BELOVED ACTOR Gene Wilder, star of Willy Wonka and Blazing Saddles, passed away this week at the age of 83.

AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Irish people are sharing their memories of Wilder – and one particularly interesting story has emerged.

RTE’s Joe Duffy tweeted an excerpt from Wilder’s memoir, Kiss Me Like A Stranger, in which he details a trip to Dublin to film Quackser Fortune has a Cousin in the Bronx.

The actor wrote about shooting in the “poorest parts” of the city, and enlisting one of the local children, a boy named David, to act in a scene.

It would mean money for his family. That afternoon he was my sidekick in a very short scene. He just held my hand, and I led him wherever he was supposed to go.

After a month of filming, David’s mother “hinted” that she would like Wilder to adopt David and bring him back to the US with him.

His mother wanted David to have a chance in life.

Facebook / John Kavanagh's The Gravediggers Facebook / John Kavanagh's The Gravediggers / John Kavanagh's The Gravediggers

The actor talked it over with his then-wife Mary Joan and stepdaughter Katharine, and got the go-ahead from the Irish government – on the condition that the boy keep his own name and be raised Catholic.

But Wilder wanted to ask David what he thought first:

I took David for a picnic in the Wicklow Mountains to find out if he would even want to come with me and live in America. After the most delicate probing, David said, “Naw, I don’t want ta do dat.” And dat was dat.

The David of this story hasn’t been tracked down, but another David involved in the film has revealed himself – RTÉ News political correspondent David Davin-Power:

Speaking to the BBC, Davin-Power said he was 17 years old at the time of filming in 1969, and signed up as an extra. His account of meeting Wilder is just as you’d expect:

Gene knew me and he always name checked me and said “Hello, David.” That was a big deal. He was a lovely fella and he had that whimsical way about him.

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Irish people are sharing their lovely memories of Gene Wilder and Willy Wonka>