nprfreshair: In This 2005 Interview, Gene Wilder Explains How He Learned To Get Laughs When Gene Wilder was 8 years old, his mother had a heart attack — and he took it upon himself to try to cheer her up. “It was the first time I ever tried consciously to make someone else laugh,” Wilder said. “And when I was successful, after peeing in her pants, she’d say, ‘Oh, Jerry, now look what you’ve made me do.’ ” Wilder — who was born Jerome Silberman — went on to become a comic actor whose film credits included Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory and The Producers and Blazing Saddles. He died Monday of complications related to Alzheimer’s. In a 2005 interview with Fresh Air, Wilder said that those moments with his mother sustained him throughout his career. “When your mother gives you confidence about anything that you do, you carry that confidence with you,” he told Terry Gross. “She made me believe that I could make someone laugh.” Today, we’ll listen back to Wilder’s 2005 Fresh Air interview. Photo: Art Selby & Al Levine/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images – Gatlinburg Garden Castle Rainbow Tower Library Imagination Station Temple Water Spirit Guardian Labyrinth Treasury Magic Healing