Questions appropriated from a CNN interview with Gene Wilder by Larry King on Larry King Live, aired on May 2, 2002.


Answers - circa 2011.

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, a rare interview with Gene Wilder. He lost his beloved wife Gilda Radner to cancer, and then he got cancer too. Find out how one of Hollywood's funniest stars survived some very sad times. Gene Wilder, getting personal, next on LARRY KING LIVE.

It is a joy for me to welcome tonight's guest because I've been looking forward to this for a long time. We don't see him often enough, the brilliant actor/writer/director, one of my favorite folk on the planet, Gene Wilder. What an honor, thank you so much.

SARAH: He's one of my favorites too

KING: Thank you. What is the state of your health? You were diagnosed, they tell me, with lymphoma in '99; had chemotherapy; declared in remission; and then underwent some stem cell. What's the whole story?

SARAH: No – actually, that hasn’t happened. So far, I’m OK.

KING: It's not. It's a career show.

SARAH: That sucks about Gene Wilder though. And Gilda Radner.

KING: Explaining it to you.

SARAH: Yes, you explained it. Was that a sentence?

KING: And that was when?

SARAH: Just then – you introduced this piece and explained that Gene Wilder had cancer and Gilda Rander died.

KING: You look great.

SARAH: Oh. Thanks.

KING: Will it not come back?

SARAH: What? What am I missing?

KING: Now, the stem cells went where? What do they do with them? Do they inject them? What do they do?

SARAH: I didn’t know that’s how stem cells work. I thought they grew things with them, or testing treatments on them and such.

KING: You're not going to stay on the medicine because ...

SARAH: I am on medicine. I think I have jock itch on my ankle.

KING: Loose your hair?

SARAH:  “Loose”? Or lose? Actually, my hair is doing quite well. I started taking silica about a year ago to try and strengthen my nails and it’s helping my hair too. My nails used to break off every time I painted them.

KING: Did it wipe you out too? Get tired?

SARAH: No, not really.

KING: Now you'd lived with this when Gilda, your lovely wife, passed away. Had to come to with the -- how did you learn she had cancer?

SARAH: Man, this is a hard one. How do you make light of Gene Wilder’s cancer and the loss of his wife? I love both of those guys as comedians.

KING: And that's the death certificate?

SARAH: He brought the death certificate with him to a Larry King interview?

KING: How did you handle that?

SARAH: I think I just meant to say that with a little bit of disbelief.

KING: What happened three weeks before?

SARAH: Three weeks ago I was in the midst of my school quarter, back in Venice, reading a lot. I think I went to the art museum that weekend.

KING: Were the two of you funny? I mean you're so funny.

SARAH: You’re kind of funny too. You mean me and who? Paul?

KING: You're an actor who does funny things.

SARAH: No, I’m not really an actor. I was just talking about that last night with Paul, though. I really enjoyed the acting classes I’ve taken during my life. I said to him that whenever I retire, it’s going to be community theater all the way with me.

KING: How did you meet?

SARAH: We met at a Christmas party at the Pacific Design Center. We’d both been invited by people named Peter – two different Peters.

KING: Our guest is the brilliant Gene Wilder. What a career we should talk about. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HANKY PANKY")

WILDER: Where are we?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, this way, come on, this way. I've got a car a couple of blocks away.

Act normal.

WILDER: I got to get some clothes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HAUNTED HONEYMOON")

WILDER: Sorry, honey. Oh, I see you've already met.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Fester (ph), the family butler.

WILDER: Yes! And I'm that little boy you used to bathe and tuck into bed and bring warm milk and cookies too, just before you kissed me good night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I have your name, please?

WILDER: My name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he kidding?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come in, Mr. Kidding, I'll take your bags.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This is Gilda Radner writing of her first meeting with Mr. Wilder. "My heart fluttered. I was hooked. He was funny and athletic and handsome. He smelled good. I was smitten with love." But she was married at the time and Gene had been married and divorced and in no big hurry to get hitched again. Gilda got a divorce. She and Gene lived together on-and-off for about two-and-a-half years. It became her career to get you to marry her. Why did she have to work at that?

SARAH: They are so sweet. He’s so great. I love Gene Wilder. That's nice to know he smells good.

KING: Dependence.

SARAH: Dependence?

KING: You have found love again, right? You are happily married, right?

SARAH: Not married, but very much in love.

KING: How did you meet her? Because you were really down after Gilda's death. You took it very badly, as I remember. Right?

SARAH: I never met Gilda Radner. I had a friend in second grade you did a really good impression of her, though.

KING: Right?

SARAH: Yeah, really.

KING: Blind and deaf.

SARAH: No, she wasn’t. She could see and hear.

KING: Are you in love yet?

SARAH: I told you. Yes.

KING: With her.

SARAH: No. With Paul.

KING: You were attracted.

