Where are they now: the cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

[Video Link] An update on the cast of one of my favorite movies, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).

small_the cast of willy wonka and the chocolate factory.jpg

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

MORE: Entertainment

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

Anonymous

does the interviewer live under a rock? at the end she asks if the chocolate bar is original?!?!
yes, dear, these former child actors have been holding onto a piece of candy for 40 years just in case they were one day on tv again! it’s special JUST FOR YOU!
hectorinwa

oompa loompa doompity ollege
without special talent, you best go to college.

oompa loompa doompity eye-ming
in case you were won’dring, my talent’s rhyming.
waxrhapsodic

i don’t know which is more disturbing, that Peter Ostrum (Charlie) now resembles a live-action incarnation of Ned Flanders or that Michael BÃ¶llner (Augustus Gloop) is still dressing in traditional Bavarian clothing.
- shadowfirebird
  
  It’s a state statute; if you’ve played someone ethnic in a movie, you have to keep wearing the costume for life.
  
  Next time you see someone dressed strangely pass you on the street, that’s probably why.
  - peterbruells
    
    As far as I can tell he is a genuine Bavarian and lives in Bavaria – nothing remarkable about his clothing.
- Anonymous
  
  I’m sure he did it just for the appearance. Plenty of people here in the US Northeast regularly dress in Colonial period costumes on patriotic holidays and there are all those civil war reenactors who dress up every weekend.
- jackie31337
  
  I don’t know if they do it all the time, but when I was visiting Munich (right around Oktoberfest), I saw plenty of regular people walking around in traditional Bavarian clothing to do everyday things like grocery shopping.
  - peterbruells
    
    Yep. It’s as remarkable as a Texan wearing a cowboy hat.
- Anonymous
  
  How about that Rusty Goffe is STILL ORANGE?!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Peter Ostrum (Charlie) now resembles a live-action incarnation of Ned Flanders
  
  Looks more like a 70s gay porn star to me. Must not make joke about him visiting my chocolate factory.
James

Saw this in theaters with all my friends for my birthday.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

The story about how the last line in the movie was written is the most amazing film-making story in history (for me at least).
Church

Huh. What’s with all the accountants?
- Stefan Jones
  
  I had the same thought when I saw a similar “where are they now?” feature about five years ago.
  
  The same documentary sez “Charlie” pays a visit to a neighborhood school once a year to talk about the movie, and otherwise avoids the spotlight. Boy turned out right!
  
  Also: The last line of the movie was Gene Wilder’s idea.
Anonymous

I thought the Oompa Loompa grew up to become Speaker of the House.
Anonymous

Peter Ostrum is actually a vet near where I grew up in Northern NY and will occasionally make appearances in the area
Anonymous

where, exactly, is “upstate Maine?” do they mean northern maine, or the county?
RadioSilence

When I was a kid we had this film taped off the TV. My mother had the habit of cutting off the first or last five minutes of just about anything so I never saw the start of Return of the Jedi until 1997 and Willy Wonka ended at the scene where Wonka sends Charlie Bucket away with the words “Good Day, Sir!”.

That was such a depressing ending.
mccrum

I always liked talking to child actors when I was doing theatre because there they were, doing shows that millions of adults would give a kidney for and they were just enjoying it so much more than any adults.

They also had some pretty cool ideas for being a grown up, few of which involved acting again (One was already an expert arachnologist who needed time off from a show to deliver a paper on harvestmen. She was about twelve.)
MelSkunk

Veruca Salt got foxy! Oh my!
Dan On Your Side

Delightful to see everyone again.

What was that report though? I think, when reporting a story involvingâ€”1. Willy Wonka and 2. Childhood Stars All Grown Upâ€”a little bit of unbridled enthusiasm is needed. This reporter acted like the country club moms were going to whisper behind her back about this report. Give me enthusiasm and energy. Wonka would have insisted on it!
- social_maladroit
  
  This reporter acted like the country club moms were going to whisper behind her back about this report.
  
  That’s a pretty good description of the tone of all the major networks’ morning TV shows!
franko

charlie STILL looks like someone i’d love to hang out with.
cstatman

to this day, I am one of Gene Wilder’s fans, He set great example, he is hilarious, he is honest and heartfelt.

ANY of his movies, Young Frankenstein, Frisco Kid, Wonka, event the Richard Pryor flicks, etc, inspiring.

His book on life with GIlda Radner (msrip) is brilliant.

I would love to buy him lunch one day.
TEKNA2007

I was just reading the post about standing desks

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/05/17/standing-desk-jockey.html

where one person was talking about working at Johnson and Johnson and how they all had to stand up for 15 minutes of every hour. I was having this visual of all the workers in the cubical farm bobbing up and down all day long, with the Oompa-Loompa song started going through my head.

The very next post I see is this one. Freaked me right out.
GaryG

Rusty Goffe performed at a holiday camp i went to as a kid; very talented guy, act revolved around playing loads of different instruments. Quite a site seeing someone of his stature blazing away on all these different horns and stuff. I loved the 70s.
Roger Krueger

She’s passed away, but Dodo Denny (Mrs. Teavee) had sons John and Dix Denny in one of L.A.’s best first-wave punk bands, the Weirdos.
bjacques

And a big thanks to all. I still love that movie.

I happened to see Denise Nickerson (Violet) in a few episodes of Dark Shadows a few years ago. It was the story arc where Barnabus Collins got involved in some shady scheme involving raising a demon. It didn’t end well for Violet.
Baron Karza

I love Gene Wilder in this movie, but seeing him in costume now, all I can think of is the warden of SuperJail. Which also rocks.

And yes, Veruca Salt IS foxy! http://www.100xr.com/100_XR/Artists/V/Veruca_Salt.htm
Anonymous

Something similar was included on the edition of the DVD from the early 2000s. These interviews were more sad than anything else. The darkness must be especially rough for Michael Bollner…
FreakCitySF

An original, ever lasting gobstopper from the movie, only 1 of 2 known to exist in the world just sold for 50K at profiles in history.
- Rich Keller
  
  Slugworth finally managed to get his hands on it?
Anonymous

Gene Wilder has barely changed at all – awesome!
ameta4

She asked how much of the set was edible…or if any of it was.
Lol.
Anonymous

I always felt that this movie is not half as good as the remake. The remake is truer to the original book and the spirit of the book.
- jpg68
  
  The remake is certainly more expensive looking – but to say it’s truer to the spirit of the book seems a bit far fetched.
  
  Yes, the remake has the squirrels instead of ‘geese laying chocolate eggs’, but Burton’s weird Wonka is absolutely nothing like the character described in Dahl’s book. He’s another of the outsider characters Burton loves to film.
  
  If you go back and read the original book, with the dialogue conceived by Dahl, you’ll find the portrayal of Wonka by Wilder was pretty on the nail, whereas Depp’s Wonka is so misanthropic it’s hard to imagine him wanting to rescue Oompa Loompas, so introverted it’s tricky to imagine him as a captain of industry, and so uncomfortable around children that it is impossible to imagine he would ever want to invite 5 of them into his factory.
  
  It looks beautiful, but Burton’s trademark stripes aside, it’s very similar to the 1971 film in its look – but with a whole lot more money thrown at it.