Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner had a romance ripped from the movies
Wilder died Monday at 83
(CNN) —
Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner’s first meeting was like a scene out of a romantic comedy, complete with a funny kicker. In fact, the same can be said of much of their Hollywood romance.
They met on August 13, 1981, as the sun had just started to hide behind the Hudson River, according to Wilder’s detailed account in his 2006 memoir “Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art.”
Wilder was dressed in a tuxedo. He had just finished shooting a scene on the set of “Hanky Panky,” in which he was set to star with Radner.
Gene Wilder and his wife Gilda Radner attend the premiere of the film, 'Hannah And Her Sisters,' 1986.
He walked over to introduce himself to Radner, who he knew from her work on “Saturday Night Live,” but not personally.
What happened next was a point of disagreement between the two in the years that followed.
“Gilda said that I rubbed my crotch against her knee when I asked her if I could bring her some tea or coffee,” he wrote in his book. “When she told me this story, I said, ‘You’re nuts!’ And she said, ‘No, they were your nuts.’”
“Well…it was a beginning.”
Radner later wrote of this meeting in her own book: “My heart fluttered – I was hooked. It felt like my life went from black and white to Technicolor.”
It took two weeks for Radner to make a move on Wilder. When it finally happened, she threw him on his hotel room bed and, according to Wilder, said “I have a plan for fun.” He rejected her advance.
Radner was married to guitarist G.E. Smith at the time, but she told Wilder that she was unhappy.
“I knew I was going to fall in love with you and leave my husband,” Wilder quotes her as saying the morning after he sent her home in a cab.
Wilder was baffled and overwhelmed.
“Gilda, you’re talking like this is a fairy tale, and you’re going to meet Prince Charming, and everything’s going to be all right, and we’ll both live happily ever after,” he told her, according to his book.
Her reply? “So what’s wrong with that?”
Photos: Remembering Gene Wilder
Comedic actor Gene Wilder, seen here as candy tycoon Willy Wonka in the 1971 classic "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," died Monday, August 29, at the age of 83.
Wilder -- at right with Zero Mostel and Lee Meredith -- was the stressed-out Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' breakout film, "The Producers" in 1968. He was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor.
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The 1970 parody "Start the Revolution Without Me" starred Wilder and Donald Sutherland as two sets of identical twins.
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Wilder sits next to a sheep in Woody Allen's 1972 film "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)."
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Wilder appears in a sketch called "The Office Sharers" during an NBC hourlong special called "The Trouble With People" in 1972.
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Wilder, seen here with Cleavon Little, was back with Brooks for 1974's "Blazing Saddles." In a statement to CNN on Monday, Brooks called Wilder "one of the truly great talents of our time. ... He blessed every film we did together with his special magic. And he blessed my life with his friendship."
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Wilder plays The Fox in 1974's "The Little Prince."
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Another Brooks-directed film, "Young Frankenstein," became one of Wilder's most famous. Wilder played Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the legendary Dr. Victor Frankenstein, in a parody of classic horror movies.
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Wilder in the 1976 film "Silver Streak."
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Wilder played a rabbi in the 1979 comedy "The Frisco Kid."
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Wilder stars with comedian Richard Pryor in 1980's "Stir Crazy." The two did several movies together.
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Wilder rehearses with dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov for a CBS special in 1981.
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Gilda Radnor stars with Wilder in 1982's "Hanky Panky." The two married in 1984 and remained together until her death in 1989.
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Wilder poses with actress Kelly LeBrock for a photo promoting the 1984 film "The Woman in Red." Wilder also directed.
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Wilder sits atop a mounted moose head in a scene from "Haunted Hollywood," a film he directed in 1986.
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Wilder poses for a portrait in Los Angeles in 1987.
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Wilder and Pryor were back at it again with "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" in 1989. Wilder played a deaf man who is best friends with Pryor's blind character.
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Wilder plays opposite Christine Lahti in the 1990 romantic comedy "Funny About Love."
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Wilder and Pryor in 1991's "Another You." It was the last leading role for both of them.
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James Lipton sits with Wilder during a taping of the show "Inside the Actor's Studio" in 1996.
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Wilder speaks during a Writers Guild event in 2005.
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Wilder and his wife, Karen, attend a U.S. Open tennis match in 2007.
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Wilder attends the annual Art Directors Guild Awards in 2010. Wilder died due to complications from Alzheimer's disease, which he struggled with for three years, his nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement to CNN.
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It wasn’t happily ever after from that moment on. They separated after a year of living together because Wilder felt smothered by Radner’s need for his attention. Her struggle with bulimia also put strain on their relationship.
“I thought she was a baby. She couldn’t be without me, do without me,” Wilder told Larry King in 2002.
But they found their way back to one another and eventually married in 1984, in part thanks to a Yorkshire Terrier named Sparkle, some rat poison and a phone call that alleviated some of Wilder’s biggest fears.
When Radner had to miss a planned flight and vacation with Wilder to care for the dog she’d bought during one of their breakups, she told him to go without her. That she’d be “fine.”
“That’s what I was waiting for for 2½ years,” he told King.
Radner and Wilder were married for about two years when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.
Wilder remained hopeful until about three weeks before she died.
“I said … ‘I’ll exchange life spans with you,’” he told King. “The irony is that I meant it. I thought that she’d pull through and that she would live longer than I would.”
Radner died May 20, 1989.
On mourning Radner, in a 2005 interview with CNN, Wilder said honoring their happiness meant living his life.
“If you asked Gilda, she’d say, don’t be a jerk. You know, go out, have fun. Wake up and smell the coffee,” Wilder said. “Would I want to erase the memories I have, the good memories? No, of course not. But I wouldn’t want to mourn for the rest of my life.”
Wilder married his fourth wife Karen in 1991 at the Connecticut home Radner left him.
