Gene Wilder listening to one of his favorite songs, a rendition of "Over the Rainbow" sung by Ella Fitzgerald. 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
I Should Have Known Better scene of "A Hard Day's Night". It was in fact filmed in a van, with crew members rocking the vehicle to fake the action of a train in motion. Paul McCartney is seen lip-syncing in the song in both the train scene and in the live performance at the end of the film, despite not singing in the actual recording. I Should Have Known Better "I Should Have Known Better" is a song by English rock band the Beatles composed by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), and originally issued on "A Hard Day's Night", their soundtrack for the film of