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Gene Wilder, Dead At 83, Leaves Lasting Legacy In Chicago

 Gene Wilder dies at 83.
Gene Wilder dies at 83.
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CHICAGO — Beloved comedic actor Gene Wilder died Monday at age 83 of complications stemming from Alzheimer's disease, according to Variety

The show-stealing performer, who starred in classic films including "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Blazing Saddles" and "The Producers," was a frequent collaborator of comedy writer, actor and producer Mel Brooks, who shared memories of Wilder during a show at the Chicago Theater in June.

Lizzie Schiffman Tufano recounts Gene Wilder's lasting influence.

Brooks recalled on June 12 how Wilder roped him into co-writing the script for "Young Frankenstein" while on the set of "Blazing Saddles," when Brooks saw Wilder writing something in the corner of the set, and pitched his idea on the spot.

When Brooks asked Wilder if he needed any help with the script, Wilder joked, "just all I can get." 

The film went on to earn two Academy Award nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay, and is listed as number 13 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" comedy ranking.

Wilder's ties to Chicago are perhaps most deeply rooted at 537 N. Wells St., the home of Gilda's Club Chicago — the local outpost of the support network for cancer patients, survivors and their families that Wilder co-founded in memory of his wife, Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

Radner was an alum of the Second City's Toronto school and has a comedic legacy that extends to Chicago.

When other Midwest Gilda's Clubs announced in 2013 that they would drop Radner's name from their branding, Gilda's Club Chicago doubled down, saying they would never change the name or distance themselves from Radner's legacy. 

The walls of the River North club's kids' room are covered in murals of Radner's most iconic characters from her time at "Saturday Night Live."


A mural inside Gilda's Club Chicago. [DNAinfo/Lizzie Schiffman Tufano]

Wilder, whose real name was Jerome Silberman, was born in Milwaukee and earned a B.A. from the University of Iowa, according to Variety. He is survived by his fourth wife, Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991, and his nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, who told the magazine he died in his Stamford, Conn. home and was fortunate that Alzheimer's "never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality."

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