Gene Wilder's Books

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Stories

By: Gene Wilder

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What Is This Thing Called Love?

Stories

By: Gene Wilder

The actor and novelist answers this eternal question twelve ways, in stories that explore our most complicated emotion This is a winning collection from an author writing on his favorite topic: love. Each emotionally involving story illuminates a different kind of love: star-crossed, intense, needy, eternal, unrequited, even comical. Gene Wilder's protagonists will be instantly recognizable to his fans: men and women who stumble into relationships that can fulfill them or knock them out cold. Which one it will be depends, often, on the smallest of gestures or reactions. What Is This Thing Called Love includes the stories: • "In Love for the First Time," about a lover so shy and studious that he's a "funny duck" who has to be led by the hand by his equally inexperienced girlfriend • "About Being in Love," featuring coarse but charming Buddy Silverman, who yearns for connection but looks for it in exactly the wrong kind of woman • "The Woman in the Red Hat," who shows a writer who has only explored love in his books what the real thing feels like.

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Page Count

173

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429934301

ISBN 13

9781429934305

Kiss Me Like A Stranger

My Search for Love and Art

By: Gene Wilder

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Kiss Me Like A Stranger

My Search for Love and Art

By: Gene Wilder

In this personal book from the star of many beloved and classic film comedies -- from The Producers to Young Frankenstein, Blazing saddles to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- Gene Wilder writes about a side of his life the public hasn't seen on the screen. Kiss Me Like a Stranger is not an autobiography in the usual sense of the word, and it's certainly not another celebrity "tell-all." Instead, Wilder has chosen to write about resonant moments in his life, events that led him to an understanding of the art of acting, and -- more important -- to an understanding of how to give love to and receive love from a woman. Wilder writes compellingly about the creative process on stage and screen, and divulges moments from life on the sets of some of the most iconic movies of our time. In this book, he talks about everything from his experiences in psychoanalysis to why he got into acting and later comedy (his first goal was to be a Shakespearean actor), and how a Midwestern childhood with a sick mother changed him. Wilder explains why he became an actor and writer, and about the funny, wonderful movies he made with Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and Harrison Ford, among many others. He candidly reveals his failures in love, and writes about the overwhelming experience of marrying comedienne Gilda Radner, as well as what finally had to happen for him to make a true and lasting commitment to another woman. A thoughtful, revealing, and winsome book about life, love, and the creative process, the New York Times bestseller Kiss Me Like A Stranger is one actor's life in his own words.

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Page Count

256

Publisher

St. Martin's Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429909951

ISBN 13

9781429909952

Some Like It Wilder

The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder

By: Gene D. Phillips

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Some Like It Wilder

The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder

By: Gene D. Phillips

A biography of the six-time Oscar-winning director of films like Some Like It Hot and Double Indemnity, featuring analysis of his work. Although his career spanned fifty years and included more than fifty films, Austrian-American film director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) may be best known for the legendary shot of Marilyn Monroe’s dress billowing over a subway grating in The Seven Year Itch (1955). This “shot seen round the world” is representative not only of Hollywood’s golden era of cinema but also of one of its most prolific and brilliant directors. Wilder, whose filmography includes such classics as Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), and Some Like It Hot (1959), is often remembered for his versatility, biting wit, and passion for challenging social and moral conventions. Author Gene D. Phillips departs from the traditional biography in Some Like It Wilder, offering new insights into the acclaimed director’s professional and private life. In preparation for the book, Phillips conducted personal interviews with Wilder and other key players from the legendary director’s life and times. Phillips’s unique combination of analysis and biographical detail brings Wilder to life, as both an artist and man. Phillips traces Wilder’s path from Berlin, where he worked as a scriptwriter for one of the city’s largest studios, to Hollywood, where he would quickly establish himself as a premier film director. Forming a partnership with writer-producer Charles Brackett, Wilder directed the classic films Five Graves to Cairo (1943), Double Indemnity (1945), and The Lost Weekend (1945), which earned Academy Awards for best picture, best director, and best screenplay. During the 1960s, Wilder continued to direct and produce controversial comedies, including Kiss Me Stupid (1964) and The Apartment (1960). The Apartment brought Wilder another round of Oscars for best picture, best director, and best screenplay. Wilder’s maverick approach and independent artistic vision pushed boundaries and ensured his legacy as one of the Hollywood greats. Sharply written, Some Like It Wilder serves as a comprehensive companion to Wilder’s films, offering a personalized and heartfelt account of the life and genius of this compelling director. Praise for Some Like It Wilder “Featuring Gene D. Phillips’ unique, in-depth critical approach, Some Like It Wilder . . . provides a groundbreaking overview of a filmmaking icon . . . . This definitive biography reveals that Wilder was, and remains, one of the most influential directors in filmmaking.” —Turner Classic Movies “[Phillips] goes beyond the surface and deep into the complex mind and soul of the famous film director . . . . This book is, in my view, definitive.” —Vincent LoBrutto, author of Martin Scorsese: A Biography

