Last week we endured the loss of beloved comedic actor Gene Wilder, who will be sorely missed and always remembered throughout the film community. Wilder stood as an icon of the comedy world throughout the last 50 years ever since making his debut with his first major role as Leo Bloom, in The Producers in 1967. Wilder continued to dominate the comedy world starring in almost all of the legendary writer and director Mel Brooks films such as Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.

Wilder is remembered for his legendary comedic timing in a film, many who worked with him consider him to be “the master of the comedic pause” as he commonly counted beats in between lines, allowing a void of awkward and a comedic tense silence fall over the scene before continuing on.

He lived by his own golden rule claiming, “don't try to make it funny, make it real” which is how he developed larger than life characters such as Willy Wonka, who is arguably his most memorable role. A film that has since then become a staple of many millennial childhoods. Carrying a nostalgia that reminds us of much simpler time, where family movie night wasn't so far and few.

Wilder, who has accomplished so much in a lifetime, not only as an actor, but also as a successful screenwriter, director, producer, and, in some occasions, a vocalist, helped to usher in a new era of comedy. He's influenced hundreds, and brought laughs to thousands of families as they sat home around a television set, long before the era of Netflix and on-demand, to watch Willy Wonka sing his song of “pure imagination.”