Jerome Silberman was born on 11th June 1933, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA, of Russian Jewish descent. As Gene Wilder, he was as an actor, a screenwriter, and an author, especially known for his roles in “The Producers” and “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)”. Some people remember him also for his role as Willy Wonka in the film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, released in 1971. He passed away in August 2016.
So just how rich was Gene Wilder? Sources estimate his net worth was $20 million, most of his money having been made in the movie industry, as an actor, a screenwriter, a director and a producer; but also as a stage actor and an author, during a career in the entertainment industry spanning more than 50 years.
Gene Wilder Net Worth $20 Million
Gene Wilder graduated from the University of Iowa, where he studied Communication and Theater Arts. He started his acting career on the stage, and made his Broadway debut in 1961 in the play “The Complaisant Lover”. His Broadway career included roles in numerous plays, including “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, “The White House”, “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “Luv”. Gene Wilder came back to the stage in 1996, in London, where he played in “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” – all contributed to his net worth.
His first role in a movie came in 1967 in “Bonnie and Clyde”, but he really became known in the industry after “The Producers”, a film in which he played the role of Leo Bloom and for which he received an Academy Award nomination. An important moment in Gene Wilder’s career was his role in Woody Allen’s 1972 film “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)”, which was a hit and grossed $18 million, the equivalent of more than $100 million in 2016. Then there were his performances, unforgetable to audiences, in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Blazing Saddles”, and “Young Frankenstein” which made him famous and a real comic actor icon. Some of his other movies with high commercial success were “Silver Streak” and “Stir Crazy”. During this period he also wrote and directed movies, such as “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” and “The World’s Greatest Lover”. Overall, he appeared in more than 30 films and television series, and wrote nine screenplays.
Gene Wilder semi-retired around the late ’90s, but he continued making television appearances in several shows, including “E! True Hollywood Story”, “The Frank Skinner Show”, and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”. Throughout his acting career, critics often described him as ‘amusingly watchable’, and audiences were seldom disappointed.
Wilder turned his attention to writing, which added money to his net worth as an author, as he published a memoir, three novels and several short stories.
In his personal life, Gene Wilder married four times. His first three marriages were to Mary Mercier(1960-65), to Mary Joan Schutz(1967-74), and to Gilda Radner from 1984 until her death from ovarian cancer in 1989. Gene Wilder suffered after his Gina’s death and began speaking about cancer awareness. The actor married for the fourth time in 1991, to Karen Boyer, and they were together until his death from Alzheimer’s and complications on 29 August 2016.
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