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Page Count

468

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813139511

ISBN 13

9780813139517

The Woman Who Wouldn't

A Novel

By: Gene Wilder

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The Woman Who Wouldn't

A Novel

By: Gene Wilder

The beloved actor and screenwriter's second novel, set in 1903, stars a young concert violinist named Jeremy Webb, who one day goes from accomplished adagios with the Cleveland Orchestra to having a complete breakdown on stage. If he hadn't poured a glass of water down the throat of a tuba, maybe he wouldn't have been sent to a health resort in Badenweiler, Germany. But it's in that serene place that Jeremy meets Clara Mulpas, whom he tries his hardest to seduce. Clara is so beautiful that Jeremy finds it impossible to keep from trying to find a chink in her extraordinary reserve and elegance. He finds himself reflexively flirting to get a reaction—after all, a tease and a wink have always worked before, with women back home. But flirting probably isn't the best way to appeal to a woman who was married to a dumb brute and doesn't want to have anything more to do with men. Jeremy isn't sure how to press his case—but he won't give up. Wilder's prose is elegant, spare and affecting. But it's his romantic's eye for the intense emotions that animate a real love story that makes The Woman Who Wouldn't an unforgettable book.

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Page Count

176

Publisher

St. Martin's Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429939710

ISBN 13

9781429939713

My French Whore

By: Gene Wilder

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My French Whore

By: Gene Wilder

Recounts the tale of a midwestern World War I soldier whose capture by German forces prompts him to impersonate a famous German spy and pursue a romantic relationship with a beautiful courtesan.

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Page Count

200

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312377991

ISBN 13

9780312377991

Something to Remember You By

A Perilous Romance

By: Gene Wilder

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Something to Remember You By

A Perilous Romance

By: Gene Wilder

Follows the experiences of a wounded World War II soldier who falls in love with a mysterious Danish woman during his convalescence in London before realizing that she may not be who she claims to be.

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176

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312598912

ISBN 13

9780312598914

Exiles in Hollywood

Major European Film Directors in America

By: Gene D. Phillips

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Exiles in Hollywood

Major European Film Directors in America

By: Gene D. Phillips

The book deals with five European film directors who were forced to remain in exile in the wake of the rise of Hitler and who subsequently enriched the American motion picture industry with a reservoir of new talent that had been nurtured in Europe. The directors treated are Fritz Lang, William Wyler, Otto Preminger, Fred Zinnemann, and Billy Wilder.

