Tributes flood in for the 'magic' Gene Wilder after Willy Wonka star dies aged 83.

'If there's a heaven, he has a Golden Ticket!' Tributes flood in for the 'magic' Gene Wilder after Willy Wonka star dies aged 83 following a secret battle with Alzheimer's. Tributes have flooded in to the legendary actor Gene Wilder who died aged 83 on Sunday night after a secret battle with Alzheimer's. Friend and longtime collaborator Mel Brooks led the outpouring of emotion, attesting to the 'magic' that Wilder brought to the screen, including his most well-known role as Willy Wonka. 'One of the truly great talents of our time,' Mel Brooks tweeted on Monday. 'He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship.' Fellow comic Jim Carrey added: 'Gene Wilder was one of the funniest and sweetest energies ever to take human form. If there's a heaven, he has a golden ticket.' Nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said Wilder died late Sunday in Stamford, Connecticut from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. In a statement, Walker-Pearlman said Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans. In Young Frankenstein Wilder played a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced 'Frahn-ken-SHTEEN' - was co-written by Brooks and Wilder. With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in Young Frankenstein or bilking Broadway in The Producers. Brooks would call him 'God's perfect prey, the victim in all of us.' He played the introverted Leo Bloom, an accountant who discovers the liberating joys of greed and corruption as he and Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) conceive a Broadway flop titled Springtime For Hitler and plan to flee with the money raised for the show's production. Matthew Broderick played Wilder's role in the 2001 Broadway stage revival of the show. Though they collaborated on film, Wilder and Brooks met through the theater. Wilder was in a play with Brooks' then-future wife, Anne Bancroft, who introduced the pair backstage in 1963. Two years after Radner's death Wilder married Karen Webb, who survives her husband. The two made their home in the Stamford, Connecticut house where Wilder lived with Radner, and that is where he passed away after a length battle with Alzheimer's disease.