Gene Wilder reaches the ripe age of eighty today, but you won’t have him back in a spotlight anytime soon. To celebrate the beloved performer’s birthday while navigating around a (justified) remove from greater public attention — notwithstanding his current efforts as a novelist — we’ve dug up the TCM special Gene Wilder: Role Model, a one-hour 2008 interview conducted by none other than Alec Baldwin.
What makes the following work is that the latter, unsurprisingly, acts as a courteous and quiet host, allowing the esteemed point of focus to speak in entertaining, lucid, intimate detail, often with the humor we’d typically expect of him. Being something of a private man (outside of writing), though, it’s a surprise to see Wilder open up on camera; it may even be the only chance we have to see such a thing. By all means, give this a gander.
You can see the discussion below:
Did you enjoy the discussion? What’s your favorite Wilder role?