Wilder: 'Mistakes' led to success

STAMFORD, Conn. — It's ironic how life's mistakes can end up paving the way for its greatest joys.

Take actor, writer, director Gene Wilder, for example. He recently reflected, along with his wife, Karen Wilder, about how some odd turns in his life, particularly some early miscast roles, opened doors that might otherwise have remained closed.

"I don't believe in fate," he says by telephone from his longtime Stamford home.

"Ohhh, yes you do," chimes in Karen, who's part of the conversation on another extension.

"Well, I believe in fate as far as how I found you," he replies, "but so many of the things that have happened to me were all mistakes, little ironies that came about.

"I was married at a very young age to the very wrong woman who got a part in an off-Broadway play called 'Roots,' " he says.

Although he hadn't acted in New York, Wilder asked his new wife to help him get an audition for a part in the play. He got his wish and was cast — even though the role was wrong for him, he says.

While performing this miscast part, however, good things happened. The exposure got him seen by the man who became his agent and then he landed a role in "The Complaisant Lover" on Broadway, for which he won the Clar-ence Derwent Award for best supporting performance.

But then came the biggest miscasting — and break — of all, he says, in Broadway's "Mother Courage and Her Children" in 1963.

The director brought him in for six readings. "He liked me so much that he cast me as one of the leading roles" even though, Wilder says, he really wasn't right for the part.

The play starred Anne Bancroft, who was dating Mel Brooks, and the relationship Wilder developed with Brooks led to collaborations that helped put him on the map: "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein."

After the success of these films — Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor for "The Producers" (1968) and for screen-writing for "Young Frankenstein" (1974) — Wilder branched out, making his directorial debut in 1975's "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother," in which he also starred.

It's this movie that was featured this week as the finale to the third annual "Wilder's Picks" series at Stamford's Avon Theatre.

This year's series included the Humphrey Bogart film "Key Largo" as well as the Dutch film "Soldier of Orange," which tells the story of a group of students and friends in The Netherlands who make decisions that lead to different roles and consequences during World War II.

Adam Birnbaum, director of film programming at The Avon, says he's amazed by the movies Wilder chooses and that the three-part series ends each year with one of Wilder's own films.

The Wilders watch a lot of movies. Because Gene is a member of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences, he must watch more than 50 films every year to vote for the Oscars.

"Karen and I watch a film a night when that comes in, so we do see a lot of movies," he says. "But going out to a movie, that's another subject. We go to the Avon as our first choice because we love what they're doing. The films are always interesting there and also, the popcorn is wonderful. Although it's not as good as my wife's popcorn."

Wilder, who got his first film role in "Bonnie and Clyde," has starred in films as varied as "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" and Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)."

He's written screenplays and books, including his memoir, "Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art," which details his life with Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989, as well as his victory over non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He branched into fiction in 2007, and recently turned in a revised final version of his newest book — related short stories called "What is This Thing Called Love?" — to his publisher.

"No, I got cured of that," he says when asked if he'll do more movies or television roles. These days, writing is his passion. And what is he doing when he's not writing? "Writing," he says.

"He plays golf occasionally," Karen adds.

"I got rewarded, you see," Gene says. "I had a stem cell transplant and I survived. I found the love of my life. We're married for 17 years.

"I'm happy and I write and I kiss my wife a lot and I don't have any complaints. I did throw some mustard out today because I thought it was too old."