Tribute: Gene Wilder
The Leonard Lopate Show | Aug 29, 2016
“The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” and “Stir Crazy” all became huge hits thanks to the comic deadpan genius of Gene Wilder. He once told Time magazine, “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria. After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.” Born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wilder began studying acting at the age of 12. He just died at the age of 83 from complications from Alzheimer’s. But you can hear two of his interviews with Leonard below.
In 2005, he came on the show to talk about his memoir Kiss Me Like a Stranger
In 2007, he came back on the show to talk about his debut novel
