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  Newsmakers   Willy Wonka star Gene Wilder dies at 83

Willy Wonka star Gene Wilder dies at 83

AFP
Published : Aug 31, 2016, 2:13 am IST
Updated : Aug 31, 2016, 2:13 am IST

Gene Wilder, who delighted audiences with his comic turns in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Mel Brooks classics, including Blazing Saddles and The Producers, died on Monday at the age of 83.

Gene Wilder in a still from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).
 Gene Wilder in a still from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).

Gene Wilder, who delighted audiences with his comic turns in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Mel Brooks classics, including Blazing Saddles and The Producers, died on Monday at the age of 83.

His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said the actor died of complications from Alzheimer’s, holding hands with family members and taking his last breath as Ella Fitzgerald’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow played on a speaker.

“It is with indescribable sadness and blues, but with spiritual gratitude for the life lived, that I announce the passing of husband, parent and universal artist Gene Wilder, at his home in Stamford, Connecticut,” Walker-Pearlman said in a statement. “It is almost unbearable for us to contemplate our life without him.” Wilder was treated for lymphoma in 2000 and had worked only sporadically since.

Though Wilder started his acting career on the stage, millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially the ones he made with Brooks, such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. The last film — with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced Frahn-ken-SHTEEN — was co-written by Brooks and Wilder and earned the pair an Oscar nod for adapted screenplay.

With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes.

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