RIP Gene Wilder

[old_tony]

RIP. I hope he's catching up with Gilda now.

Exactly what my first thought was, too.

 

[jr/shotglass]

He could have done nothing but Blazing Saddles in his life and I'd remember him forever. But he did so much more.

Another piece of life torn away. RIP.

 

[doctorx]

Play chess ... screw.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Joan Severance. Yowza. I loved that movie.

Joan Severance went on to a late-night Cinemax career. It's worth checking out.

RIP to Wilder. For some reason, probably because it was one of the first movies I saw above my age range when we got pay cable, Silver Streak sticks out.

Funny/painful aside about See No Evil, Hear No Evil: I waited two years to date this girl in high school because, when I had finally built up the nerve to ask her out, I turned the corner in the hall and saw her walking with an older guy. They stayed together the entire time until he went off to college. My senior year (her junior), we went to Homecoming together, and that movie was one of the dates we went on ahead of it. Get to the climactic moment where Joan Severance is speaking to the as-yet-unidentified boss, and she says "Yes, Mr. Sutherland." THAT WAS MY RIVAL'S LAST NAME! She broke up with me three days after Homecoming and took up with him again.

 

[albert77]

I always got the feeling watching Blazing Saddles that parts of it, particularly the scenes with Wilder and Cleavon Little, were completely ad-libbed. Like Mel gave them a scenario and told them to just make it up as they went along.

Anyway, RIP to one of the great comedic talents of our generation.

 

[Riptide]

 

[BadgerBeer]

I was 9 or 10 when I saw Willy Wonka and the Pure Imagination scene was wonderful then and it is wonderful today. He was able to present so many emotions with that scene, he was absolutely brilliant.

 

[heyabbott]

Believe his first acting job was Bonnie & Clyde.

His skit with the sheep in Everything you wanted to know about sex but afraid to ask was also classic

RIP a comic genius

 

[qtlaw]

Boy did I love his work in the 70's and 80's. Blazing Saddles, Stir Crazy, the Woman in Red, Young Frankenstein. Willy Wonka may have been his most famous, but I did not enjoy his creepy Wonka as much. Thank you for the laughs Mr. Wilder, may you RIP.

Forgot Silver Streak! When he put on the blackface, that's the only time I"ve ever laughed at someone with blackface (he was supposed to be pretending to be black).

 

[Buck]

Sedagive!

 

[Starman]

Play chess ... screw.

Well, let's play chess.

 

[Den1983]

His performance as Wonka is one of the all-timers.

Indeed. Great, great movie. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a lasting memory from my childhood, and Wilder is a big reason why.