by Gene Wilder
Four and a half years have passed and I’m now in complete remission. I’m one of the lucky ones.
I paint watercolors again—I’m having a show at the New Britain Museum of American Artists—but I can’t seem to paint when I’m acting or act when I’m writing or write when I’m painting. I don’t know why. I’m sure it’s the same energy, but that energy gets so possessive sometimes.
Karen and I also take tap dancing lessons once a week. It started out because I had written a musical for Whoopi Goldberg and me and I needed to dance in the film. Karen found a wonderful teacher named Gail Smith and even though the movie project fell apart Karen thought it would be good if we both kept on dancing.
There is one strange irony that I haven’t told you. One April afternoon, three weeks before she died, Gilda walked up to me in our living room and said, “I have a title for you, ‘Kiss Me Like a Stranger’ . . . maybe you can use it some day.” I had no idea why she said it or what the title meant; I just thanked her.
Fourteen years later I started writing this book. I had a completely different title in mind when I began; I was going to call it, “I Lean Towards Women.” A terrible title, I think now: sounds like the story of a man whose right leg is shorter than his left. What I meant by it was only that I’m immediately comfortable with most women I meet, but with men it takes a little time.
As I was nearing the end of this book, recalling the tortures that Gilda had gone through and how she screamed and pounded on the bed, scaring the daylights out of Sparkle and me, I remembered how I had begged her to treat me at least with the kindness that she showed to every stranger she met. With Karen, because of some accidental beneficence, which I still don’t understand, loving her each day feels almost the way it did when she and I first met. So the title Gilda gave me that April afternoon fourteen years ago took on a significance that I never would have imagined.
Acknowledgments
To my sister, Corinne Pearlman, who always led the way.
To my editor, Elizabeth Beier, whose great power was in her gentle hints and suggestions.
To my friend, William Sarnoff, who steered me through uncharted waters.
index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Actor Prepares, An (Stanislavsky)
Actors Studio
Actors Studio Theater
Adler, Renata
Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother, The. See Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother)
“After a While” (Shoffstall)
Aimée, Anouk
Aldrich, Alida
Aldrich, Robert
Allen, Woody
Anderson, Judith
Anderson, Maxwell
Arkin, Alan
Baldwin, James
Bancroft, Anne
Barrymore, Ethel
Basic Instinct (film)
Bast, Robert
Baum, Marty
Beatty, Warren
Berghof, Herbert
Bergman, Ingmar
Bernard, Miss
Black Bart. See Blazing Saddles
Black/Foxe Military Institute
Blazing Saddles (film)
Bolcom, William
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
Boyd, Dr.
Boyle, Peter
Braille Institute (Los Angeles)
Brecht, Bertolt
Breton, Denise
Brillstein, Bernie
Brooks, James
Brooks, Mel
and Blazing Saddles
on directing
and The Producers
and Gene Wilder
and Young Frankenstein
Bruce, Nigel
Buddy (cousin)
Bull, Joanna
Burstyn, Ellen
CA-125
Gene Wilder’s promotion of
Caesar, Sid
Cambridge Drama Festival
Casablanca (film)
Cat and the Canary, The (Bob Hope film)
Cat and the Canary, The (Willard play)
Catch-22 (film)
Channing, Carol
Chaplin, Charlie
Charles, Prince
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl)
Chicago Arts Institute
Circle in the Square Theater
Circus, The (Chaplin film)
City Lights (Chaplin film)
Clarence Derwent Award
Clark, Jim
Clark, Seema
Clear and Present Danger (film)
Cobb, Lee J.
Columbia Pictures
comedy
Complaisant Lover, The (Greene)
Connaught Hotel (London)
Cooper, Gary
Cornell, Katharine
Crawford, Cheryl
Crisp, Quentin
Crucible, The (Miller)
Cunningham, John
Dahl, Roald
Dailey, Dan
David (Irish boy)
Davis, Bette
Dear Theo (van Gogh letters)
Death of a Salesman (Miller)
DeLuise, Dom
Dennis, Sandy
Dexter, John
Dibby (Gilda’s nanny)
Dick (Valley Forge patient)
Dickinson, Emily
Doctor Zhivago (film)
Don the Beachcomber (Los Angeles)
Donen, Stanley
Douglas, Kirk
Duane (Gilda’s cousin)
Dunnock, Mildred
Dynamite Tonight (Weinstein/Bolcom)
Epstein, Jerry
Evans, Evan
Evening with Quentin Crisp, An
Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About Sex (film)
Feldman, Edward
Feldman, Marty
Fell, Norman
Fellini, Federico
Finney, Albert
Fonda, Jane
“For Esmé, with Love and Squalor” (Salinger)
Ford, Harrison
Fox, Gerald
Friedman, Bruce J.
