manufactured miniature whiskey and beer bottles. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant, while his Illinois-born mother was of Russian Jewish descent.
Wilder caught his first big break playing a small role in the off-Broadway production of Arnold Wesker's "Roots" and followed quickly with his Broadway debut as the comic valet in "The Complaisant Lover" (both 1961), for which he won the Clement Derwent Award. His other Broadway credits included "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1963, with Kirk Douglas), "The White House" (1964, with Helen Hayes) and "Luv" (1966), but it was a 1963 Broadway production of "Mother Courage and Her Children" that altered the course of his life forever. In its cast was Anne Bancroft, who was dating Mel Brooks at the time, and the relationship established between the two men eventually led to Wilder's becoming part of Brooks' "stock company".
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 2:41 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Gene Wilder's Actor's Studio connection may have helped him land his first feature, BONNIE AND CLYDE, in which he drew much favorable attention in a small but memorable role as a frightened young undertaker abducted by the legendary duo. The characters “Eugene Grizzard” and “Velma Davis” (played by Evans Evans) are based on Dillard Darby and Sophia Stone of Ruston, Louisiana. On the night of April 27, 1933, Darby and Stone were briefly kidnapped by the Barrow gang, who had stolen Darby's car. After driving around Ruston for several hours, Darby and Stone were released unharmed. During the drive, when Darby mentioned that he was an undertaker, Bonnie Parker remarked, "Well, maybe you'll work on me someday." A year later, Darby did just that. He was one of the undertakers who worked on Bonnie Parker's body after she and Clyde Barrow were killed in the roadside ambush near Gibsland, Louisiana, in May, 1934.
Arthur Penn directed the 1967 film. The score by Charles Strouse was issued on a dialogue-heavy Warner Bros. LP, which has been reissued on CD by Collector’s Choice.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 2:57 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Gene Wilder moved into his first co-starring role in his second film, appearing as “Leo Bloom,” a timorous and neurotic accountant, in Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS. In June 1963 Brooks invited Wilder to spend the weekend with him and Anne Bancroft on Fire Island, where he gave him the first 30 pages of THE PRODUCERS to read. Wilder liked it immediately and Brooks offered him the part.
Three years passed without Wilder receiving a phone call or any contact with Brooks about the film. He assumed the project was dead. Then one night when he was performing in the play “Luv,” Brooks showed up in his dressing room out of the blue with producer Sidney Glazier in tow. It was as if not a day had passed. "We got the money, here's the script, you're Leo Bloom," said Brooks. Wilder couldn't believe it. There was just one obstacle: Zero Mostel didn't know Wilder and wanted to meet him first. If he passed muster with Mostel, he had the part.
Wilder was nervous about his first meeting with Mostel. "This huge, round, fantasy of a man came waltzing towards me," said Wilder in his 2005 autobiography Kiss Me Like a Stranger. "My heart was pounding so loud I thought he'd hear it. I stuck out my hand, politely, to shake his, but instead of shaking my hand, Zero pulled me into his body and gave me a giant kiss on the lips. All nervousness floated away...I gave a good reading and was cast." In a later interview, Wilder said that at the first full cast reading of the script he excused himself to leave for a dentist appointment he could not miss when in fact, he had to go to the unemployment office to collect a check for $55 he desperately needed at the time.
Brooks described to Wilder the character of Leo Bloom as "a neurotic bud that blossoms into a neurotic flower, a shy guy who carries around a piece of blue baby blanket with him for security." He continued to reassure Wilder that he wouldn't have to act, because Brooks was careful to hire only the actors "who are just right for the parts." Concerned, Wilder asked Anne Bancroft, "Does he really think I'm like that?" She replied, "Just go along with him."
Nevertheless, executive producer Joseph E. Levine wanted to fire Wilder after seeing some of the footage because he thought he “stunk.” Levine wanted to give Mel Brooks $35,000 more to find someone better, but the director convinced Levine that Wilder was fine and would make the movie work. Zero Mostel took Wilder under his wing and the two became friends. "You may have heard stories about how bombastic, aggressive, and dictatorial Zero might be," said Wilder. "It didn't happen with me. He always took care of me. I loved him. He looked after me as if I were a baby sparrow."
