The cast of the 1971 classic Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory went on to become veterinarians, accountants and psychotherapists after finding fame as children.
Based on Roald Dahl's 1964 book, the film followed characters Charlie Bucket, Veruca Salt, Mike Teavee, Violet Beauregarde and Augustus Gloop as they won Golden Tickets to tour Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
As the film celebrates its 55th anniversary, the actors who played the varied characters reflect on a production that earned $4 million upon release before finding later success.
Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket
Peter Ostrum, who played the beloved Charlie Bucket, was 14 years old when he starred alongside Gene Wilder as the lucky winner of the Golden Ticket. Now 68 and a father of two living in Ohio, Ostrum turned his back on acting to pursue a career as a vet.
He turned down a potentially lucrative three-film deal with producer David L Wolper to concentrate on his studies, later earning a doctorate from the prestigious Cornell University to specialise in treating cattle and horses. He bought a horse with his earnings from the film.
Ostrum told the Daily Mirror the film died a "quiet death" after lukewarm reviews and only gained popularity through television broadcasts in the 1980s.
"Back then when the film came out there was no red carpet premiere," he said. "I was in my hometown in Ohio and they had an opening there and I was the only one there. There was a little bit of fanfare but not much and the film died a quiet death."
He added: "It had lukewarm reviews and people forgot about it. It wasn't until video ten years later that it resurfaced and it took on a life of its own."
Ostrum told the Daily Express in 2014 that his pay cheque was "paltry," but the filming sparked his interest in medicine. He said the cast had no idea they were making a classic that coined the phrase "I've found the golden ticket," adding that fans regularly told him they wore out their VHS copies.
He still receives $8 to $9 in royalties every three months from television broadcasts, he told the Snowtown Film Festival in 2018.
He told the Today show in 2015: "Everybody could be so lucky to have an experience like this and then to go in a completely different direction."
"I will always cherish my memories of making the movie, but I feel I won the golden ticket by becoming a vet," Ostrum said.
Julie Dawn Cole as Veruca Salt
Julie Dawn Cole, 68, played the famously spoiled Veruca Salt, the girl that always wanted more. Her character plummets down a garbage chute after standing on an eggdicator that shows her to be a "bad egg".
The mother of two continued acting in television shows including Fat Families, the long-running soap operas Emmerdale and EastEnders, and the hospital drama Holby City. She also became a qualified psychotherapist and worked as a children's services manager at Woking Hospice.
In 2014, Cole auctioned off Wonka set memorabilia to raise money for the charity, including a Golden Ticket and the contract the children sign before entering the factory.
She regularly revisits her childhood role, starring in the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe show Willy Wonka Revisited: The Veruca Salt Sessions. In 2024, Cole featured alongside former co-star Paris Themmen in Willy's Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody at the Edinburgh Fringe. The musical comedy was based on a disastrous Glasgow 'immersive' Wonka experience where parents paid £35-a-head to attend a near empty warehouse.
Paris Themmen as Mike Teavee
Paris Themmen, 67, played television-mad Mike Teavee, having acted before winning the role. He took an official break from acting as a teenager "to be a kid".
Although he did not fully get his dream of becoming a TV star, Themmen still works in the entertainment industry. He has taken occasional television roles in adulthood and flirted with commercial casting and film production. He runs a photography business, signs autographs at movie conventions, and makes sporadic appearances in plays and commercials.
He also founded Access International, a travel service arranging Europe-bound charter flights for backpackers.
Themmen told Collider that filming with Wilder and the cast in Munich, Germany, involved a "crime against chocolate and humanity" because producers shipped American sweets like Hershey bars, Almond Joys and Mounds.
"It was surprising because we were in Germany, right next to Switzerland and Holland, where they make gorgeous chocolate," he said. He added that the cast did have "dummy leaves and some marzipan things" to eat on set.
He particularly liked the prop used for the three-course gum. "It was actually taffy," he said. "It was the three-course gum, which wasn't gum. It was taffy, but it was very yummy. I liked that one."