Frisco Kid, The (film)
Garr, Eddy
Garr, Teri
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Broadway)
Georgina (baby-sitter)
Ghost Breakers (film)
Gielgud, John
Gilda’s Clubs
Glazier, Sydney
Goddard, Paulette
Goldberg, Whoopi
Goode, Reginald
Goode, Rita
Goodman, David Zelag
Gottlieb, Herman
Grant, Cary
Great Expectations (film)
Greene, Graham
Greenspan, Ezra
Greystones (Irish village)
Grodin, Charles
Gruskoff, Michael
Gunilla
Hackman, Gene
Hagen, Uta
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
Hanky Panky (film)
Harper, Valerie
Harris, Barbara
Harrison, George
Harvey, Mary
Haunted Honeymoon (film)
Hayes, Helen
HB Studio
Henreid, Paul
Hesitation Waltz (Wilder screenplay)
Higgins, Collin
Hiken, Gerald
Hiller, Arthur
Hitchcock, Alfred
Hope, Bob
Horace (Carlyle doorman)
Howard, John
Howard, Sidney
Hull, Howard
Hunt, John
Hunt for Red October (film)
Hurst, David
Hussein, Waris
Importance of Being Earnest, The (Wilde)
improvisation
It’s Always Something (Radner)
Jonesy (B
lack/Foxe student)
Jordan (Gene’s nephew)
Julie (dog)
Kahn, Madeline
Kanzell, Betty
Karla
Kaye, Danny
Kazan, Elia
Kitt, Eartha
Knapp, Robert
Ladd, Alan, Jr.
Lamb, Wally
Lampert, Zohra
Late Christopher Bean, The (Howard)
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Leachman, Cloris
Lear, Norman
Lerner, Alan Jay
Levine, Joe
Lewis, Jerry
Little Prince (film)
Little Prince (Saint-Exupéry)
Look Homeward Angel (Wolfe)
Lovers, The (film)
Luv (Schisgal)
Macbeth (Shakespeare)
McCarthy, Eugene
Macintosh (Black/Foxe student)
McKenna, Siobhan
McMartin, John
Mars, Kenny
Marsh, Sandra
Marsh, Terry
Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The (TV show)
Marty, Bob
Mary (Gilda’s assistant)
May, Elaine
Mayer, Louis B.
Mazursky, Paul
Medavoy, Mike
Medea (Euripides)
Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Menotti, Gian Carlo
“Metamorphosis” (Kafka)
method acting
Miller, Arthur
Millionairess, The (Shaw)
Milwaukee Players
Montand, Yves
Montecito Hotel (Los Angeles)
Moreau, Jeanne
Mostel, Zero
Mother Courage (Brecht)
Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)
Murder in a Small Town (TV show)
Naked Civil Servant, The (Crisp)
“Necklace, The” (de Maupassant)
Neufeld, Mace
New York League for the Hard of Hearing
New York Times
New Yorker magazine
Newhart, Bob
Newman, Randy
Nichols, Mike
Nimer, Stephen D.
North by Northwest (film)
Now Voyager (film)
O’Brian, Hugh
Old Vic Theater School
Oliver (film)
On Golden Pond (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Wasserman play)
Our Town (Wilder)
Parsons, Estelle
Pearlman, Corinne Wilder
acting career
Pearlman, Gil
Penn, Arthur
Play of the Week, The (TV program)
Poitier, Sidney
Portlock, Carol
Preminger, Otto
Producers, The (film)
casting
filming
public relations
reviews
Peter Sellers and
title change
Pryor, Richard
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (film)
box office
Quinn, Anthony
Quintero, José
Radner, Gilda
career
Gene Wilder, leaving 1734 house to
Gene Wilder, marriage to
Gene Wilder, meeting and courtship
Radner, Gilda (health)
bowel obstruction
bulimia
death of
ovarian cancer
pregnancy and miscarriage
Redgrave, Michael
Reginald Goode Summer Theater
Reiner, Rob
Renoir, Jean
Rhinoceros (film)
Robards, Jason, Jr.
Robbins, Jerome
Roche, Eugene
Roger (Valley Forge patient)
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
Romy
Ronnie (Black/Foxe student)
Rooney, Mickey
Roots (Wesker)
Rosenthal, Dr.
Ross, Duncan
Roth, Richard
Rydell, Mark
Saks, Gene
Salinger, J. D.
