Gene Wilder Gene Wilder Jerome Silberman (June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016), known professionally as Gene Wilder, was an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, singer-songwriter and author. Wilder began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in an episode of the TV series "The Play of the Week" in 1961. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture "Bonnie and Clyde", Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film "The Producers" for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This was the first in
Laurence Silberman in perpetrating the Iran-Contra Affair. In his memoir, "Firewall", published seven years after the case in 1997, Lawrence Walsh, the Independent Counsel appointed by President Reagan to investigate the Iran-Contra affair, mused that in retrospect, he wishes that he had moved for Silberman's recusal from the panel: Silberman has also observed that David Brock, latterly a Silberman critic (see below), has published a refutation of Lawrence Walsh's characterization of Judge Silberman's involvement in the North case: In his book "Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative", David Brock dedicates several pages to criticizing Silberman. In 2006, Silberman responded