Willy Wonka star Gene Wilder dies aged 83
WILLY Wonka star Gene Wilder has died aged 83, his family have announced.
Wilder's nephew said that the actor and writer died earlier this month in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer's disease.
The actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only Mel Brooks could devise, including reviving a monster in Young Frankenstein.
But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy sheriff in Blazing Saddles and as the charming candy man in the children's favourite Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.
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