Willy Wonka Star Gene Wilder Dies At 83

Gene Wilder, the star of such comedy classics as Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, has died. He was 83.

Wilder's nephew said the actor and writer died earlier this month in Stamford, Connecticut from complications from Alzheimer's disease.

The frizzy-haired actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Mel Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in Young Frankenstein or bilking Broadway in The Producers.

But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy sheriff in Blazing Saddles and as the charming candy man in the children's favorite Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

Source: AP