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“TIME,” GENE WILDER tells the children in the Chocolate Factory, “is a precious thing. Never waste it.”
Wilder was playing his most famous role, as Willy Wonka, when he delivered the line, yet his celebrated career, which ended this week, suggested it was his personal credo.
From the Producers in 1967, to Willy Wonka in 1971, Blazing Saddles in 1974 and Stir Crazy in 1980, Wilder starred in dozens of movies, tv shows and plays.
Yet his fourth film has proved legendary with Irish audiences.
Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx was partly set in Dublin, and featured a young Wilder doing his best stage Irishman impression.
The film concerns a humble manure collector, the eponymous Quackser Fortune, who falls in love with a wealthy American student who visits Dublin.
Scenes were filmed in Trinity College Dublin and John Kavanagh’s pub in Dublin 7, also known as The Gravediggers, as well as near the Pepper Cannister Church in Dublin’s south Georgian quarter.
Wilder almost adopted a poor Dublin child he met on the scene, with the Irish Government’s approval.
Pay scale
It also featured a brief cameo for a young David Davin-Power, now RTÉ’s political correspondent.
“I had a very very small in Quackser which, as you know, was a movie that brought whimsy to new levels,” Davin-Power told RTÉ Radio 1 this week.
I was an extra, and because I had very long hair and looked like a student, I was called upon to direct Gene Wilder to where this young lady’s quarters were.So I actually had a speaking part in this, I said ‘she went that way’.
Unfortunately, the film producers discovered Davin-Power would need to be on a different pay scale if his voice was recorded too, so he was dubbed out of it.
ddp / Twitter
ddp / Twitter / Twitter
Thorough gentleman
“So there you are,” he said.
It was nanosecond of the movie, Gene Wilder tricks his way past a security guard, into Trinity, runs across the front square, meets this hairy student who says ‘she went that way’, and that was it.
“Well I tell you, it made me an absolute aristocrat among all the other extras, because in fairness to Gene Wilder he was a thorough gentleman, and we worked on the movie for two or three weeks, and he always greeted me by name.
“So to have the star of the movie saying to you ‘how are you doing this morning, David’ – people were looking at me with their eyes out on stalks.
Davin-Power wasn’t the only Irish actor to remember their role in the film this week.
“I had about two nanoseconds in the movie,” said Helen Jordan, who was a dancer in the Trinity Boat Club party scene.
“I worked as a dancer, I was in the scene with Gene and Margot [Kidder], where they were dancing at the Trinity Ball.
God, they were gorgeous. But they fell madly in love, did you know that? On the set.
“On that movie, they were madly in love. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other in all the breaks,” Jordan added.
Jordan said Margot approached her for a dancing tutorial for a scene.
“So, she said: ‘I was wondering would you hang on, for an hour or two, I’ll make sure you’re well paid, and teach me a few moves so I’m more comfortable in this scene.
“But I couldn’t because I was doing a gig that night in Cleary’s ballroom, I was singing with a band!
And I had to be on stage at 9pm, and the coaching was at 8pm, so I had to say ‘very sorry Margot, but I can’t’.
But Jordan had no regrets of forgoing her chance to become dancing teacher to the stars.
“She went on to be Lois Lane.
“But you have to [stand by your gig], if you’re committed to the gig, you’re committed and nothing stands in your way.”
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Considering Wilder and Depp’s Wonka, I think Wilder gets the Golden Ticket, (no disrespect to Depp’s genius).
Wouldn’t be the first time Irish kids were sold with govt approval…
The child that Wilder tried to adopt is now in his fifties and has a family of his own. When he was contacted last week he didn’t want to come forward publicly. Understandable, as I’m sure he would have quite conflicted feelings knowing that his mother wanted to sell him, albeit for his own good, to a complete stranger.
Wonder where that child is now.
Quite moving that his mother was willing to give him up for adoption to give him a better chance in life in Amerikay.
Proper order that the the government insisted that he be raised Catholic and important to remember also that the Church in Ireland facilitated better lives in America for many children during that era.
To be honest I know there are criticism of the Church from some quarters today but let’s be honest here I think we can all agree that Irish society back then would have been a far harsher and less tolerant place without the civilizing influence of Rome.
Amen!
Gene Wilder – Harry Corbett.
Strong similarity.
What have the Romans ever done for us?!
“To be honest I know there are criticism of the Church from some quarters today but let’s be honest here I think we can all agree that Irish society back then would have been a far harsher and less tolerant place without the civilizing influence of Rome.”
Religious Stockholm Syndrome!
“facilitated better lives in America for many children during that era” that’s a very whitewashed, flattering description of selling children.
Is this guy for real, the civilizing influence of the church in Rome allowed the rape and cover up of children by priests for decades,and you have the neck to come on here and praise them for it,you might like to think people have short memories and have forgotten what they did,lets be clear on one thing,they were paedophile child molesters and used their church positions to gain access to children for sexual gratification,you moron.
He’s not for real. He is clearly trolling or being sarcastic….im not sure which.
Lol spanner. Missed the Monty ref altogether. Different time
David Davin-Power “had a very very small” what?!
scrumdiddlyumptious ??
Lois Lane….
Was she not Lana Lang???
@Paul Maher: Don’t kid a Kidder!
have your say