Gene Wilder, Star of ‘Willy Wonka’ & ‘Yound Frankenstein’ Dies at 83

WHAT A SAD, SAD DAY THAT WE HAVE LOST ONE OF OUR COMEDIC ICONS … YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN IS THE BEST COMEDY MOVIE EVER!!!

Gene Wilder has passed away at the age of 83  from complications from Alzheimer’s and we are a sadder world because of it. He was one of my all-time favorites. Wilder brought us so many laughs from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to Young Frankenstein to Blazing Saddles to Stir Crazy to one of his lesser known buy hysterical hits, The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. In the 1970′s and 1980′s there was no one any funnier. Put together director Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Richard Prior and Marty Feldman and you get comedic genius. Our loss is Heavens gain as Gene Wilder can now be reunited with for Gilda Radner

Gene Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died Monday at his home in Stamford, Conn. His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83.

His nephew said in a statement, “We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones — this illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality. The decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn’t vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him “there’s Willy Wonka,” would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or trouble and causing delight to travel to worry, disappointment or confusion. He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world.

Quotes from Young Frankenstein that i still use to this day:

[Froederick and Igor are exhuming a dead criminal]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: What a filthy job.
Igor: Could be worse.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: How?
Igor: Could be raining.
[it starts to pour]

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [to Igor] Now that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck’s?
Igor: [pause, then] No.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in?
Igor: Then you won’t be angry?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abby someone.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [pause, then] Abby someone. Abby who?
Igor: Abby… Normal.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [pause, then] Abby Normal?
Igor: I’m almost sure that was the name.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [chuckles, then] Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA?
[grabs Igor and starts throttling him]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Is that what you’re telling me?

Gene Wilder & Gilda Radner – Reunited again

New York Times Obit: Gene Wilder Dies at 83; Star of ‘Willy Wonka’ and ‘Young Frankenstein’.

 Mr. Wilder’s rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny; try to make it real. “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he said more than once.

With his haunted blue eyes and an empathy born of his own history of psychic distress, he aspired to touch audiences much as Charlie Chaplin had. The Chaplin film “City Lights,” he said, had “made the biggest impression on me as an actor; it was funny, then sad, then both at the same time.”

Mr. Wilder was an accomplished stage actor as well as a screenwriter, a novelist and the director of four movies in which he starred. (He directed, he once said, “in order to protect what I wrote, which I wrote in order to act.”) But he was best known for playing roles on the big screen that might have been ripped from the pages of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as the wizardly title character in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971). The film was a box-office disappointment, partly because of parental concern that the moral of Roald Dahl’s story — that greedy, gluttonous children should not go unpunished — was too dark in the telling. But it went on to gain a devoted following, and Willy Wonka remains one of the roles with which Mr. Wilder is most closely identified.

In “Blazing Saddles,” a raunchy, no-holds-barred spoof of Hollywood westerns, Mr. Wilder had the relatively quiet role of the Waco Kid, a boozy ex-gunfighter who helps an improbable black sheriff (Cleavon Little) save a town from railroad barons and venal politicians. The film’s once-daring humor may have lost some of its edge over the years, but Mr. Wilder’s next Brooks film, “Young Frankenstein,” has never grown old.

Mr. Wilder himself hatched the idea, envisioning a black-and-white film faithful to the look of the Boris Karloff “Frankenstein,” down to the laboratory equipment, but played for laughs rather than for horror. He would portray an American man of science, the grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein, who tries to turn his back on his heritage (“that’s Frahn-kahn-STEEN”) but finds himself irresistibly drawn to Transylvania to duplicate his grandfather’s creation of a monster in a spooky mountaintop laboratory.

Steven Hill, Who Played DA Adam Schiff on ‘Law & Order’ Has Died at 94

MY FAVORITE DA OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE TV SHOW DIES …

Steven Hill, the original DA Adam Schiff on ‘Law & Order’ has passed away at the age of 94. Hill also had acting roles in the movies, “Billy Bathgate” (1991) and “The Firm” (1993). However, he will be best known for his role as NYC District Attorney Adam Schiff on Law & Order from 1990 to 2000.

Steven Hill, Rest in Peace, thank you Adam.

Steven Hill, who originated imposing lead roles on two notable television series, “Mission: Impossible” in the 1960s and “Law & Order” in the 1990s, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 94.

His daughter Sarah Gobioff confirmed his death. He lived in Monsey, N.Y., a hamlet in Rockland County.

Mr. Hill was 44 and a veteran stage and television actor in 1966 when he was cast as Daniel Briggs, the leader of an elite covert-operations unit, in the new series “Mission: Impossible.” But he left after the first season, paving the way for Peter Graves’s six-season run as the show’s lead.

Even decades later, Mr. Hill declined to discuss his reasons for leaving the series, other than to say that the first season had been a bad experience. Other sources, including Patrick J. White, author of a book on the series, “The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier,” said Mr. Hill was dismissed and learned the news only when he read a Daily Variety announcement that Mr. Graves was being hired.

According to Mr. White, Mr. Hill had developed a reputation for being difficult. His refusal to work late on Fridays, because of his observance of the Jewish sabbath, was also reported to be a problem. In Mr. White’s book, Mr. Hill’s co-star Martin Landau is quoted as saying, “I felt he was digging his own grave.”

