Remembering Gene Wilder - Comic Actor, Screenwriter, Film Director and Author

Gene Wilder, the stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author who died yesterday at the age of 83, was born Jerome Silberman to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1933. 

His Wikipedia entry says that he was raised Jewish, but he held only the Golden Rule as his philosophy. He described himself as a "Jewish-Buddhist-Atheist" in an interview published in 2005.

Wilder discussed his Jewish upbringing at length in an interview with Abigail Pogrebin for her book Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish. Yesterday Tablet, the online magazine, posted an excerpt from the book.

Three years ago we posted an excerpt from an 80th birthday interview with Gene Wilder by Robert Osborne that we attended at the 92nd Street Y.

It runs for 28 minutes and includes Wilder's reflections on making movies and answering questions from the audience.

As a tribute to Gene Wilder, we're reposting the interview today. In it, Wilder reminisces about his experiences in filming Willy Wonka, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. Below the half-hour interview video, we're sharing a few clips from his performances in these movies.

(Please be warned that when talking about the excessive swearing that he doesn't like in the movies, he uses an expletive for illustration purposes. We said we'd warn you before posting anything that might offend readers who object to language that the mainstream media find unfit to print. So if you don't want to hear the word, don't watch the video.)

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)   




Willy Wonka's Grand Entrance



Wilder as the Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles



Puttin' on the Ritz from Young Frankenstein

 

Funniest Jewish Film Moments: Heimish and Amish from The Frisco Kid

The Frisco Kid starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford is one of our all-time favorite funny movies. 

It has a few great Jewish film moments, and today we're sharing one of the best.

In the film Wilder plays Rabbi Avram Belinski, an underachiever in his rabbinical school in Poland. He is dispatched to America to become the new rabbi of a congregation in San Francisco. He has with him a Torah scroll for the San Francisco synagogue. 

Belinski, an innocent, trusting, and inexperienced traveler, falls in with three con men who trick him into helping pay for a wagon and supplies to go west, then brutally rob him and leave him and most of his belongings scattered along a deserted road in Pennsylvania.

He makes his way across a field where he spots a group of farmers wearing black hats and black clothing, similar to the clothing worn in his Polish homeland. Assuming that he has come across a group of Jewish landsmen, he embraces them. Then the fun begins. He tries to speak to them in Yiddish, but they are Pennsylvania Amish. The realization that he has made a big mistake is one of the funniest Jewish film moments.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

Gene Wilder at 92Y: You Asked For More, So Here's The Interview Video

Earlier this month we posted our reflections on an interview with Gene Wilder by Robert Osborne onstage at the 92nd Street Y. We summarized the conversation in a few paragraphs and included a clip from The Frisco Kid.

Now the 92nd Street Y has made an excerpt from the video available and we're delighted to bring it to you. It runs for 28 minutes and includes Wilder's reflections on making movies and answering questions from the audience.

In the interview Wilder reminisces about his experiences in filming Willy Wonka, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. Below the half-hour interview video, we're sharing a few clips from his performances in these movies.   

(Please be warned that when talking about the excessive swearing that he doesn't like in the movies, he uses an expletive for illustration purposes. We said we'd warn you before posting anything that might offend readers who object to language that the mainstream media find unfit to print. So if you don't want to hear the word, don't watch the video.)

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)  




Willy Wonka's Grand Entrance



Wilder as the Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles



Puttin' on the Ritz from Young Frankenstein

Gene Wilder Celebrates His 80th Birthday With a Rare Interview

Gene Wilder as a Polish Rabbi in the Wild West in The Frisco Kid

The Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan was filled last night with hundreds of Gene Wilder's fans as the comic actor, director, screenwriter, and writer celebrated his 80th birthday with a rare public appearance.

Interviewed on stage by Robert Osborne, the film historian and host of Turner Classic Movies, Wilder revisited many of his 18 films with an obvious delight that was shared by the audience.

Born Jerry Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1933, Wilder became a favorite of Mel Brooks and had major roles in Brooks' films -- Blazing Saddles, The Producers, and Young Frankenstein. They were introduced by Brooks' girlfriend and later wife, Anne Bancroft. Much of the interview was spent reminiscing about Mel Brooks and their collaborations. But he drew distinctions between Brooks' Borscht Belt origins and his own classical training with Actors' Studio director Lee Strasberg and at the Old Vic Theater in England.

He liked acting with Harrison Ford, who was "wonderful" as a co-star in The Frisco Kid, a film in which he could be serious and funny at the same time. He spent time with two rabbis and learned to sing in Hebrew.

Asked why he hasn't made a film in 20 years, the gentle, soft-spoken actor became outspoken about the trend in movies to fill many scenes with swearing and using dirty words. He didn't want to swear and didn't want to do 3D films. He acknowledged that occasionally the use of a word is reasonable, but he got turned off by their use throughout a film.

Wilder also heaped praise on Woody Allen, saying "Midnight in Paris -- how can you do better?"

He also talked about his five-year marriage to comic Gilda Radner, most of which was spent caring for her after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Following Radner's death in 1989, Wilder became active in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club, a support group to raise awareness of cancer that began in New York City and now has branches throughout the country.

In 1991, he married Karen Boyer, who was in the audience, and they have been happily married for 23 years. Now he prefers writing books to acting and writing screenplays for movies. His favorite activity is writing, pausing for a glass of tea and a kiss for his wife, who was in the audience last night, and returning to his writing.

Here's a video clip of Wilder as Rabbi Avram Belinski, just arrived from Poland, in one of our favorite scenes from The Frisco Kid.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)