Gene Wilder Showed That Anxiety Could Be Hilarious—and Tender, Too

Comic madness is wonderful: To watch a character on television or in the movies blow his stack or flip his lid is a kind of safety valve for the stresses of everyday living. But it’s the people who seem accidentally funny who always get us the most, and that was Gene Wilder’s gift. Wilder, who died on Sunday at age 83, hadn’t appeared in a movie or had a major role in television in more than 20 years.