Monday,  the world lost a beloved legend.

I was saddened very much by the loss, as i saw so many people on Facebook felt the same. It’s sad news when someone passes and there are times that we are affected more than others. And it’s really interesting when it’s a celebrity.

We didn’t know him personally, well, I didn’t, but it still made me very sad,  maybe because we knew about him, he enriched our lives, made us laugh and forget about reality when we watched his movies, we have a smile on our face. 

A evident by the articles and posts, he was, of course, most well known for his role as Willy Wonka. It’s a role that crosses generations, there are stars  that pass, older stars, that younger generations have no idea who they are or might know them from a role in their later years and i know from even before my time. But so many generations have seen Willy Wonka, because it’s a classic. 

One of the things I loved about him was his love affair with the love of his life,  Gilda Radner. They met while filming Hanky Panky. She was smitten immediately, “It felt like my life went from black  and white to Technicolor”, wow!

“On the first night of filming near the Hudson River, she looked at me and started to cry,” Wilder said in a 2012 interview. “I asked, ‘Why are you crying?’ and she said, ‘because I know I’m going to marry you.’ I said, ‘We’re going a little fast here.‘”

“She was just so active about everything and the way she felt — her crying, her laughing, everything. Then when the film was over and she was going to fly back home, she kissed me and then said, ‘If you ever want to get in touch with me, tell my manager Bernie Brillstein, ‘The ducks are in the pond.’ When I got back home I suddenly dropped to my knees and started weeping that she wasn’t there. So, I called Bernie and told him, ‘The ducks are in the pond.’ He said, ‘OK, I understand,’ and we were together for a long time after that.”

What do you say to that!!!

One of the other things that struck me was that no one knew when he was ill and why.  He said that her put a smile on people’s faces and her didn’t want to taint that. If he was recognized by a child, he didn’t want the smile to be followed by a discussion about illness. A true gentle soul. 

I don’t think there is a Gene Wilder movie i haven’t seen, there are some tv roles people reminded me of, i may or may not have seen them, but the. Admittedly, not all are my favorites, but i did like them all. But…i am going to tell you about my favorites. 

Willy Wonka is iconic, of course, and wackadoo! Ever wonder who was doing drugs when they filmed some of the scenes? Blazing Saddles, so many amazing quotes from that movie. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother, one many people have never seen or heard of, Young Frankenstein, how many times have you quoted this movie?

Haunted Honeymoon, not many people talk about this one, its a great one with Gilda Radner, among other great actors, follow that with Hanky Panky  and the Woman in Red. Stir Crazy and Silver Streak, his collaboration with Richard Pryor was legendary.

Ever see Start The Revolution without Me? Last of the Red Hot Lovers? The Frisco Kid with Harrison Ford? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid To Ask? 

Some of these are my go- to movies, I’ve seen them hundreds of times and I might see them a hundred more. 

“See this hand?” ‘Steady as a rock ‘ “yeah, but this is the hand i shoot with!”

“Puttin’ on the Ritz”

“What do you mean widower than what?”

You will be missed, thank you for what you gave us and brought to our lives…

Joy.