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Page Count

640

Publisher

Lehigh University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0934223491

ISBN 13

9780934223492

Creatures of Darkness

Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir

By: Gene D. Phillips

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Creatures of Darkness

Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir

By: Gene D. Phillips

“[An] exhaustively researched survey of Raymond Chandler’s thorny relationship with Hollywood during the classic period of film noir.” —Alain Silver, film producer and author Raymond Chandler’s seven novels, including The Big Sleep (1939) and The Long Goodbye (1953), with their pessimism and grim realism, had a direct influence on the emergence of film noir. Chandler worked to give his crime novels the flavor of his adopted city, Los Angeles, which was still something of a frontier town, rife with corruption and lawlessness. In addition to novels, Chandler wrote short stories and penned the screenplays for several films, including Double Indemnity (1944) and Strangers on a Train (1951). His work with Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock on these projects was fraught with the difficulties of collaboration between established directors and an author who disliked having to edit his writing on demand. Creatures of Darkness is the first major biocritical study of Chandler in twenty years. Gene Phillips explores Chandler’s unpublished script for Lady in the Lake, examines the process of adaptation of the novel Strangers on a Train, discusses the merits of the unproduced screenplay for Playback, and compares Howard Hawks’s director’s cut of The Big Sleep with the version shown in theaters. Through interviews he conducted with Wilder, Hitchcock, Hawks, and Edward Dmytryk over the past several decades, Phillips provides deeper insight into Chandler’s sometimes difficult personality. Chandler’s wisecracking private eye, Philip Marlowe, has spawned a thousand imitations. Creatures of Darkness lucidly explains the author’s dramatic impact on both the literary and cinematic worlds, demonstrating the immeasurable debt that both detective fiction and the neo-noir films of today owe to Chandler’s stark vision.

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Page Count

341

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813160014

ISBN 13

9780813160016

Reparations for Slavery and Disenfranchisement to African Americans: Four Hundred Years

By: Gene A. Brown

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Reparations for Slavery and Disenfranchisement to African Americans: Four Hundred Years

By: Gene A. Brown

A DYNAMIC BOOK, by Teacher, Entrepreneur, and Author, GENE A.BROWN, has taken the forum of “Reparations for Slavery and Disenfranchisement” to a new height. The Magnitude and duration of this catastrophic event which extended over four centuries, from the Middle Passage Voyages, to the late 19th century. He has, painstakingly, researched the evils of the institution of slavery, and deemed it to be the most heinous of crimes against humanity that the World has ever assessed. This epic revelation unveils the panoramic details and accountability for the ills and effects of slavery. The climatic apex of the book presents the remedies for the Litigation, Payments, Restitution, and Compensation to African Americans for Slave Labor and Bondage for nearly four centuries. The terms of litigation are modeled after the Jewish Holocaust litigation and compensation Decree, and victims who were compensated for “free, forced labor and property” in concentration camps across Europe, and those who were compensated in the Nuremburg Litigation Decree; to the Japanese Americans, who were encamped during World War II, and who were paid with cash payments and letters of apology from President G. H. W. Bush, and, finally, to Native Americans who were compensated with huge cash payments during the 1970s and 1980s. African Americans, to date, have received No Compensations. The last chapter, A MODEST PROPOSAL, presents an outline for the mathematical configuration for the amounts and terms of litigation to African Americans for the plurality of slavery. Proof is provided for the sanctioning of over a dozen European Countries, and the United States for such Reparations, collectively. Particularly, from those countries who were abundantly enriched, and who were the beneficiaries of such enrichment from slave labor.

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Page Count

188

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1450080723

ISBN 13

9781450080729

Out of the Shadows

Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir

By: Gene D. Phillips

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Out of the Shadows

Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir

By: Gene D. Phillips

Film noir was a cycle in American cinema which first came into prominence during World War II, peaked in the 1950s, and began to taper off as a definable trend by 1960. Over the years, a group of films from the period emerged as noir standards, beginning with Stranger on the Third Floor in 1940. However, since film noir is too wide-ranging, it cannot be kept within the narrow limits of the official canon that has been established by film historians. Consequently, several neglected movies made during the classic noir period need to be re-evaluated as noir films. In Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir, Gene Phillips provides an in-depth examination of several key noir films, including acknowledged masterpieces like Laura, The Maltese Falcon, Sunset Boulevard, and Touch of Evil, as well as films not often associated with film noir like Spellbound, A Double Life, and Anatomy of a Murder. Phillips also examines overlooked or underappreciated films such as Song of the Thin Man, The Glass Key, Ministry of Fear, and Act of Violence. Also considered in this reevaluation are significant neo-noir films, among them Chinatown, Hammett, L.A. Confidential, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. In his analyses, Phillips draws upon a number of sources, including personal interviews with directors and others connected with their productions, screenplays, and evaluations of other commentators. Out of the Shadows explores not only the most celebrated noir films but offers new insight into underrated films that deserve reconsideration. Of interest to film historians and scholars, this volume will also appeal to anyone who wants a better understanding of the works that represent this unique cycle in American filmmaking.

