Gene Wilder

Overview

Mini Bio
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”. Wilder’s Actor’s Studio connection may have helped him land his first feature, Bonnie et Clyde (1967), in which he drew much favourable attention in a small but memorable role as a frightened young undertaker abducted by the legendary duo. Wilder’s performance as the endearingly frantic Leo Bloom in Les producteurs (1967) kicked off his celebrated collaboration with Mel Brooks and garnered him an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. His career gained momentum as he played a swashbuckler in Commencez la révolution sans nous (1970), the candy impresario of Charlie et la chocolaterie (1971) and a sheep-smitten doctor in Woody Allen’s Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le sexe (sans jamais oser le demander) (1972). Wilder re-teamed with Mel Brooks for the inspired lunacy of Le shérif est en prison (1974) and Frankenstein junior (1974), earning his second Oscar nomination for his first-time screen-writing efforts (along with Mel Brooks) on the latter. Spurred by these triumphs, Wilder made his directorial debut (in addition to acting and starring) with Le frère le plus fûté de Sherlock Holmes (1975). His first association with Richard Pryor had come on Le shérif est en prison (1974), but Richard Pryor (co-screenwriter) had lost out in his bid for the Cleavon Little role. Richard Pryor and Wilder first acted together in the highly entertaining and commercially successful Transamerica Express (1976) and scored at the box office again with Faut s’faire la malle (1980), but their later efforts were mediocre. Ironically, La folie aux trousses (1982), Wilder’s first of three films with his late wife Gilda Radner, originally was written to pair him with Richard Pryor again, but Richard Pryor’s unavailability necessitated rewriting the part for Gilda Radner.