Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 11, 1933. He studied theater at the University of Iowa, at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School in England, and at the HB Studio in New York. He served a two-year Army stint as an aide in the psychiatric unit of the Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania. After his discharge, he won a coveted spot at the Actors Studio. He became a stage actor, screenwriter, novelist, and the director of four movies in which he starred.
His first major role on Broadway was the chaplain in a 1963 production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children. In 1967, he made his movie debut as an undertaker in Bonnie and Clyde. He went on to appear in numerous movies including The Producers; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask; Blazing Saddles; Young Frankenstein; Silver Streak; Stir Crazy; See No Evil, Hear No Evil; Another You; and Hanky Panky. In 1999, he was a writer for two TV movies in which he starred Murder in a Small Town and The Lady in Question. In 2003, he won an Emmy for his guest starring role in an episode of Will and Grace. He retired from acting soon afterward.
His third wife, actress Gilda Radner, died of ovarian cancer in 1989. In her memory, he co- founded an ovarian cancer detection center in her name, in Los Angeles, and Gilda's Club, a network of support centers for women with cancer. He also contributed to a book entitled Gilda's Disease with Dr. M. Steven Piver. His memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, was published in 2005. His first novel, My French Whore, was published in 2007. His other books included The Woman Who Wouldn't, Something to Remember You By, and What Is This Thing Called Love? He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on August 29, 2016 at the age of 83.
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