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Page Count

323

Publisher

Scarecrow Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810881896

ISBN 13

9780810881891

The Woman Who Wouldn't

By: Gene Wilder

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The Woman Who Wouldn't

By: Gene Wilder

The beloved actor and screenwriter’s second novel, set in 1903, stars a young concert violinist named Jeremy Webb, who one day goes from accomplished adagios with the Cleveland Orchestra to having a complete breakdown on stage. If he hadn’t poured a glass of water down the throat of a tuba, maybe he wouldn’t have been sent to a health resort in Badenweiler, Germany. But it’s in that serene place that Jeremy meets Clara Mulpas, whom he tries his hardest to seduce. Clara is so beautiful that Jeremy finds it impossible to keep from trying to find a chink in her extraordinary reserve and elegance. He finds himself reflexively flirting to get a reaction—after all, a tease and a wink have always worked before, with women back home. But flirting probably isn’t the best way to appeal to a woman who was married to a dumb brute and doesn’t want to have anything more to do with men. Jeremy isn’t sure how to press his case—but he won’t give up. Wilder’s prose is elegant, spare and affecting. But it’s his romantic’s eye for the intense emotions that animate a real love story that makes The Woman Who Wouldn’t an unforgettable book.

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Page Count

176

Publisher

St. Martin's Griffin

Published Date

ISBN 10

031254149X

ISBN 13

9780312541491

My French Whore

By: Gene Wilder

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My French Whore

By: Gene Wilder

Paul Peachy, a private serving in the trenches of World War I France, is called upon to interrogate the infamous German spy Harry Stroller. The following day, Peachy is captured by the enemy and, in desperation, decides to impersonate Stroller. However, he is always aware that discovery must be around the corner.

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176

Published Date

ISBN 10

1847821405

ISBN 13

9781847821409

Some Like It Wilder

The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder

By: Gene D. Phillips

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Some Like It Wilder

The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder

By: Gene D. Phillips

One of the most accomplished writers and directors of classic Hollywood, Billy Wilder (1906–2002) directed numerous acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), and Some Like It Hot (1959). Featuring Gene D. Phillips's unique, in-depth critical approach, Some Like It Wilder: The Life and Controversial Films of Billy Wilder provides a groundbreaking overview of a filmmaking icon. Wilder began his career as a screenwriter in Berlin but, because of his Jewish heritage, sought refuge in America when Germany came under Nazi control. Making fast connections in Hollywood, Wilder immediately made the jump from screenwriter to director. His classic films Five Graves to Cairo (1943), Double Indemnity (1945), and The Lost Weekend (1945) earned Academy Awards for best picture, director, and screenplay. During the 1960s, Wilder continued to direct and produce controversial comedies, including Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) and The Apartment (1960), which won Oscars for best picture and director. This definitive biography reveals that Wilder was, and remains, one of the most influential directors in filmmaking.

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Page Count

493

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813173671

ISBN 13

9780813173672

Book's by Gene Wilder

What Is This Thing Called Love?

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Kiss Me Like A Stranger

Kiss Me Like A Stranger

Some Like It Wilder

Some Like It Wilder

The Woman Who Wouldn't

The Woman Who Wouldn't

My French Whore

My French Whore

Something to Remember You By

Something to Remember You By

Exiles in Hollywood

Exiles in Hollywood

Creatures of Darkness

Creatures of Darkness

Reparations for Slavery and Disenfranchisement to African Americans: Four Hundred Years

Reparations for Slavery and Disenfranchisement to African Americans: Four Hundred Years

Out of the Shadows

Out of the Shadows

The Woman Who Wouldn't

The Woman Who Wouldn't

My French Whore

My French Whore

Some Like It Wilder

Some Like It Wilder

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