Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder teamed as director and star on a trio of iconic comedy films in their career, in a collaboration that began with 1967’s The Producers, then a pair of classics amazingly in the same year: 1974’s Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, the second of which the two co-wrote.
Brooks tweeted a statement today after Wilder died at age 83:
Wilder starred as Leo Bloom opposite Zero Mostel in The Producers , which landed him a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in 1969. He also was Oscar co-nommed with Brooks for the Young Frankenstein script. (Wilder was also credited on Brooks’ 2007 Broadway musical version of Young Frankenstein.)
