NOT GOOD TO BE 83 - Gene Wilder Dead at 83, comedic legendary actor & Cookie the Cockatoo at Brookfield Zoo dies at age 83

Gene Wilder, an actor whose work with comics Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor made him one of the most popular stars of the 1970s and whose memorable portrayals of neurotics and eccentrics included the hilariously mad scientist in “Young Frankenstein,” died Aug. 28 at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 83.

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Cookie the Cockatoo at Brookfield Zoo dies

Cookie, an at least 83-year-old cockatoo and one of Chicago’s best known zoo animals, died over the weekend at Brookfield Zoo, the zoo announced Monday.

“On Saturday morning, Cookie suffered a very abrupt decline in his health, prompting the veterinary and animal care staff to make the extremely difficult decision that it was time to peacefully euthanize him,” Michael Adkesson, vice president of clinical medicine for Chicago Zoological Society, which runs Brookfield, said in a statement.

In addition to generations of fans, the Major Mitchell’s cockatoo could claim many superlatives. He was the last animal that dates back to the zoo’s original collection, in 1934; the oldest living animal at Brookfield; “one of the longest-lived birds on record,” according to the online Animal Ageing and Longevity Database; and “Oldest Parrot - Living” as certified by Guinness World Records in 2014.


The press took note, too, often covering the zoo’s annual birthday celebrations for the parrot.

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