To get into character, Wilder imagined that his reactions to the madness throughout the film would be the same as the audience's watching it. The "hysterical" scene was filmed at the end of a long day, and an exhausted Wilder told Mel Brooks that he just didn't think he "had it in him" to shoot it that day. Brooks solved the problem by loading the actor up with sugar and caffeine (in the form of two Hershey bars and a cup of coffee), after which the scene was shot in just two takes. Wilder wrote half of Leo's courtroom monologue at the end of the film. Mel Brooks wrote the other half.
Gene Wilder was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role,” losing to Jack Albertson for THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES. John Morris scored the 1967 film. A few minutes of his sparse score showed up on the RCA Records LP, which was nearly all dialogue from the film. The LP was re-issued on CD by Razor & Tie (1997) and RCA Spain (2003).
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Oh no! Not Froderick Fronkensteeen??! Say it aint so.
Enjoyed his work.
Getting scary now - people i watched in my lifetime who were young on screen are now 80 or passing away.
Rip gene. You made me laugh - a lot.
Brilliant in the Brooks films Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, - and perfect as the rabbi in the Frisco Kid, in Stir Crazy and in Silver streak.
I used to be the Waco Kid...!
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Dp
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 4:42 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Gene Wilder’s first lead role came in the 1970 costume comedy START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME. In 18th-century France, a doctor confuses two sets of twins born to the Corsican “Duke Di Sisi” and to “Coupé,” a peasant. To ensure that each father will get at least one of his natural sons, he gives both men one baby from each set. By 1789, the Di Sisi brothers, “Philippe” (Wilder) and “Pierre” (Donald Sutherland), have become notorious for their swordplay, and when King Louis XVI (Hugh Griffith) begins to fear that revolution is imminent, he sends a note asking for their help.
Wilder wanted Charles Grodin to play the part of Pierre, but Grodin declined, having committed to directing the original Broadway production of “Lovers and Other Strangers.” Wilder himself chose to do this film over CATCH-22. Wilder was already adept with a sword from his days on his college fencing team. Bud Yorkin directed the film, and John Addison provided the unreleased score.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 4:49 PM
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By: |
Mike_J
(Member)
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I've frequently posted on FSM about what a great movie Silver Streak is.
Deftly handled by the late Collins Higgins, the film has superb action, suspense, romance and humour from start to finish. And Gene Wilder was simply at the top of his game playing gentle George Caldwell, editor of gardening books, thrust into an adventure he couldn't possibly have foreseen whilst taking the quite way to his sister's wedding in Chicago.
Silver Streak remains a brilliant film to this day, infinitely re-watchable. Wilder is fabulous in it, with such amazing chemistry with Pryor (their first teaming), the lovely Jill Clayburgh and even baddie Patrick McGoohan.
I watch Silver Steak at least once a year. Il, certainly be watching it again very soon, in tribute to the remarkable talent that was Gene Wilder. RIP.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 5:23 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Wilder’s other film of 1970 was done no favors by its title—QUACKSER FORTUNE HAS A COUSIN IN THE BRONX. The film was produced by Sidney Glazier (THE PRODUCERS) and was only the second feature directed by Waris Hussein. In the film, Wilder starred as the title character “Quackser Fortune,” who earns a living in Dublin by collecting horse manure and selling it to housewives for their gardens. He meets and immediately falls in love with “Zazel Pierce” (Margot Kidder), a wealthy American student at Trinity College. The film’s score, by Michael Dress, has not had a release.
QUACKSER FORTUNE died at the box office. Years later, in 1981, after Wilder's huge success in STIR CRAZY and Margot Kidder's in SUPERMAN, the distributor 21st Century re-released the film under the title FUN LOVING, to no better effect.
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Damn, this hurts. He was a true one of a kind. RIP.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 5:56 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Joel Grey was the leading contender for the role of “Willy Wonka” before it was offered to Gene Wilder. As it is, the role, in 1971’s WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, became one of Wilder’s most famous. When Wilder walked in to audition, director Mel Stuart knew before he'd even uttered a single word that he had found his Willy Wonka. The audition convinced him even further, so when Wilder finished and left the room, Stuart chased him down the hallway, cut him off at the elevator bank, grabbed his arm and told him "You're doing this picture, no two ways about it! You are Willy Wonka!" Wilder said he would take the role under one condition: that he be allowed to limp, then suddenly somersault, in the scene when he first meets the children. When Stuart asked why, Wilder replied that having Wonka do this meant that "from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." Stuart asked, "If I say no, you won't do the picture?", and Gene Wilder said "I'm afraid that's the truth." Although the director was set on his star, producer David L. Wolper was furious because he hadn't yet had the chance to negotiate a fee.
