The Character You Remember
The best compliment an actor can ever receive is when no one knows the actor’s name but everyone remembers the name of the character the actor played. When I was a kid I did not know who Gene Wilder was but I knew Willy Wonka! Like Charlie I was spell bound with the Chocolate Factory, the Oompa Loompas, and most of all with Willy Wonka. I did not know if I should love or hate Willy Wonka and that character ambiguity probably taught me more about human nature than all of the other shallow children’s shows I watched.
Gene Wilder probably saved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from the dust bin of children’s movies. Gene did not want to take the role at first, but he agreed to it provided:
“When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the door carrying a can and then walk toward the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself… but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.” When he was asked why he wanted this scene added Gene replied “Because from that time on, no one will know if I am lying or telling the truth.”
This is a well known and often repeated story about Gene Wilder but I believe it catches the essence of the actor. Gene Wilder was not only an actor, he wrote novels, screenplays, and directed movies. Gene Wilder’s secret was that he told stories first and acted second. He knew that his acting served the story and that fame and wealth were byproducts. Gene Wilder’s sense of story was his trademark, not his blue eyes and curly hair. And that is why the world will remember Willy Wonka, I mean Gene Wilder.
An Ode to Gene Wilder
To Gene Wilder:
You were Willy Wonka and the Waco Kid
An Actor and a Writer
A Child’s best friend and nightmare
And a deadly serious comedian.
Thank you for your life.