Almost a quarter-century after that experience, Mr. Hill took on the role of the stern, seemingly imperturbable district attorney on a new cops-and-lawyers series based in New York, “Law & Order.” He played the role, said to be modeled on the long-serving Manhattan district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, from 1990 to 2000.

Steven Hill was born Solomon Krakowsky on Feb. 24, 1922, in Seattle, the son of a furniture-store owner. He graduated from the University of Washington and at first moved to Chicago to work in radio.

He soon moved to New York and did frequent stage work in his early years there, making his Broadway debut in a small role in “A Flag Is Born” (1946), a pageantlike production written by Ben Hecht, with music by Kurt Weill, that starred Paul Muni and advocated the creation of the state of Israel.

Michael Moore Says to Bill Mayer “I Think Trump is Going to Win.”

THIS SHOULD PUT FEAR INTO LIBERALS …

What has Donald Trump done to shake up America? Trump has made Michael Moore, yes that Michael Moore, become the voice of reason of the liberals and the Far Left. On Real Time with Bill Maher, Moore said the following, “I’m sorry to have to be the buzzkill here so early on, but I think Trump is going to win.” Wow, there is a dose of reality for the Left who has been stuck in their bubble. Imagine that, Trump speaks to millions of people who want real change. Michael Moore gets it, as the “bubble” audience booed. Like Trump or not, he has resonated with Americans who are not satisfied with the direction of the United States and sick of establishment politicians.

Imagine that LEFT, its music to people’s ears that Trump wants to put America first, not globalism. Can you say America “brexit”?

Michael Moore told Bill Maher he thinks that Donald Trump will win the election during Wednesday’s special edition of Real Time With Bill Maher for the Republican National Convention.

Maher first took the stage at his Los Angeles studio to give his take on a raucous three days that has seen a rebellion on the convention floor, accusations of plagiarism and booing of prominent speakers.

Maher started things off a bit late (“Mike Pence wouldn’t shut the f— up”) to an enthusiastic response from his audience. Speakers at Wednesday’s “Make America First Again”-themed program at the RNC included Ted Cruz, Newt Gingrich and Trump’s running mage Mike Pence, who used his speech to accept the GOP’s vice-presidential nomination.

Moore drew gasps from the audience when he stated his belief that Trump would win the election. “I’m sorry to have to be the buzzkill here so early on, but I think Trump is going to win.”

The audience booed, but Maher responded that “the enemy is complacency” and he was glad Moore said it because he “certainly could win.”

Garry Marshall, Director of ‘Pretty Woman’ and Creator of ‘Happy Days’ and ‘Laverne & Shirley’ Dies at Age 81

GARRY MARSHALL, THE CREATOR OF SOME OF THE GREATEST SITCOMS EVER HAS PASSED AWAY …

Garry Marshall, the man who created such amazing and iconic sitcoms like “Happy Days,” “The Odd Couple,” “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork and Mindy” has passed away at the age of 81. Marshall, who  also directed the hit movie “Pretty Woman” died Tuesday in Burbank, California of complications from pneumonia following a stroke. What a loss. Marshall also created the lesser known ABC sitcom “Angie” and Happy Days spinoff “Joanie Loves Chachi.” Marshall also directed such movies like “Beaches,” “Overboard,” “The Flamingo Kid,” among the too numerous to mention. What an amazing talent.

Garry Marshall, who created some of the 1970s’ most iconic sitcoms including “Happy Days,” “The Odd Couple,” “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork and Mindy” and went on to direct hit movies including “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries,” died Tuesday in Burbank, Calif. of complications from pneumonia following a stroke. He was 81.

Marshall went from being TV writer to creating sitcoms that touched the funny bones of the 1970s generation and directing films that were watched over and over: “Happy Days” helped start a nostalgia craze that has arguably never abated, while “Mork and Mindy” had a psychedelically goofy quality that catapulted Robin Williams to fame and made rainbow suspenders an icon of their era. “Pretty Woman” likewise cemented Julia Roberts’ stardom, while “The Princess Diaries” made Anne Hathaway a teen favorite

Tribute to Television Great Garry Marshall (and the making of Happy Days)

Marshall had one of his first substantial hits when he developed and exec produced an adaptation of Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple” in 1970 for ABC. The show drew several Emmy nominations for outstanding comedy series and wins for stars Jack Klugman and Tony Randall over the course of its five-season run. (In 2015 Marshall served as a consultant on a CBS remake of the series that starred Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon.)

Marshall penned the 1971 pilot for “Happy Days,” which was recycled in 1972 as a segment of ABC’s comedy anthology series “Love, American Style” called “Love and the Happy Days.” George Lucas asked to view the pilot before deciding to cast Ron Howard, who starred in it, in “American Graffiti,” released in 1973. “Happy Days” debuted as a series on the network in 1974, riding high on the wave of 1950s nostalgia generated in part by the success of “American Graffiti.”

A star and one of the greatest sitcoms ever is born, how Happy Days became a reality.

Marshall penned the 1971 pilot for “Happy Days,” which was recycled in 1972 as a segment of ABC’s comedy anthology series “Love, American Style” called “Love and the Happy Days.” George Lucas asked to view the pilot before deciding to cast Ron Howard, who starred in it, in “American Graffiti,” released in 1973.

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, June 29, 2016 – Have You Seen Kanye West’s New Music Video?

• He claims it included actual images of naked celebrities. Are we really supposed to believe that?