NewGene Wilder, beloved star of ‘Willy Wonka’ and ‘Blazing Saddles’, dies at 83

Gene Wilder, who delighted audiences with his comic turns in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” and the Mel Brooks classics including “Blazing Saddles” and “The Producers,” died Monday at age 83, Variety magazine reported.

The weekly film industry journal quoted his nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman as saying the actor died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Connecticut.

His agent said he could not immediately confirm the report.

Wilder, whose third wife Gilda Radner died of ovarian cancer, was treated for lymphoma in 2000.

He was acclaimed for his turn as The Waco Kid in Brooks’s third film, the spoof Western and box office smash “Blazing Saddles.”