Karen Boyer and Gene Wilder.Photo:Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Gene Wilder’s widow is recalling some of the actor’s final moments.
In the new documentaryRemembering Gene Wilder, Karen Boyer, who was married to theYoung Frankensteinstar from 1991 until his death at 83 in 2016, shares her experience with Wilder in the years between his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease and his final days.
“He hadn’t walked alone [in a long time] and it was just a few days before he died, and I looked up and he was walking across the kitchen and then he said, ‘I want to go swimming,’ " Boyer, who was Wilder’s fourth wife, says in the documentary. “He dove into the pool liked he used to — I saw his little tush in the air — and I was awestruck.”
“And he took two strokes, he stood up, shook his head the way he always did to get the water out of his ear and said, ‘That’s good,’ " she recalled. “Went back to bed, and I think he just wanted to get in the pool one more time.”
Boyer also recalls in the documentary that the final words she heard Wilder speak came while the couple listened to Ella Fitzgerald’s classic song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Remembering Gene Wilder poster.Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber
“The music was playing in the background — Ella Fitzgerald was singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ and I was lying next to him and he sat up in bed and he said, ‘I trust you,’ " she said. “And then he said, ‘I love you.’ That’s the last thing he said.”
Wilder was renowned for his lengthy career on the stage and screen; he memorably starred in classic movies likeThe Prouders(1967),Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory(1971),Blazing Saddles(1974) andYoung Frankenstein(1974), among dozens of other roles.
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Karen Boyer and Gene Wilder.Ron Asadorian / Splash News
Ron Asadorian / Splash News
He first met Boyer, who worked as a speech consultant, while he conducted research for his 1989 movieSee No Evil, Hear No Evil.The pair did not go on a first date for over a year after their original meeting. Wilder and Boyer’s relationship came after his third wife, comedian and actressGilda Radner, died at 42 in 1989 of ovarian cancer.
“Gene was wonderful; he was the best husband I think anybody could ask for. To love and be loved is the best gift anybody could ask for, and we had that,” Boyer says in the documentary.
Karen Boyer and Gene Wilder on Sept. 8, 2008.Nick Laham/Getty
Nick Laham/Getty
Boyer additionally shares in the film that she first noticed Wilder’s memory troubles when he struggled to remember the title ofYoung Frankenstein, which she calls “his favorite movie” in the documentary.
source: people.com
