This sweet story about Gene Wilder that someone posted on Guardian comments says everything about the man

Twitter user Joe Scaramanga writes, “Lovely Gene Wilder story in the Grauniad comments…”

I met him sometime in the early 1990s – I can’t pinpoint the year – when he came with a friend to visit the Turner Study Room at the Tate Gallery, which I was in charge of at the time.

He was strikingly shy, but as polite as could be, and tremendously appreciative of the experience that the Study Room offered.

It was only later in the day that I found out a bit more about his visit.

Before coming to the Study Room, he had taken time to have a conversation with a sweet- natured and approachable Irish attendant called Catherine, who told me what happened.

She had asked for, and received, his autograph – “Oh, to Catherine, please – thank you”.

On leaving the Study Room, he and his friend explored new areas of the Gallery – and, since the attendants rotate their positions, he unexpectedly saw Catherine again up ahead.

Whereupon, shyness banished and now in performance mode to the astonishment of visitors nearby, he yelled “Catherine!! How are you?? You don’t write, you don’t phone…!”

She was thrilled – wouldn’t you be?

Source: https://twitter.com/JoeScaramanga/status/770511872571367424