Plot: The life and career of Gene Wilder are remembered by his friends and colleagues.
Review: Gene Wilder was a one-of-a-kind talent. While it seems like he’s mostly remembered these days for playing Willy Wonka (with his performance inspiring Timothee Chalamet’s recent take), there was a lot more to him than just that one film. For one thing, his cinematic partnership with Mel Brooks resulted in three all-time classics: The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Plus, he and Richard Pryor made an iconic mismatched duo in a slew of films (some better than others), while Wilder directed several highly successful films on his own.
In this loving tribute to the late icon, director Ron Frank pulls back the curtain to dip into both Wilder’s creative process and sometimes tragic life. Pulling from an audiobook he recorded of his memoirs, the film is distinguished because Wilder himself tells much of the story.
Review: Gene Wilder was a one-of-a-kind talent. While it seems like he’s mostly remembered these days for playing Willy Wonka (with his performance inspiring Timothee Chalamet’s recent take), there was a lot more to him than just that one film. For one thing, his cinematic partnership with Mel Brooks resulted in three all-time classics: The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Plus, he and Richard Pryor made an iconic mismatched duo in a slew of films (some better than others), while Wilder directed several highly successful films on his own.
In this loving tribute to the late icon, director Ron Frank pulls back the curtain to dip into both Wilder’s creative process and sometimes tragic life. Pulling from an audiobook he recorded of his memoirs, the film is distinguished because Wilder himself tells much of the story.
- 3/22/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Mickey Gilbert, the fearless stunt performer who jumped off a cliff for Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and doubled for Gene Wilder in films including Blazing Saddles, Silver Streak and The Frisco Kid, has died. He was 87.
Gilbert died Monday of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California, his oldest son, Tim Gilbert, also a stunt performer, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Early in his career, Gilbert was a horse wrangler in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) and a bank robber in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Years later, he took the lumps for Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers on the 1981-86 ABC action show The Fall Guy.
Though they weren’t friends at the time, Gilbert and Redford were in the same class at Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. They got together on George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Redford...
Gilbert died Monday of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California, his oldest son, Tim Gilbert, also a stunt performer, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Early in his career, Gilbert was a horse wrangler in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) and a bank robber in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Years later, he took the lumps for Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers on the 1981-86 ABC action show The Fall Guy.
Though they weren’t friends at the time, Gilbert and Redford were in the same class at Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. They got together on George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Redford...
- 2/6/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lou Cutell, who played the “Assman” on Seinfeld and the rainbow-Mohawked Amazing Larry in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure among 100-plus TV and film credits spanning five decades, has died. He was 91.
His friend Mark Furman announced the news on social media but did not provide details.
“After 91 years, and a great life, my friend Lou Cutell went home,” Furman posted Sunday (see it below). “A film, theater and character actor. Big Larry in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Ass Man in Seinfeld, Abe in Grey’s Anatomy S12,E4. He took me to Lucille Ball’s house in 1986. Rest in peace Lou.”
Cutell might be most recognizable to TV fans for his one-off Seinfeld role as Dr. Howard Cooperman in the 1995 episode “The Fusilli Jerry.” It featured Kramer (Michael Richards) picking up his new license plates at the Dmv, only to find that they are someone else’s vanity plate that reads “Assman.
His friend Mark Furman announced the news on social media but did not provide details.
“After 91 years, and a great life, my friend Lou Cutell went home,” Furman posted Sunday (see it below). “A film, theater and character actor. Big Larry in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Ass Man in Seinfeld, Abe in Grey’s Anatomy S12,E4. He took me to Lucille Ball’s house in 1986. Rest in peace Lou.”
Cutell might be most recognizable to TV fans for his one-off Seinfeld role as Dr. Howard Cooperman in the 1995 episode “The Fusilli Jerry.” It featured Kramer (Michael Richards) picking up his new license plates at the Dmv, only to find that they are someone else’s vanity plate that reads “Assman.
- 11/23/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
As we bid farewell this week to the mighty Gene Wilder, find out how many of his movie roles you can recognise
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Bonnie and Clyde
The Producers
Young Frankenstein
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Rhinoceros
The Woman in Red
Silver Streak
The Frisco Kid
Haunted Honeymoon
Blazing Saddles
Stir Crazy
Blazing Saddles
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Start the Revolution Without Me
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
The Woman in Red
The World's Greatest Lover
Silver Streak
Stir Crazy
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Hanky Panky
Another You
Silver Streak
Sunday Lovers
Bonnie and Clyde
Blazing Saddles
The Little Prince
Young Frankenstein
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Rhinoceros
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother...
