Actor Gene Wilder, Frequent Westport Visitor, 83

Actor Gener Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died today at his home in Stamford. His nephew ,Jordan Walker-Pearlman, said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. Wilder, a frequent Westport visitor, is pictured at a 2010 Westport Country Playhouse gala with wife Karen. In a 2008 appearance at the Westport Library, he said said he did not like today’s movies because of the foul language and felt some of his greatest hits would not be made in the current climate. Wilder appeared at the Playhouse in 2001 in “Don’t Make Me Laugh,” three one-act plays by Chekhov, Feydeau, and Shaw, with Bob Dishy and Carol Kane. He was also in Playhouse productions of “The Complaisant Lover” (1962), “The Millionairess” (1963),  “The White House” (1964), a fundraiser “For the Children” (2001), and a film series talk on “Young Frankenstein” (2004). (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com