About Gene Wilder
He worked with Mel Brooks on The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, and with Richard Pryor in Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991). He also played Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
![“I met [Gilda Radner] on the first night of filming ... Hanky Panky that Sidney Poitier was directing. And it's funny, I was in costume and makeup - my tuxedo and makeup because I'd done a few shots before she arrived, and she told me later that she cried all the way in, in the car, because she…” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bc/gene-wilder-3914_car_i-met-gilda-radner-on-the-first-night-of_805669.jpg)
![“I met Mel [Brooks] backstage in Anne's [Bancroft] dressing room. He was wearing one of those pea coats, pea jackets that were made famous by the Merchant Marines, and I admired it and he said, "You know, they used to call this a urine jacket, but it didn't sell."” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c6/gene-wilder-3914_brooks_i-met-mel-brooks-backstage-in-anne-s-ban_2497273.png)
![“I put out my hand to shake hands with Zero Mostel, and he took my hand [and] he pulled me up to his face, and he gave me a kiss on the lips. And all my nervousness went out the window.” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b08/gene-wilder-3914_faces_i-put-out-my-hand-to-shake-hands-with-ze_3012084.png)
![“[Gilda Radner] was in the in vitro fertilization program, and it nearly, nearly drove us apart, too. She wanted that baby, so badly, and it didn't work. Oddly enough, when we were doing "Haunted Honeymoon" in London, she did become pregnant for about 10 days, but then she lost it. But, anyway, my…” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc5/gene-wilder-3914_baby_gilda-radner-was-in-the-in-vitro-fertili_815051.png)
![“And Mel [Brooks] - you have to understand this important point - he had done "The Producers" for $50,000 over two years, and he didn't make a penny from it. And then he did "The Twelve Chairs" - $50,000 for two more years and didn't make a penny from it. That's four years of work. And then they…” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/236/gene-wilder-3914_bits_and-mel-brooks-you-have-to-understand-th_2047500.png)
![“I was miscast in that production [of Mother Courage and Her Children] ... but it was with Anne Bancroft, whose boyfriend at the time was Mel Brooks, and that made my - I can't say my day, it made my life, in a way.” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffd/gene-wilder-3914_brooks_i-was-miscast-in-that-production-of-moth_2851071.png)
![“In fact, [Gene Wilder] had made a hysteric seem considerably less funny in his film debut as a terrified undertaker in "Bonnie And Clyde." And neurotics soon became his stock-in-trade, whether he was playing the weird title character in "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory..."” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6ad/gene-wilder-3914_character_in-fact-gene-wilder-had-made-a-hysteric_1989008.png)
![“We gave each other a hug, [Richard Pryor] said how much he admired me, I said how much I admired him, and we started working the next morning, and we hit it off really well, and he taught me how to improvise on camera.” quote by Gene Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ee/gene-wilder-3914_admired_we-gave-each-other-a-hug-richard-pryor-s_1690558.png)