Gene Wilder dies

[backontrack]

The Candyman could.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/29/gene-wilder-death-willy-wonka-mel-brooks-comedy

Gene Wilder, star of Willy Wonka and Mel Brooks comedies, is dead at 83, his family says.

Wilder’s nephew said on Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

The frizzy-haired actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Mel Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in Young Frankenstein or bilking Broadway in The Producers.

But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy sheriff in Blazing Saddles and as the charming candy man in the children’s favourite Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

 

[Harbornite]

RIP. His face is quite familiar on the internet due to that meme...

 

[AndrewR232]

Rip

 

[507021]

A great shame, RIP.

 

[AlterEgo]

Absolutely loved the Willy Wonka film!

 

[J-2739]

I LOVE that film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I still have it taped. RIP GW

 

[Cowley]

Blazing Saddles. Still one of the funniest films ever. Also loved the films he did with Richard Pryor.
RIP Gene, thanks for the many laughs.

 

[Greenback]

It's another sad loss for the entertainment industry.

 

[87 027]

I liked Silver Streak - many funny moments (with Richard Pryor) - and the train crash at the end is very spectacular!

 

[alexf380]

Young Frankenstein is one of my absolute favourite films, and he really performed well in it. Sad to hear of his passing, definitely.

RIP

 

[DarloRich]

Blazing Saddles. Still one of the funniest films ever. Also loved the films he did with Richard Pryor.
RIP Gene, thanks for the many laughs.

an absolutely fantastic film and a very cutting satire on Hollywood racism and myth building in relation to the wild west.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Blazing Saddles. Still one of the funniest films ever.

an absolutely fantastic film and a very cutting satire on Hollywood racism and myth building in relation to the wild west.

One of my favourites too, has me crying laughing every time I watch it. Gene was great as the Waco Kid (the shooting hand scene is brilliant) and the chemistry between him and the excellent Cleavon Little was superb. Needless to say you could never make something even remotely as controversial these days, but I think a lot of people miss the point of it being so racist - it was the black sheriff, alcoholic gunslinger and all of the Chinese, Irish and black labourers who were the decent, honest people; and all of the white Americans who were bigoted and either got outsmarted or saved by those they persecuted.