For several years now, I thought Gene Wilder was dead. Tonight, I saw a TV commercial with him singing a song from Willie Wonka in the background and I was telling my wife how I missed him and wished he was still alive. Also I was saying how I didn’t appreciate his talent when I was younger, but would be very happy to see him in something today had he lived and that I would like to revisit his older performances so I could witness how truely talented he was.
As it turns out, he is still alive! I have a distinct memory of his death many years ago. I would have bet he died before 2002. I even remember seeing his portrait with an announcement of his death and the 1933-(some year I cannot remember) on a news channel. This is very strange for me as I was absolutely certain he was dead.
For anyone who would like to participate, tell us about a famous person you thought was alive or dead, but found out otherwise and how it affected you.
For me, now that I know Gene Wilder is alive, I wonder why he hasn’t been more active. And if he has, why haven’t I seen him in what seems like almost ten years?
Abe Vigoda is my favorite example. I also would’ve sworn I saw two separate obituaries (as a teen) for Sebastian Cabot (the butler on Family Affair). Ernest Borgnine is my latest example.
As I check my dementia meds (wait, I have no dementia meds!), does anyone else remember this: Superman II, Supe flies Lois to his Fortress of Solitude where they get it on in silver sheets. I saw that too in the theatres. The part that I remember from then that’s NOT on the DVD: Lois gets Supe to make a soufflé with his heat vision and cautions him not to over heat it or it will collapse. It collapses.
I swear on a stack of bibles/korans/pasta-boxes that I saw this. It’s not even in the deleted scenes.
I remember that souffle scene, too. So I just looked up Superman II on IMDB.com and under “trivia”, it says the 1984 television broadcast contained several scenes not in the original movie.
Ernest Borgnine was a guest star on “House” not too long ago. Funny, he is a really homely man, but he is getting better looking the older he gets!
That’s what I think happens with me, too. I think of him and then of her and I know she’s dead and I wonder is he dead? He is quite old, etc…and then I get confused and have to lie donw.
My initial reaction was that you must have confused him with Gene Hackman, who died a few years back…but then I checked Wiki and discovered Hackman’s not dead, either!
For a long time I was sure Diana Rigg was dead. Utterly convinced of it. It turns out that, not only at that time (ten years ago) she wasn’t dead, she’s still not dead.
My suspicion is that you heard Wilder had cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma) and then conflated him with Gilda’s fate. But he appears to have been in remission since 2005, knock wood.
Re: Superman II, this DVD set of the four Reeve Superman films lists the deleted souffle scene as one of the extras. So apparently it does exist. Definitely wasn’t in the original version I saw in the theaters, though – must’ve been in one of the TV broadcasts.
This is weird. I never had the idea that he was dead – just not appearing in things.
Speaking of Gene Wilder and deleted scenes, I still haven’t seen the deleted scene from Young Frankenstein. It’s not among the deleted scenes on the DVD, but many people have sworn to me that they have seen it, including my wife.
It’s at the theater, just before Wilder as Frankenstein goes onstage to introduce the Monster. He’s standing there with Marty Feldman as Igor, who is conspicuously lacking his characteristic hump.
Frankenstein: Where’s your…where’s your hump?
Igor: (haughtily) NEVER with a tux!
as corroboration of this, in the extant film, after the Monster pushes Frankenstein aside and goes on his rampage, Ilga and Igor rush over to Frankenstein to see that he’s alright, and Igor is clearly minus a hump. Although the film as we have it doesn’t explain why this is.
Nevertheless, I’ve never found any acknowledgement online that this scene exists, even on iMDB, nor has any cast member mentioned it.
This is my primary example of “Slipping Between Dimensions”. Not that I take this seriously, but I have the same experiences, and I liken it to being perhaps the only way we might notice slipping between closely related parallel dimensions.
Now if there were major differences, like say Superheroes existing or the US having won Vietnam, you’d notice right away. But things like this are small enough where you just have to assume that you were wrong.
Wait, Chimera. So your saying that this FredGarven is not our FredGarven but is, instead, a FredGarven from a universe where Gene Wilder died who has somehow slipped into our universe?
Similarly as a kid I had only two memories from the movie Battle for the Planet of the Apes: a scene where a human tells another human you never say “No” to an ape because they hate that word and scene near the end that shows the origin of the mutants in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. When I saw the movie as an adult neither scene was there. Turns out the only memorable stuff in it was added for the TV version!
To keep this more on topic, let me add that I also thought for sure Gene Wilder had died.
Can I say that I didn’t think Gene Wilder had died…but, even as a guy, I thought it was sweet/touching that he pretty much quit working after Gilda died (I know that’s not 100% accurate, but "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. ")
I also remember the other ending to Big, where the girlfriend becomes young and is introduced to his class as a new student. Again, TV broadcast or some weird VHS.