The late Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder had a special kind of love.
The “Saturday Night Live” star and “Willy Wonka” actor met on the set of 1982’s “Hanky Panky,” directed by Sidney Poitier. After marrying in 1984, Radner and Wilder were attached at the hip.
The two’s marriage was cut tragically short when Radner died from ovarian cancer five years later. Wilder maintained that his wife had a wonderful sense of humor up until her death, telling People that she would shout at her cancer cells as her classic “SNL” character, Roseanne Roseannadanna, saying, “Hey, what are you trying to do in here? Make me sick?’’
While remembering his late wife in a personal essay for the magazine years ago, Wilder said that her untimely death still affected him.
“If I need to cry or think a little bit, I’ll go over to the cemetery where she is buried to make sure the tree our friends planted is doing well and the grounds are kept up,” the actor said. “I think one of the things that would make Gilda happiest is if Sparkle, her Yorkshire terrier, pee-peed right on top of her grave. One for Mama. She’d laugh.”
Wilder died late Sunday at age 83 due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
In honor of the Hollywood funny couple, take a look back at some of their sweetest moments together:
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