Gene Wilder, the star of such comedy classics as ``Young Frankenstein'' and ``Blazing Saddles,'' has died. He was 83.
Wilder's nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday in Stamford, Connecticut from complications from Alzheimer's disease.
The frizzy-haired actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Mel Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in ``Young Frankenstein'' or bilking Broadway in ``The Producers.''
But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy sheriff in ``Blazing Saddles'' and as the charming candy man in the children's favorite ``Willy Wonka the Chocolate Factory.''