Gilda's Disease

by Gene Wilder

Gilda Radner died of ovarian cancer on May 20, 1989. When the New York Times published "Research Links Diet and Infertility Factors to Ovarian Cancer," by medical writer Larry Altman, on July 25, 1989, Gilda's husband, Gene Wilder, wrote the author to ask some pointed questions. Altman urged him to contact Dr. M. Steven Piver at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.Wilder and Piver met via telephone and immediately recognized their shared common desire. From that time, they have worked together to communicate to the general public what is known about ovarian cancer. When Dr. Piver decided to write Gilda's Disease, he asked Wilder to help him by sharing what he had learned during Gilda's struggle so that others might benefit from their ordeal. Wilder and Piver have worked diligently to ensure that the material provided here is accessible and informative without being too scary. The result is a book that offers both medical and personal insights into ovarian cancer.All royalties will benefit two organizations honoring Gilda's "Gilda's Club," a free, nonresidential support community located in New York City for people with cancer, their families, and friends; and "The Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry" in Buffalo, New York, which tracks women with a family history of ovarian cancer and advises them of their risk for developing the disease and methods of prevention.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Medical

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 1996

About the author

Gene Wilder was an American Emmy Award-winning and twice Academy Award-nominated stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter, film director, and author.

Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leo Bloom in the 1968 film, The Producers. This was the first in a series of prolific collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Young Frankenstein, the script of which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder was known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991). Wilder directed and wrote several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).

His marriage to actress Gilda Radner, who died 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 and co-founding Gilda's Club.

In more recent years, Wilder turned his attention to writing, producing a memoir in 2005, Kiss Me Like A Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, and the novels My French Whore (2007) and The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008).

Reviews

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book does cover a medical perspective, it has so much more. It is a difficult book for Gilda's and Gene's fans due to stirring up emotions while reading about such difficult times. I do, however, recommend this book to anyone in the medical field. It shows the situation from a different perspective and what patients go through during treatments.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inside journey with Gene Wilder about his wife's fight against Ovarian Cancer.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reasonably sure this would have been more meaningful if I had been diagnosed with cancer. I got it to hear from Gene Wilder, but I didn't realize he only had a very small part in the writing.