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Bonnie and Clyde
The Producers
Young Frankenstein
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Rhinoceros
The Woman in Red
Silver Streak
The Frisco Kid
Haunted Honeymoon
Blazing Saddles
Stir Crazy
Blazing Saddles
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Start the Revolution Without Me
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
The Woman in Red
The World's Greatest Lover
Silver Streak
Stir Crazy
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Hanky Panky
Another You
Silver Streak
Sunday Lovers
Bonnie and Clyde
Blazing Saddles
The Little Prince
Young Frankenstein
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Rhinoceros
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother...
- 9/2/2016
- by Aidan Mac Guill
- The Guardian - Film News
What makes a great actor great? When I watch a performance, there are certain things I look for, and the biggest of those things is whether or not the actor is making choices about their work. There are plenty of actors who get through a scene just fine and who deliver their lines nicely and who never ever connect beyond that for me because it doesn’t feel like they’re bringing anything to the process aside from their physical presence. There are certain actors, though, who I am immediately drawn to because you can see how they’re taking the raw material of the script and they’re putting it through their personal filter so that the end result is something the writer couldn’t have imagined, that the director couldn’t have asked for, and that the actor never would have reached on his own. Gene Wilder was one of those actors,...
- 8/29/2016
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
"That Justin Theroux guy - where do I know him from?" Depending on whom you ask, you could get a great many answers. Of course, he's the husband of Jennifer Aniston, but he's had a string of notable acting roles too. He could be that guy from The Leftovers, the actor who played the hapless director character in Mulholland Drive, Leslie Knope's short-lived boyfriend on Parks and Recreation, or even the bad guy from Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. However, Theroux is also a screenwriter, and he's credited with a handful of major films that casual movie-goers might not associate with him.
- 2/16/2016
- by Drew Mackie, @drewgmackie
- PEOPLE.com
"That Justin Theroux guy - where do I know him from?" Depending on whom you ask, you could get a great many answers. Of course, he's the husband of Jennifer Aniston, but he's had a string of notable acting roles too. He could be that guy from The Leftovers, the actor who played the hapless director character in Mulholland Drive, Leslie Knope's short-lived boyfriend on Parks and Recreation, or even the bad guy from Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. However, Theroux is also a screenwriter, and he's credited with a handful of major films that casual movie-goers might not associate with him.
- 2/16/2016
- by Drew Mackie, @drewgmackie
- PEOPLE.com
Carl Ballantine, who performed feats of bumbling comic magic on Vaudeville and on television, the movies and in Las Vegas, died Tuesday of natural causes at his Hollywood home. He was 92.
Perhaps Ballantine's most famous role was as confident con artist and torpedoman Lester Gruber on 1962-66 ABC comedy "McHale's Navy."
Ballantine, born Meyer Kessler on Chicago's South Side, learned magic tricks at age 9 from his barber. By 13, he was performing and supporting his family.
One night, a trick went haywire and he threw out some funny lines to cover things. The audience loved it, the club owner told him to "keep it up" -- and the Amazing Ballantine was born.
Ballantine caught the end of Vaudeville and the early days of television. He played the Palace in New York City, the Hippodrome in Baltimore and many other huge venues of the day.
On TV, he did magic on the shows of Garry Moore,...
Perhaps Ballantine's most famous role was as confident con artist and torpedoman Lester Gruber on 1962-66 ABC comedy "McHale's Navy."
Ballantine, born Meyer Kessler on Chicago's South Side, learned magic tricks at age 9 from his barber. By 13, he was performing and supporting his family.
One night, a trick went haywire and he threw out some funny lines to cover things. The audience loved it, the club owner told him to "keep it up" -- and the Amazing Ballantine was born.
Ballantine caught the end of Vaudeville and the early days of television. He played the Palace in New York City, the Hippodrome in Baltimore and many other huge venues of the day.
On TV, he did magic on the shows of Garry Moore,...
- 11/4/2009
- by By Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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