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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.
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:
RIP Gene Wilder, my co-star in the legendary Quackser Fortune-my scene is at 55 minutes for 5 seconds.
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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Sunday 22 December, 2024
Sunday 22 December, 2024
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This story about Gene Wilder almost adopting a Dublin kid is absolutely lovely
BELOVED ACTOR Gene Wilder, star of Willy Wonka and Blazing Saddles, passed away this week at the age of 83.
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.
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.
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:
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:
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Irish people are sharing their lovely memories of Gene Wilder and Willy Wonka>
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gene wilder quackser fortune RIP