Even Julie Dawn Cole (“Veruca Salt”) was fooled by the scene in which Willy limps out of his factory to greet the Golden Ticket winners. She mentions in the DVD commentary that she thought that Gene Wilder had injured his leg for real (and that the filming would have to be temporarily halted because of it). This resulted in her being just as stunned by Willy's somersault as the audience is. It took Wilder two weeks training with two stuntmen to get the flip right. Wilder's acting during the boat ride sequence was so convincing that it frightened some of the other actors, including Denise Nickerson (“Violet Beauregarde”). They thought that Wilder really was going mad from being in the tunnel.
The film’s soundtrack was released on a Paramount LP, and re-issued on an MCA CD in 1997. Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, and Walter Scharf received an Oscar Nomination for “Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score.” They lost to John Williams for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Wilder was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor-Musical/Comedy, losing to Topol for FIDDLER.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 6:27 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Wilder’s third film in a row with a unwieldy title, EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX* (*But Were Afraid To Ask) took its title from a 1969 best seller of the same name. The 1972 comedy had one of writer-director Woody Allen’s typical ensemble casts, which included Tony Randall, Lynn Redgrave, and Burt Reynolds. This time, Gene Wilder was the first choice for the role of “Doctor Ross,” a busy practitioner who is confronted by a shepherd in love with a sheep. (Reportedly, Laurence Olivier was Allen’s second choice for the part.) Of working with Allen, Wilder said "It was like walking on a Bergman set: people talking in whispers, serious looks on Woody's face. He communicates through silence". Atypically for an Allen film, there was an original score by Mundell Lowe, which was released by Kritzerland in 2009.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 6:49 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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1974 was a big year for Wilder, beginning with the January release of RHINOCEROS, in which he re-teamed with Zero Mostel. RHINOCEROS was a filmization of Eugene Ionesco’s 1960 play (in which Mostel had starred), done by the American Film Theatre, as part of its subscription series of plays made into films. Wilder is “Stanley,” a bored accountant, and Mostel plays “John,” his portly but dapper friend. In this surreal story, Stanley begins to realize that everyone around him, even the pompous and condescending John, is changing into a rhinoceros. Tom O'Horgan directed the film, which had an unreleased score by Galt MacDermot (Broadway’s “Hair”).
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Gene Wilder was unique in so many ways. His creative force was gargantuan, and yet housed in what appeared to be a delicate shell.
I don't know anyone who didn't love him.
He will certainly be missed.
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"It's only with the heart that one can see clearly. What's essential is invisible to the eye."
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Ahhhhh, thank you so much, Sigerson, my friend!
One of Gene's most wonderful moments.
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Yes.
I pray that you are resting in peace, Gene Wilder.
You have given me so much pleasure.
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Posted: |
Aug 29, 2016 - 9:59 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Wilder co-starred with Cleavon Little in Mel Brooks’ 1974 western comedy BLAZING SADDLES. Wilder played “The Waco Kid,” who was the fastest gun in the West, before declining into alcoholism. Despite Wilder’s history with Brooks, he was not the first choice for the role. Wilder was originally offered the role of “Hedley Lamarr” (ultimately played by Harvey Korman) but didn't feel right for it, and told Mel Brooks that he wanted The Waco Kid instead. However, Brooks wanted someone older for The Waco Kid, someone like Dan Dailey. Dailey was sought for the role, but poor health and declining eyesight forced him to decline.
So, production began with Gig Young as The Waco Kid. On the first day of shooting, during the scene where the drunk Waco Kid hangs from a bunk asking if Bart is black, Young revealed that he really was indeed drunk (he had had an alcohol problem for years) and proceeded to undergo a physical collapse on set. Brooks shut down production for a day, and Gene Wilder flew cross country to take over the role. Young later sued Warner Bros. for $100,000 for breach of contract.
Wilder and Cleavon Little quickly became friends on set. Since Little was primarily a Broadway actor, Wilder would give him pointers for acting in front of the cameras. The film’s score, by John Morris, was released by La-La Land in 2008, and re-released by Silva Screen in 2015.
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