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Mel Brooks mourns Gene Wilder on 'Tonight Show': 'It's a big shock'

By Wade Sheridan
Gene Wilder (L) alongside Mel Brooks during the opening night curtain call bows for the Broadway musical "Young Frankenstein" on November 8, 2007. Brooks spoke about his relationship with Wilder days after the comedian's death on "The Tonight Show." File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI
1 of 2 | Gene Wilder (L) alongside Mel Brooks during the opening night curtain call bows for the Broadway musical "Young Frankenstein" on November 8, 2007. Brooks spoke about his relationship with Wilder days after the comedian's death on "The Tonight Show." File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Mel Brooks paid tribute to Gene Wilder Tuesday on The Tonight Show, days after the iconic comedians his death.

"He was sick, and I knew it," Brooks explained to host Jimmy Fallon.

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"And he was such a dear friend. I expected that he would go, but when it happens, it's still tremendous. It's a big shock. I'm still reeling from ... no more Gene. I can't call him. He was such a wonderful part of my life," he continued.

Brooks collaborated with Wilder as director in several comedy classics including The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein.

Fallon then asked the filmmaker about the first time he met Wilder. "I met him when my late wife Anne Bancroft was doing Mother Courage, a Bertolt Brecht play, and Gene was in it," he said.

"He was the chaplain. He came backstage, and I got to know him a little bit. The chaplain is a great part – it's sad and funny. It's touching, and it can be amusing. So he said, 'Why are they always laughing at me?' I said, 'Look in the mirror – blame it on God,'" the story continued.

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Brooks also shared a touching story of how he told Wilder that he would be starring in The Producers after the film got financed. "I took the script, and I said, 'Gene, we got the money. We're gonna make the movie. You are Leo Bloom.' And I threw it on his make-up table. And he burst into tears and held his face and cried. And then I hugged him. It was a wonderful moment."

Wilder died at his Connecticut home Monday at the age of 83 as a result of Alzheimer's Disease.

"We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones," nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement at the time. "This illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality."

Outside of Brooks' films, Wilder is best known for his role as candy maker Willy Wonka in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

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