Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor known for roles in Mel Brooks films including The Producers and Blazing Saddles, and for directing and starring in his own films.
On the island
Eight records
Impromptu in E-flat major, D. 899 No. 2
I play this all the time because I can't be sad or depressed when I listen to this music. It just lifts my spirit.
I was in love at one time in my life, a long time ago, with a French girl in France, and because of the circumstances of my life, there was nothing I could do about it. But I became in love with things French from then on.
There is a fifth [thing] I found, and I found it in this song of something that great musicians do, jazz musicians and great actors do when they improvise. That the scene something has taken over and things are coming out of you that you don't even know are coming out... When I heard this I said, he's not only brilliant, but he's also an actor, Otis Redding.
I heard this song by Hurricane Smith called O Babe, What Would You Say? And it made me laugh so much, and I told it to my then wife, Gilda Radner, before she died, when she was studying dance, and she surprised me one day. She had worked on it for four weeks with a choreographer and I came home, she put on the record and she did her dance routine to this song.
Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat major, D. 898
After Gilda had died. I heard this piece by Schubert and I had such turmoil going on in me at the time... And I heard this and it was so calm. So loving, so tranquil. made me feel peaceful for A few minutes of the day.
Don't ExplainFavourite
This is perhaps the The Saddest Song And most compassionate. Song that I've ever heard. It's like. A dagger made of tears that sticks in my heart.
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
I paint and a piece that I love to play when I paint. is Chopin's concerto number one in E minor.
We went to see the Gershwin musical called Crazy for You. After this one particular number, I had a hard time staying in my seat, it gives me a goose and I want to jump up and do things.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:29Why was doing the show [Something Wilder] for NBC hell?
Because of the interference artistically from the networks, the interest that they have is in selling soap or raisins or cream cheese. And if it's selling well, then you're a success. And if it isn't selling well, then you're not.
Presenter asks
5:24Why did Mel Brooks choose you [for The Producers]?
I was miscast in a play called Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht on Broadway... and the leading lady was Anne Bancroft. Her boyfriend at the time was Mel Brookes, and one day he said to me, Would you like to come to Fire Island... and I'll read to you and Annie the first thirty pages of this screenplay I'm writing called Springtime for Hitler. And we did, and that changed my life.
Presenter asks
6:36What was it like working with Brooks?
Well, it was it was heaven on a stick for me and working with Zero Mistel at the same time because Zero... protected me like a mother hen. He watched over me and... We spent all our lunch hours together. We had a wonderful time.
The keepsakes
The book
The Notebooks of Captain Georges
Jean Renoir
It's so simple and romantic. And uh such a beautiful story.
The luxury
Presenter asks
How did your mother's heart attack change your life?
She had a heart attack, the doctor said. You must never get angry with her, or you you could kill her. Which was a horrible thing to say to a child. And the other thing he said was try to make her laugh. And I did. For the first time in my life, I consciously tried to make someone laugh. And I was successful. And you know, when you're successful with your mom. You get a confidence that nothing else can give you.
Presenter asks
16:27Did Gilda Radner's death change the direction of your life?
I became wilder the... impassioned hopeful um dreamer, I suppose, that I could help other people. So they wouldn't have to go through what she went through to save other gildas.
Presenter asks
23:53Why do you hate show business?
Because it has nothing to do with art. It's the selling of the art. It's necessary. I understand that. But it has nothing to do with the artistic process.
“If children want to be cruel they'll find a way. Your size is the easiest one.”
“Just be prepared for rejection, because that's your second name. If you can't handle that, you're never going to make it.”
“I hate show business. Yeah, I try to eradicate it like a cancer from my life.”
“the reason that you go into acting in the first place. is to get love that you think Is missing in your life, even if you're too young to understand why. But you keep craving it, and when you hear that first applause, you think this is it. And then thirty or forty years later you realize that isn't it. It's not the same as being loved. Truly loved by someone.”