Includes Certificate of Authenticity
Personally signed by Gene Wilder, one of the great comic actors who defined the movies in the 1970s and 1980s.
SIGNED FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING W/COA.
New York, St. Martins Press (March 2010). Gene Wilder "What Is This Thing Called Love" Signed First Edition, First Printing. Personally signed by Gene Wilder directly onto the title page of the book. Hardcover book with original unclipped dust-jacket. Bookseller issued COA. Fine/Fine without any flaws.
Gene Wilder (1933-2016) began acting when he was thirteen and writing for the screen in the early 1970s. After a small role in "Bonnie and Clyde" pulled him away from a career onstage, he was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Leo Bloom in "The Producers", which led to "Blazing Saddles" and then to another Academy nomination, this time for writing "Young Frankenstein". Wilder appeared in twenty-five feature films and a number of stage productions. His first book, about his own life, was Kiss Me Like A Stranger. It was followed by the novels My French Whore, The Woman Who Wouldn’t, and Something to Remember You By and a book of stories, What Is This Thing Called Love?.
The beloved actor and screenwriter Gene Wilder's first novel, My French Whore, set during World War I, delicately and elegantly explores a most unusual romance. It's almost the end of the war and Paul Peachy, a young railway employee and amateur actor in Milwaukee, realizes his marriage is one-sided. He enlists, and ships off to France. Peachy instantly realizes how out of his depth he is―and never more so than when he is captured. Risking everything, Peachy―who as a child of immigrants speaks German―makes the reckless decision to impersonate one of the enemy's most famous spies.
As the urbane and accomplished spy Harry Stroller, Peachy has access to a world he could never have known existed―a world of sumptuous living, world-weary men, and available women. But when one of those women―Annie, a young, beautiful and wary courtesan―turns out to be more than she seems, Peachy's life is transformed forever.
What Is This Thing Called Love
For a romantic, it's life's ultimate question: What is This Thing Called Love? Actor and novelist Gene Wilder explores twelve possible answers in this emotionally involving book about different kinds of love: star-crossed, intense, needy, eternal, unrequited and even comical. With delicacy of feeling and a simple style that adds to the power of his fiction, Wilder creates memorable lovers and silly suitors, unexpected attraction and careful courting. What is This Thing Called Love? is for anyone who has ever yearned for a deep connection, made a study of love, and spent their life trying to find the real thing.
"A lighthearted reminder of love's potential (requited, even unrequited) to make a life worthwhile."―Los Angeles Times
Reviews
“'It was cold and raining at four in the morning when Buddy walked out of Caesars Palace, stark naked except for the L.A. Times wrapped around his waist." These sweet, hilarious stories about love are dedicated to Gene Wilder's cousin Buddy: "When he was alive he really wanted love, but settled only for sex." Many are about the time wasted by lovers who choose to hide their true feelings -- Jane Austen without the happy endings. "She pretended to be a big flirt and I knew she really wasn't." Some are about unrequited love: "I asked Melanie to marry me when she came to my house for dinner.… Melanie just giggled. I was three and a half years old." Others illuminate the myriad differences between book love or screen love and the real, awkward world of miscommunication and lost opportunities. All together, they serve as a lighthearted reminder of love's potential (requited, even unrequited) to make a life worthwhile.'” ―Los Angeles Times
Gene Wilder
Gene Wilder (né Jerome Silberman, June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker. He was mainly known for his comedic roles, but also for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He collaborated with Mel Brooks on the films The Producers (1967), Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974), and with Richard Pryor in the films Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991).
He began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in an episode of the TV series The Play of the Week in 1961. His first film role was that of a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde. His first major film role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film The Producers, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. It was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including Young Frankenstein, which Wilder co-wrote, garnering the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also starred in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972).
Wilder directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984). With his third wife, Gilda Radner, he starred in three films, the last two of which he also directed. Her 1989 death from ovarian cancer led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles[1] and co-founding Gilda's Club. After his last acting performance in 2003—a guest role on Will & Grace, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series—Wilder turned his attention to writing. He produced a memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger (2005) and five other books.
Publicity photo of Gene Wilder for film Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), also known as Two Times Two.
- Publisher:
- St. Martins Press
- Edition:
- Signed First Edition
- Binding:
- Hardcover book
- Author:
- Gene Wilder
- Title:
- What Is This Thing Called Love
- Publication Date:
- 2010
- Certification:
- COA
