Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9412160001
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BURBANK, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
They are Gene Wilder and Hillary B. Smith, the stars of the new NBC comedy ``Something Wilder,'' and Barnet Kellman, the creator and director of the Saturday night series (airing at 8 on WSLS-Channel 10). The serious faces suggest a discussion of ``Death of a Salesman'' rather than an effort to evoke the most laughter from the 40-pages of script they hold in their hands.
``Let me see now,'' Wilder speculates, ``is there some reason why I should cross over, beyond wanting to touch her tush?''
After more discussion, Kellman announces one hour for lunch. The chat is part of the revision process that continues all week until Friday night. Then the set's bleachers will fill with a cross section of citizens who are invited to laugh at the travails of middle-aged parents coping with 4-year-old twins.
Wilder's career shift began when Kellman presented the proposal for a half-hour comedy show.
``I'm a movie man, really,'' Wilder remarked. ``They said [the series] was like little movies, with a beginning, middle and end. That made me think of the two-reelers that I grew up on, not as a little boy, but as a young artist. I grew up on Chaplin and Keaton comedies, and I used to think what a shame that they cannot be done again.
``Nobody is going to buy a 30-minute film, no matter how good it is; it's not commercially viable. But that's what they said they would be making: a 22-minute, 45-second little film.''
Gene Wilder at 59 seems little changed since the days when he was king of the Mel Brooks stock company. The same wisp of curly blond hair crowning his head. The same questioning eyes the color of a robin's egg.
Over lunch in the studio commissary, he explained why he had made the move to television: ``I think since `Star Wars,' the studios have been chasing the blockbuster.''
Wilder's film career might be characterized as nonblockbuster. Not that he hasn't enjoyed his share of hits: ``Blazing Saddles,'' ``Young Frankenstein,'' ``Silver Streak.''
But most of the movies, especially those he wrote and directed (``The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother,'' ``The World's Greatest Lover'') exhibited a gentle humor that marks the man. ``No one would make those today,'' he observed.
``Something Wilder'' ends a three-year hiatus. The comedian explained: ``I had come out of one life and entered another life. For the past three years, I've been living peacefully in Connecticut. I thought, `I don't mind this at all.' I had great peace of mind. I didn't want to leave that for any frivolous script.''
The first life had been his marriage to the brilliant Gilda Radner, who died of cancer in 1989 at 42. The second began in 1991, when he married his current wife Karen Webb.
They settled into the 260-year-old Stamford house that Gilda had willed to Wilder. She had bought the house two weeks before he met her.
``I liked visiting the house, but I didn't know if I could live there,'' he said soberly. ``After I buried her, I decided to stay and face the ghosts. After a while, it was just like planting seeds in the ground; the roots start to grow. Now I'm uncomfortable if I go almost anywhere for very long. I love it there. It's where I want to grow old.''
Performing before an audience should come easy to Wilder, though he hasn't done it in 28 years. All of his early training was in the theater, starting in his native Milwaukee. He appeared in plays at the University of Iowa, played in stock companies and studied at the Old Vic Theater School in Bristol, England.
Soon he was attracting notice in off- and on-Broadway plays. At 26 he dropped his real name of Jerome Silberman for his new billing, taking Gene from the hero of ``Look Homeward, Angel'' and Wilder from Thornton Wilder, whose writing he admired. When appearing in ``Luv,'' he took a leave for his film debut in ``Bonnie and Clyde.'' Then he left the play for ``The Producers.'' That was 1966, and his film career took off.
by CNB