Directors and stars have taken to Twitter to pay tribute to Gene Wilder, the actor and comedian who has died at 83 from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Russell Crowe remembered heading to his local cinema to watch Blazing Saddles multiple times, while comedian Jim Carrey said that Wilder “was one of the funniest and sweetest energies”.
I saw Blazing Saddles 7 times at the cinema with my school friends . George St. Cows outside.
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 29, 2016
Gene Wilder you were a genius. Rest in Peace.
Gene Wilder was one of the funniest and sweetest energies ever to take a human form. If there's a heaven he has a Golden Ticket. ;^)
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) August 29, 2016
Mel Brooks, who directed Wilder in a trio of classic comedies – The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein – called the actor “one of the truly great talents of our time”.
Gene Wilder-One of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship.
— Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) August 29, 2016
Wilder’s long-term friend Carl Reiner bid him goodbye and offered a low-key endorsement of the star’s work.
#GeneWilder Au revoir to a gifted actor whose films I suggest you re-visit if you want to be thoroughly entertained. pic.twitter.com/FgcO4OVkYg
— carl reiner (@carlreiner) August 29, 2016
Other comedians to pay tribute included Sarah Silverman and Margeret Cho.
Hilarious & heartbreaking in the very same moment. #RIP beautiful Gene Wilder there was & will never be anyone like you
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) August 29, 2016
A comedy legend who changed the world and brightened a room even through a screen. Rest in paradise #GeneWilder pic.twitter.com/7TTxL29dBy
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) August 29, 2016
Julie Dawn Cole starred with Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, playing Veruca Salt when she was 12 years old. Now 58, she remembered him being a “father figure” to the cast. She said he was “quiet, gently funny and patient”. Actor Elijah Wood quoted a line from the Willy Wonka film (itself taken from a poem by Arthur O’Shaughnessy) when he paid tribute.
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams.“ farewell Gene Wilder, you were a treasure
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) August 29, 2016
Rain Pryor, daughter of Wilder’s frequent co-star Richard Pryor, said her father, who died in 2005, thought Wilder “a good man and a genius”. Pryor and Wilder, whose friendship was occasionally tested by Pryor’s drug abuse, offered a unique on-screen chemistry, she said.
“Mr Wilder was the older: ‘I’m here. I’m doing my work and we have a great chemistry. And then I’m going to go have my sober life,’” Rain told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a normal dude compared to my dad in that sense. But in terms of his kindness and generosity and to watch the two of them together, there’s not a magic that’s been like that in a long time”.
Finally, director Edgar Wright noted Wilder’s skill at making being quiet funny and called for a moment of silence.
A moment of silence for the master of the comedic pause.
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) August 29, 2016
Gene Wilder: funny doing something & funny doing nothing. pic.twitter.com/d5iySZVll6
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