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
Jerome Is the New Black written by series regular John Viener, and directed by Brian Iles before the conclusion of the eighth production season. The episode was produced to introduce a new fourth member to replace Cleveland Brown, after removing him from "Family Guy", in order to create the spin-off series "The Cleveland Show", which is also executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, as well as his voice actor, Mike Henry, and writer Richard Appel. Voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson, who portrayed Jerome in the episode, based the character largely on his role as Rockefeller Butts on the short-lived ABC comedy series "The Knights of Prosperity".