From Publishers Weekly
The man who created some of the funniest moments in film history talks about acting, adultery, neuroses and death in this intimate, unusual memoir. Wilder began acting as a teenager at summer camp and eventually earned some acclaim on Broadway but not much money - he says he was still collecting unemployment checks when he began shooting his breakout film role in Mel Brooks's original film version of The Producers (1968). The movie flopped commercially, but Wilder's comedic chops were established. A string of successes followed: Blazing Saddles; Young Frankenstein; Willy Wonka; Stir Crazy. Off camera, things were more complicated. After two troubled marriages, Wilder married Saturday Night Live's Gilda Radner - a brilliant, erratic woman who battled bulimia and wild mood swings. Wilder is unusually frank in documenting both Radner's faults and her long struggle with cancer. Honesty is a prevailing quality of this book, as Wilder freely discusses topics ranging from his own neuroses to the drug-fueled misbehavior of his great comedic partner, Richard Pryor. He also doesn't avoid telling the details of his own bout with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Wilder's fans may be disappointed to find relatively scant coverage of some of his triumphs, but Wilder clearly isn't interested in writing a conventional Hollywood memoir. His book candidly explores his own faults and feelings, as well as those of the people he's loved and lost. Photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Readers looking for a little comic relief will be disappointed by this thoughtfully serious memoir. Like that of many comics, Wilder's private life does not reflect his zany stage and screen persona. Introspective by nature, he provides a series of vignettes that he hopes will add clarity to his personal search for the truth about his family, his loves, the choices he has made, and his quest for artistic fulfillment. Unflinching in their honesty, these snippets constitute a revealing overview of an intriguing life. Wilder's formative relationship with his sick mother, his personal and professional associations with Richard Pryor and Mel Brooks, his complex marriage to the late Gilda Radner, and his attempts to make sense of it all through intense psychotherapy make fascinating reading. Framed like individual scenes from a movie, these recollections add up to a compelling portrait of a multifaceted man. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Pure Gene Wilder! Uproarishly funny and at times very moving. It made me want to go out and see every Gene Wilder movie again." -- Mel Brooks
"I always knew Gene Wilder was a remarkable person, but I didn't know how remarkable until I read this brave, riveting book." -- Charles Grodin
"Gene Wilder is not just a uniquely talented and lovable performer, he's a gifted memoirist with a great story to tell and a writerly commitment to emotional truth. The real delight lies in the prose -- tight, funny, fast as the breeze -- and insights about accident and fate that lodge in your mind long after the smile has left your lips." -- Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author of Three Daughters
"A book to cherish. Here is the real Gene...irrepressibly funny, wise, warmhearted, and honest. In sharing with us the most intimate details of his extraordinary life on screen and off, Gene shows all if us how to embrace the unexpected, pursue our passion, and seize joy every day. Give this book to someone you want to kiss." -- Pat Collins, film critic
Book Description
In this personal book from the star of many beloved and classic film comedies -- from The Producers to Young Frankenstein, Blazing saddles to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- Gene Wilder writes about a side of his life the public hasn't seen on the screen. Kiss Me Like a Stranger is not an autobiography in the usual sense of the word, and it's certainly not another celebrity "tell-all." Instead, Wilder has chosen to write about resonant moments in his life, events that led him to an understanding of the art of acting, and -- more important -- to an understanding of how to give love to and receive love from a woman.
Wilder writes compellingly about the creative process on stage and screen, and divulges moments from life on the sets of some of the most iconic movies of our time.
In this book, he talks about everything from his experiences in psychoanalysis to why he got into acting and later comedy (his first goal was to be a Shakespearean actor), and how a Midwestern childhood with a sick mother changed him. Wilder explains why he became an actor and writer, and about the funny, wonderful movies he made with Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and Harrison Ford, among many others. He candidly reveals his failures in love, and writes about the overwhelming experience of marrying comedienne Gilda Radner, as well as what finally had to happen for him to make a true and lasting commitment to another woman.
A thoughtful, revealing, and winsome book about life, love, and the creative process, Kiss Me Like A Stranger is one actor's life in his own words.
About the Author
Gene Wilder has been acting since he was thirteen. After a small role in Bonnie and Clyde pulled him away from a career onstage, he was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Leo Bloom in The Producers, which led to Blazing Saddles and then to another Academy nomination, this time for writing Young Frankenstein. Wilder has appeared in twenty-five feature films and a number of stage productions. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Karen.
Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In this personal book from the star of many beloved and classic film comedies - from The Producers to Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Gene Wilder writes about a side of his life the public hasn't seen on the screen. Kiss Me Like a Stranger is not an autobiography in the usual sense of the word, and it's certainly not another celebrity "tell-all." Instead, Wilder has chosen to write about resonant moments in his life, events that led him to an understanding of the art of acting, and - more important - to an understanding of how to give love to and receive love from a woman." "Wilder writes about the creative process on stage and screen, and divulges moments from life on the sets of some of the most iconic movies of our time." In this book, he talks about everything from his experiences in psychoanalysis to why he got into acting and later comedy (his first goal was to be a Shakespearean actor), and how a Midwestern childhood with a sick mother changed him. Wilder explains why he became an actor and writer, and about the funny, wonderful movies he made with Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and Harrison Ford, among many others. He reveals his failures in love, and writes about the overwhelming experience of marrying comedienne Gilda Radner, as well as what finally had to happen for him to make a true and lasting commitment to another woman.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The man who created some of the funniest moments in film history talks about acting, adultery, neuroses and death in this intimate, unusual memoir. Wilder began acting as a teenager at summer camp and eventually earned some acclaim on Broadway but not much money-he says he was still collecting unemployment checks when he began shooting his breakout film role in Mel Brooks's original film version of The Producers (1968). The movie flopped commercially, but Wilder's comedic chops were established. A string of successes followed: Blazing Saddles; Young Frankenstein; Willy Wonka; Stir Crazy. Off camera, things were more complicated. After two troubled marriages, Wilder married Saturday Night Live's Gilda Radner-a brilliant, erratic woman who battled bulimia and wild mood swings. Wilder is unusually frank in documenting both Radner's faults and her long struggle with cancer. Honesty is a prevailing quality of this book, as Wilder freely discusses topics ranging from his own neuroses to the drug-fueled misbehavior of his great comedic partner, Richard Pryor. He also doesn't avoid telling the details of his own bout with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Wilder's fans may be disappointed to find relatively scant coverage of some of his triumphs, but Wilder clearly isn't interested in writing a conventional Hollywood memoir. His book candidly explores his own faults and feelings, as well as those of the people he's loved and lost. Photos. Agent, David Sarnoff. (Mar. 14) Forecast: Wilder's five-city tour will help market the book to fans, and a timely (if minor) hook is his voice role in the forthcoming comedy Instant Karma. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Twice nominated for Academy Awards in acting and screenwriting, Wilder is a comedic master whose performances in Blazing Saddles, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and The Producers continue to inspire younger actors. And as someone who has worked with Mel Brooks, he can kibbitz with the best of them. In his memoir, he focuses on his work as an artist and his interpersonal relationships, namely four marriages, the most famous of which was with Gilda Radner. Confessional in the literal sense (Jewish guilt factors prominently) as well as the stylistic (much of the narrative is a conversation with his therapist), the story follows a chronological arc, with hilarious and lovely anecdotal reminiscences of such figures as Carol Channing, Zero Mostel, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and Arthur Penn. Wilder often concludes chapters with a daisy chain-like summation, e.g., if-Stanley-Donen-hadn't-rearranged-hi s-schedule-I-wouldn't-have-met-Madeline-Kahn, as if to say everything works out for the best. A wonderful addition to the entertainment memoir Gene pool.-Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
An actor's life, as told in flashback. Gene Wilder is familiar to the American public as the mad scientist in Young Frankenstein and the kooky Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Not so familiar is Jerry Silberman: that is, Gene Wilder himself in his pre-acting days. This "autobiography" is really more about Silberman than Wilder, who uses a rather unusual device to tell Jerry's story: his visits to psychiatrist Margie Waller become a filter for his memories of life as Jerry Silberman. The young Jerry is an introspective boy with a gift for comedy who can make his mother laugh-she has a heart condition, and Jerry tries to relieve any stress that might aggravate it. His early reminiscences seem focused equally on acting and on encounters with the opposite sex, although there's a bizarre little ramble about his compulsion to pray, which is humorous in a pathos-filled way. The acting memories make sense-Wilder entertainingly relates how his early acting experiences formed a foundation for his successful acting career. Surprisingly enough, his tales of sexual liaisons with young women are not played for broad humor but are told in a rather matter-of-fact, straightforward style, with tiny nuggets of humor buried deep. These opening pages set the tone for the rest, where the focus remains on acting and relationships, all told in the same matter-of-fact style, with subtle snippets of humor sprinkled throughout. It's not an autobiography in the usual sense of the word, but it does give the reader an understanding of Jerry Silberman's deliberate transformation into Gene Wilder. Wilder is quite candid about his life, not flinching at all when it comes to sharing intimate details.Especially poignant is the section on his romance with Gilda Radner, the comic actress who became his wife and was to die of cancer (It's Always Something, 1989). Wilder evidently wrote the book himself, and did well; it's an honest, affecting look at his life. Strong, tender, and revealing. Agent: Andrew Hersh/Crystal Sky
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