Gene Wilder in a scene from Bonnie and Clyde

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka

Gene Wilder (Jerome Silberman)

Wilder is a retired stage and screen actor, comedian, director, screenwriter,
author and activist. He began his career on stage, and made his screen
debut in the TV-series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962. Although his first
film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and
Clyde, Wilder’s first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The
Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor. He is also well-known for his performance as Willy
Wonka in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1971.

1974

Gene Wilder singing “Pure Imagination” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“The Candy Man” spent three weeks at number-one on the 
Billboard Hot 100 as well as two weeks at number- one on 
the easy listening chart.

Tim Maguire

Jackie Mason (Yacov Moshe Maza) was ordained as a rabbi at
age twenty-five before resigning to become a comedian.