Saturday Night Live
Schisgal, Murray
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (film)
Segal, Alex
Sellers, Peter
Selznick, Irene Mayer
Shapiro, Bob
Shargai, Victor
Shaw, George Bernard
Shaw, Glen Byam
Shawn, Dick
Shawshank Redemption (film)
She’s Come Undone (Lamb)
Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (film)
as director
success of
Siberman, Corinne (sister). See Pearlman, Corinne Wilder
Siberman, Jerry. See Wilder, Gene
Silver Streak (film)
and improvisation
“shoe polish” scene
success of
Signoret, Simone
Sills, Paul
Silvers, Phil
Smith, Gail
Sonny and Cher show
Sordi, Alberto
Sparkle (Gilda’s Yorkshire terrier)
and Gene and Gilda’s wedding
and Gilda’s grave
Spoleto Festival
Springtime for Hitler. See Producers, The
Stanislavsky, Constantin
See also method acting
Stir Crazy (film)
the watermelon incident
Strasberg, Lee
Start the Revolution Without Me (film)
box office
Steiner, Ingrid
Streetcar Named Desire, A (Williams)
Stuart, Mel
Suspicion (film)
Susskind, David
Sutherland, Donald
Suzie (Sloan-Kettering night nurse)
Taylor, Renee
technique
Thank You All Very Much (film)
Thursday’s Game (film for televison)
Tough Guy (Wilder screenplay)
Tracy, Spencer
Tri Star
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)
Twelve Chairs (film)
20th Century Fox
University of Iowa
Up in Arms
“Upon Our Marriage” (Wilder)
Valentino, Rudolph
van Gogh, Vincent
Veidt, Conrad
Veidt, Lily
Veitch, John
Walker, Nancy
Wallach, Eli
Wallis, Marjorie (“Margie”)
Walsh, Gabriel
Warner Bros.
Waterston, Sam
Wayne, John
Webb, Karen. See Wilder, Karen Webb
Weinstein, Arnold
Weinstein, Hannah
Weinstein, Sidney
Welles, Orson
Wellness Community
Wesker, Arnold
Westport Country Playhouse
White House, The (Hoiby/Hotchner)
White Sheik, The (film)
Wilder, Gene
analysis
anti-Semitism and
childhood
David (Irish boy), attempt to adopt
the “Demon” (compulsion to pray)
education
and father
“Gene’s Dream,”
military career
and mother
and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
as a painter
political involvement
travel
Wilder, Gene (romantic attachments)
Billie
Seema Clark
Teri Garr
Rita Goode
Gunilla
Jessie
Joan
Karla
sexual education
Wilder, Gene (1st wife: Mary)
Wilder, Gene (2nd wife: Mary Jo
daughter Kati
e
Katie, estrangement from
marriage
Wilder, Gene (3rd wife: Gilda Radner)
CA-125, promotion of
and Gilda’s bulimia
and Gilda’s cancer
and Gilda’s death
Gilda’s pregnancy and miscarriage
Gilda’s 1734 house, inheritance of
marriage
meeting and courtship
Wilder, Gene (4th wife: Karen Webb)
courtship
marriage
“Upon Our Marriage,”
Wilder, Gene (career)
acting, influences on
acting lessons
The Actors Studio
awards and honors
as a fencer
HB Studio
method acting
name change
Old Vic Theater School
and the press
Reginald Goode Summer Theater
Jerome Robbins, thank you note to
Stanislavsky and
Strasberg’s class
University of Iowa
Wilder, Gene (acting career: film)
Blazing Saddles
Bonnie and Clyde
Catch-22
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex
The Frisco Kid
Hanky Panky
Haunted Honeymoon
Little Prince
The Producers
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Rhinoceros
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother
Silver Streak
Start the Revolution Without Me
Stir Crazy
Thursday’s Game
Young Frankenstein
Willy Wonka
The Woman in Red
Wilder, Gene (acting career: televison)
Death of a Salesman (Miller)
Murder in a Small Town
Wingless Victory (Anderson)
Wilder, Gene (acting career: theater)
The Cat and the Canary (Willard), The Complaisant Lover (Greene)
The Crucible (Miller)
Dynamite Tonight (Weinstein/Bolcom)
The Late Christopher Bean (Howard)
Luv (Schisgal)
Macbeth (Shakespeare)
The Millionairess (Shaw)
Mother Courage (Brecht)
Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Wasserman)
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)
The White House (Hoiby/Hotchner)
Wilder, Gene (directing career: film)
Haunted Honeymoon
Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother, The World’s Greatest Lover
Wilder, Gene (writing career)
as a poet
“Upon Our Marriage,”
Wilder, Gene (writing career: film)
Haunted Honeymoon
Hesitation Waltz (screenplay)
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother