I was thinking about who I could compare him to today, in terms of a range that spanned wistfulness to manic lunacy, and the first two names that came to mind were Robin Williams and in a weird way Phil Hartman…but of course they are both dead too.

Then I settled on Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey — but neither demonstrates the same subtlety. I completely agree that Will Ferrell has that natural affinity for his own wry sadness to be as effective as Gene Wilder, except he often overacts.