Gene Wilder, Beloved Actor Influenced by Army Stint at a Valley Forge Psychiatric Unit, Dies at 83

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Gene Wilder, beloved actor and one-time aide at Valley Forge Army Hospital has died, aged 83.

Beloved actor Gene Wilder, famous for roles in iconic movies such as ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ and ‘Stir Crazy’, died early Monday morning at age 83, writes Daniel Lewis for The New York Times.

Wilder’s rule for comedy was very simple: Don’t try to make it funny, try to make it real.

Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder on the set of 'Young Frankenstein'.--photo via British Film Institute.
Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder on the set of ‘Young Frankenstein’.–photo via British Film Institute.

“I’m an actor, not a clown,” Wilder often said.

During his career Wilder refined a neurotic comedic presence only a serious actor, or one with Wilder’s blue eyes, could pull off. He became an audience favorite.

Wilder attributed his style to observations made while serving as an aide at the psychiatric unit of the Valley Forge Army Hospital. (The Army Hospital has been replaced by the University of Valley Forge.)

He acknowledged the choice to serve in a psychiatric unit as shrewd selfishness.

“I imagined the things I would see there might relate more to acting than any of the other choices.”

After he was discharged, he won a spot at the Actors Studio and changed his name from Jerome Silberman to Gene Wilder. Soon he was cast in a Broadway production of a Bertolt Brecht play. It was behind that Broadway stage where Wilder met another unknown talent: Mel Brooks.

 Their collaboration yielded ‘The Producers’ and ‘Young Frankenstein’ and redefined silver screen comedy for a generation.

Wilder later teamed up with Richard Pryor, starring together in several movies including the box office smash ‘Stir Crazy’. In 2003, he retired from acting in 2003 to become a novelist. But it is for acting that he will always be remembered, a fact he acknowledged in his memoirs.

“I think to be believed, onstage or onscreen, is the one hope that all actors share,” has said.

Read more about Gene Wilder’s Life at The New York Times here.

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