Tributes flood in to the 'magic' Gene Wilder: Legendary actor, 83, who delighted the world as Willy Wonka and always had a twinkle in his eye, dies after a secret battle with Alzheimer's

The legendary film actor Gene Wilder has died, his family announced Monday. Wilder's nephew said 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'.