How Gene Wilder Channeled His Hysteria Into Success
Gene Wilder, the Blazing Saddles star whose death at 83 was announced on Monday, knew that his fame was tied to a certain frenetic energy that, in his wake, can only be described as, well, Gene Wilder-esque. In 1970, on the occasion of the release of his movie Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in The Bronx, he told TIME that he had worried about being typecast until that latest film had come along. "There was always a reservoir of hysteria in me that I could call upon as an actor," he said at the time. "As I grew out of it, I became more and more dissatisfied with the parts I was playing. But Hollywood, of course, couldn't keep up with my psychological advancement. So I played hysterical accountants The Producers, nervous undertakers Bonnie and Clyde, and mad aristocrats Start the Revolution Without Me.", But even though he didn't want to get pigeonholed, that "reservoir of hysteria" was hard-won, through personal troubles and firsthand research, Eventually, however, as agitation brought his success on screen, he was able to try to relax in real lifeto look for happiness in the face of anxiety. "My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria," he said in 1970. "After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.", Get your history fix in one place sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter, Read the full profile, here in the TIME Vault The Happy Peasant