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Actor Gene Wilder: 'Kiss Me Like a Stranger'

Fresh Air | By Terry Gross

Published December 29, 2005 at 12:00 AM EST

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Born Jerome Silberman, Gene Wilder made his film debut as a kidnap victim in Bonnie and Clyde, in 1967. Wilder is best known for his work with Mel Brooks, in the films Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, and The Producers. But he also anchored the children's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, still popular today.

Wilder was also in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, and he teamed up with Richard Pryor in the films Silver Streak, Stir Crazy and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. After his wife, comic actress Gilda Radner, died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Wilder formed the support group Gilda's Club to raise awareness of the disease.

Wilder has now written a memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art.

This interview originally aired on March 16, 2005.

Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

Terry Gross

Combine an intelligent interviewer with a roster of guests that, according to the Chicago Tribune, would be prized by any talk-show host, and you're bound to get an interesting conversation. Fresh Air interviews, though, are in a category by themselves, distinguished by the unique approach of host and executive producer Terry Gross. "A remarkable blend of empathy and warmth, genuine curiosity and sharp intelligence," says the San Francisco Chronicle.

See stories by Terry Gross

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