He lives in Los Angeles with Nikki Grillos, his wife of nine years.
Denise Nickerson as Violet Beauregarde
Denise Nickerson played chewing-gum fanatic Violet Beauregarde, who balloons in size after chewing a piece of gum containing roast beef, baked potato, tomato soup and blueberry pie.
Nickerson later revealed the role nearly cost her her teeth. She claimed to have developed 13 cavities while preparing for the part by munching on high-sugared Bazooka gum to get into character.
She was a regular on TV shows including Search For Tomorrow, The Brady Bunch, Dark Shadows, and The Electric Company before quitting after her final role in the 1978 film Zero To Sixty.
Nickerson was married twice and eventually worked as an accountant for an engineering plant and as an office manager at a doctor's office.
In 2018, she suffered a stroke and submitted herself to the care of family members. On July 8, 2019, she was rushed to hospital following an overdose of prescription medication. She developed pneumonia, slipped into a coma, and died in her Colorado hospital bed at approximately 10.30pm local time on July 10, aged 62. Her family confirmed the news on Facebook, writing: "She's gone."
Michael Bollner as Augustus Gloop
Michael Bollner played chocolate-chomping Augustus Gloop. Now 67, the chubby-cheeked former child star lives in Munich, his native Germany, where he traded acting for tax to become an accountant.
Bollner starred in a handful of German language films after Wonka but quit soon after because his father wanted him to finish school.
He told Collider: "I run a little tax office in Munich, and we spend every Christmas together with my employees. Every two or three years, I show the Wonka movie. The film is not famous in Germany and my new employees have to know what a star their boss is."
Bollner told This Morning he had no idea the film would become so popular. "I just went down to make this movie, stayed there for a few weeks and I didn't really know what was going on," he said. "I thought, 'This is just a movie and it will fade away very quickly.'"
His greedy character is famously sucked into a chocolate river, a scene Bollner told the Hollywood Reporter was less enjoyable than it appeared.
"It was no chocolate at all, but just stinking water lying around for more weeks," he said. "And it was dark water. I had to jump in that water, which was just 15 centimetres deep."
He added: "There was a hole about three meters [wide], and I had to hit the hole, which was not so easy as the water was very dark. So I was always afraid that I will hit my head on the ground of the river."
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka, died in 2016 aged 83 following a three-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.
The actor was a household name long before he agreed to play Wonka, a casting decision that apparently dismayed Roald Dahl. The author had wanted legendary Irish comedian Spike Milligan before producers approached the American star.
Wilder accepted the role on one condition.
"When I make my first entrance, I'd like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp," he said. "After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet."
He added: "As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I'm walking on and stands straight up, by itself; but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause."
When asked why, he replied: "From that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth."
Wilder went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. He was married four times in his life, with his first two marriages ending in divorce.
Jack Albertson and Rusty Goffe
Jack Albertson, who played Grandpa Joe, died in November 1981 at the age of 74 from colorectal cancer.
Before his untimely death, the seasoned actor had a successful acting career, including various stints on Broadway. He won the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor in 1968 for his portrayal of John Cleary in The Subject Of Roses, having previously won a Tony Award for an earlier performance in the 1964 stage production.
He was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1977.
Rusty Goffe starred as the head Oompa Loompa and was one of the few to receive a credit on the film. The Kent-born actor, now 77, enjoyed a successful career and was last seen on screen in 2016.
He appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Flash Gordon (1980), and five of the eight Harry Potter films.
Goffe, who was 22 when the film was made, said he was "very proud" to be a part of it. "When we were doing it we didn't realise it was going to be as big," he said.
"It was made for adults by the way, not for children," he added. "It was made for adults. And adults and children alike loved it."
He paid tribute to Wilder when he died in 2016, calling him "an amazing man, he was very gentle, very quiet, but he knew what he wanted".
"He was a very, very funny man and it showed in the movie," Goffe said. "He had a magical aura about him and it really showed."
