Film · Music · Television · 1933–2016
Born: 11 June 1933 · Died: 29 August 2016 · Age at death: 83
Gene Wilder died aged 83. He was born on 11 June 1933 and died on 29 August 2016.
Comic actor known for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Did you know?He insisted his character enter with a limp and a somersault to keep the audience guessing about his honesty for the entire film.
Gene Wilder could switch from gentle to hysterical in a heartbeat, and comedy loved him for it. He was Mel Brooks's perfect nervous hero. His Willy Wonka was warm, strange and slightly dangerous. He insisted on the entrance where Wonka limps and then somersaults. That set the tone for the whole film. After his wife Gilda Radner died of ovarian cancer, he co-founded a cancer support centre in her name. He hid his own Alzheimer's diagnosis so as not to disappoint children.
Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker.
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Profile
American actor, born 1933
Gene Wilder was born in Milwaukee on 11 June 1933.
He played Willy Wonka in 1971.
He starred in Mel Brooks comedies The Producers and Young Frankenstein.
He made four films with Richard Pryor.
Career highlights
Did you know?He co-wrote Young Frankenstein with Mel Brooks.
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Last reviewed: October 2026