Gene Wilder, actor and widower of the late Gilda Radner, died today at the age of 83. Wilder was a huge star in the 70s. And my friends and I would get ourselves out of arguments we couldn’t win by yelling: “YOU STOLE FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS!” and would do the “wait, stop, come back” thing all the time.
Wilder was a favorite of Mel Brooks and I am pretty sure everyone considers Young Frankenstein the best of his movies. Blazing Saddles was funnier but it is so racist that if anyone watches it now Trump goes up one point in the polls. Things were different, then. How different? Well, here’s Gene in blackface!
And not for nothing, he hung tough with Richard Pryor through a lot of movies, good and bad. He got married again after Gilda Radner died but I think most people will think Gilda when they think of him. Damn she was funny. Now she and Gene and Richard can sit somewhere and remark about how many Mexicans there are now. Well, I assume that’s what they would talk about.