SARAH: To Gilda Radner? No. Nope.

KING: And Gilda still has a special place, though, right? They just aired a special about it the other night.

SARAH: They did? Yes. She’s very special.

KING: Gilda will always have a special place.

SARAH: Definitely.

KING: Karen understand that?

SARAH: Karen the squirrel?

KING: Do you have children.

SARAH: That’s written like a statement. Did you mean it to be a question? If so, no.

KING: How old was she?

SARAH: Who, now?

KING: Have you used humor well all your life? Does it work for you?

SARAH: Oh, yeah. Definitely.

KING: Yes, when you're down.

SARAH: Sometimes. Sometimes when I’m down it’s too hard to find the funny, you know?

KING: Professionally, we're going to get to that.

SARAH: Do you think?

KING: You write funny.

SARAH: Thanks.

KING: You do?

SARAH: What?

KING: Are you a neurotic?

SARAH: Are you?

KING: Now, you play the classic neurotic, Mr. Bloom ...

SARAH: You want me to act out the part of Mr. Bloom? I don’t know the lines.

KING: In "The Producers" with Zero Mostel, "Byalistock and Bloom" that's just now become the rip-roaring hit on Broadway, and now there's different stars in it now, et cetera. Did you have any idea that that would become the classic it became?

SARAH: I LOVE Zero Mostel. He’s great. I had no idea it would get so big on Broadway.

KING: I'll ask about you and Mel Brooks in a minute. Gene Wilder's our guest. Hey, can't go wrong. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL")

WILDER: Jesus, I heard something. I heard your voice!

RICHARD PRYOR, ACTOR: You heard me!

WILDER: Wally, I heard your voice!

PRYOR: You can hear me, Dave.

WILDER: What?

PRYOR: You can hear me!

WILDER: No! Schmack! I'm deaf! Now you get it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE PRODUCERS")

WILDER: You're going to jump on me! You're going to jump on me! I know you're going to jump on me! Like (UNINTELLIGIBLE) jumped on Pompea!

ZERO MOSTEL, ACTOR: Who?

WILDER: Pompea! She was his wife, and she was unfaithful to him. So he got mad and he jumped on her, up and down, up and down, until he squashed her like a bug! Please don't jump on me!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How did you meet Mel Brooks?

SARAH: I wish I had met Mel Brooks. I guess there's still the chance - he's alive.

KING: What was the first thing he cast you in?

SARAH: I wish!

KING: You did Cuckoo's Nest?

SARAH: What’s that one? I haven’t seen it.

KING: How did you feel when you went to see the Broadway show?

SARAH: You mean, The Producers? I actually saw it in Los Angeles, not Broadway. It was pretty fun.

KING: How did it feel to see, for the first time ever, someone else do this nervous, crazy accountant?

SARAH: They were no Gene Wilder.

KING: He truly screams.

SARAH: He does, doesn’t he? That’s a funny part.

KING: Who came up with the little blanket that Bloom carries?

SARAH: Trivia! Oooh, I don’t know. Who?

KING: Now, which came first, "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein?"

SARAH: More trivia! I’m going to guess “Blazing Saddles”?

KING: Did you like that right away?

SARAH: I did. But you didn't tell me who came up with the blanket.

KING: That was a great character, the "Blazing Saddles" guy. And you worked great off the whole cast. Why did that work so well? It was crazy with the passing wind and the hitting of the horse. (One played by Howard Johnson, somebody played lines everywhere) (ph)

SARAH: What’s the “(ph)” mean?

KING: They come into town, rape our castle -- they rape our cattle, plus all our women.

SARAH: “Castle”? Was that a typo or a Freudian slip? Or was that in the film?

KING: Buys raisinettes.

SARAH: I like them.

KING: It sure was.

SARAH: OK, this is going on sort of long. I think we should wrap it up.

KING: Do you always ride a horse?

SARAH: No. Listen, it’s been great talking to you, Larry.

KING: You rode pretty good.

SARAH: When I was young, yes. I took lessons. OK. I’m going to take off.

KING: Oh, "The Woman in Red" and "Frisco Kid." We'll talk about "Young Frankenstein" too. Gene Wilder is our guest. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BLAZING SADDLES")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I said, on the count of three. One, two, three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STIR CRAZY")

PRYOR: That's right, that's right, we're bad. That's right. Don't want no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) either.

WILDER: We don't want no (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I'm reminded by our crack staff, you were once the hottest male property in Hollywood. Correct? You were the highest paid movie actor. You broke box office records. You had a string of hits.

SARAH:

KING: How did you handle all that? How did your ego deal with all of that?

SARAH:

KING: But you don't love ...

SARAH:

KING: That's what you don't like.

SARAH:

KING: Therefore, being the number one box office one year meant nothing to you?

SARAH:

KING: No, but it still happened.

SARAH: