# Gene Wilder has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426 "2016-08-29T19:32:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/1 "2016-08-29T19:32:36Z")
Gene Wilder has died. 2016 claims another victim. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/2 "2016-08-29T19:34:50Z")
No waaaaay! I didn’t realize he was ill! I grew up knowing him from _Willy Wonka_ and _Young Frankenstein_. Everything he was in was a classic, though. From what I’ve read about the making of _Willy Wonka_, he actually was as kind and gentle as he seemed on screen (at least to the kids in the movie). ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/3 "2016-08-29T19:35:26Z")
Sorry forgot link - [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gene-wilder-dead](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gene-wilder-dead) Pure Imagination - [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SVi3-PrQ0pY/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHUBoAC4AOKAgwIABABGHIgPig3MA8=&rs=AOn4CLBmMVR5483DxfZ8Ed_CX_zABX3H4g "Gene Wilder - Pure Imagination") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi3-PrQ0pY) I love how dangerous his Wonka was. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/4 "2016-08-29T19:36:33Z")
I’ve been in love with him ever since reading Gilda Radner’s biography. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/5 "2016-08-29T19:42:40Z")
Gene and Gilda: Together Again ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/6 "2016-08-29T19:43:08Z")
He even made an impression in his first screen appearance in **Bonnie and Clyde**. He was an amazing actor. One of my favorite scenes was in Woody Allen’s _Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)._ He played a doctor who’s patient is in love with a sheep. The man brings the sheep into Wilder’s office, and, without words, Wilder showed he was falling in love with her. Great acting to make that work. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/7 "2016-08-29T19:43:18Z")
Damn! He was underappreciated. He wrote most of the screenplay for **Young Frankenstein** , and it was incredibly literate. I loved him ever since I first saw a pre-release clip from the original **The Producers**. Besides all the movies, he was the voices (including the stomach’s) in a series of 1960s advertisements for Alka SEltzer. And – his real name was Jerome Silberman? First time I’ve read that. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/8 "2016-08-29T19:44:08Z")
That’s “Fronk-en-steen.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/9 "2016-08-29T19:44:45Z")
No. I reject this as a reality. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/10 "2016-08-29T19:50:28Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That’s “Fronk-en-steen.” I chuckled… Seemed like a nice guy who lead a good life… We should all be so lucky (or strive so hard to be so…). RIP. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/11 "2016-08-29T19:50:30Z")
What’s a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/12 "2016-08-29T19:51:00Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > I love how dangerous his Wonka was. Just before Mike Teevee gets transmitted: “Stop. Don’t. Come back.” The dryness that Wilder used made the scene. Instead of Depp, they should have got Christopher Walken for C&tCF. He’s about the only other one than Wilder than could pull off the facade of calm menace that Wonka has. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/13 "2016-08-29T19:52:15Z")
We are the music-makers…we are the dreamers of dreams. If God had meant for us to walk he wouldn’t have made rollerskates. So much time, so little to do. No, wait…reverse that. What is this, Wonka…a funhouse? Why? Are you having fun? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/14 "2016-08-29T19:52:20Z")
A truly beautiful man. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/15 "2016-08-29T19:53:38Z")
(Jumping up and down) SON OF A BITCH!! (Fairly obscure _Silver Streak_ reference.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/16 "2016-08-29T19:53:56Z")
“Son of a bitch!” Not _that_ obscure. You ninja, you. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/17 "2016-08-29T19:55:08Z")
I just had a conversation earlier this month where I thought he was already dead. Kinda mad I’m wrong now. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/18 "2016-08-29T19:59:25Z")
“Are we dead?” “I don’t know. Are we black?” RIP, Frisco. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/19 "2016-08-29T20:08:37Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > No waaaaay! I didn’t realize he was ill! Maybe he caught the Mens Rea. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426/20 "2016-08-29T20:10:06Z")
Thanks for all the laughter, Mr. Wilder. I’ve never laughed as hard as I did when I first saw _Blazing Saddles_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gene-wilder-has-died/764426.md?page=2)