Willy Wonka cast 55 years later: Charlie's unrecognisable new life and the stars we've sadly lost

Peter Ostrum was a schoolboy when he landed the role of kind-hearted Charlie Bucket, starring opposite Gene Wilder in what would become his first and only movie.

Despite being offered the opportunity to continue acting, Peter decided Hollywood wasn't for him.

Instead, he used some of the money he earned from the film to buy a horse, an experience that helped spark an interest in veterinary medicine. He eventually studied at Cornell University and built an entirely different career as a veterinarian, specialising in large animals.

"Everybody could be so lucky to have an experience like this and then to go in a completely different direction," he told Today in 2015.

The former child star has also admitted the original paycheck for his now-iconic performance was relatively modest, although he has continued to receive small royalty payments over the years.

Far from regretting leaving acting behind, Peter has described his second career as his real-life prize. "I will always cherish my memories of making the movie," he previously said, "but I feel I won the golden ticket by becoming a vet."

Few child characters have made demanding something quite as memorable as Veruca Salt.

Julie Dawn Cole played the wonderfully spoiled little girl who wanted everything "now", before eventually being declared a "bad egg" and disappearing down a garbage chute.

Unlike Peter, Julie continued acting, building an extensive television career that included appearances in British shows including Poldark, Casualty and EastEnders.

She eventually stepped away from acting and trained as a psychotherapist.

Yet Veruca has never entirely left her life.Julie published the memoir I Want It Now! about her experiences making the film and has remained close to her former co-stars, whom she once described as her "lifelong family".

In 2024, she even returned to the Wonka universe alongside Paris Themmen for Willy's Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Paris Themmen was already a young actor when he was cast as television-obsessed Mike Teavee, but later took a break from the business because he wanted simply "to be a kid".

His adult life has been anything but conventional.Paris has worked in commercial casting and film production, founded a travel business and pursued photography, while still making occasional appearances on stage and screen.

He has also become a familiar face at fan conventions alongside his former castmates.

Paris has shared some wonderfully candid memories of filming in Munich, including revealing that despite being surrounded by some of Europe's finest chocolate-producing countries, American candy was shipped to the set.

The edible props weren't always what they appeared to be either. The famous three-course chewing gum, he recalled, was actually taffy.

Denise Nickerson's commitment to playing gum-chewing champion Violet Beauregarde came at a rather painful price.

The actress later claimed that chewing sugary Bazooka gum while preparing for the part contributed to her developing 13 cavities.

After Violet memorably transformed into an enormous blueberry, Denise continued acting, appearing in shows including Dark Shadows, Search for Tomorrow, The Electric Company and The Brady Bunch.

Her final film role came in 1978, after which she largely stepped away from acting and pursued work outside Hollywood.

Denise suffered a severe stroke in 2018. The following year, she was taken to hospital and later developed pneumonia. She died in July 2019 aged 62.

Augustus Gloop may have been unable to resist Willy Wonka's chocolate river, but Michael Bollner ultimately found an occupation about as far removed from a chocolate factory as imaginable.

The German former child star became a tax professional in Munich after his father encouraged him to concentrate on his education rather than pursue acting.

Michael has joked that the movie isn't nearly as famous in Germany as it is in English-speaking countries, so he occasionally screens it for employees at his office to demonstrate his unlikely childhood claim to fame.

"I show the Wonka movie," he told Collider. "The film is not famous in Germany and my new employees have to know what a star their boss is."

His famous plunge into the chocolate river wasn't particularly delicious either. Michael has revealed that the substance wasn't chocolate at all but dark, unpleasant water that had been sitting on the set, and that filming the scene left him worried about hitting his head as he jumped into a concealed opening.

At the centre of it all was, of course, Gene Wilder. Already an established actor when he accepted the role of the eccentric chocolatier, Gene reportedly agreed to play Wonka on one unforgettable condition.

He wanted his character's first appearance to show him emerging from the factory with a cane and a limp, before apparently falling forwards and suddenly performing a somersault.

His reason was ingenious: from that moment onwards, the audience would never know whether Wonka was telling the truth.

The entrance became one of the movie's defining scenes.Gene went on to enjoy an extraordinary career, including collaborations with Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor, and received an Oscar nomination for co-writing Young Frankenstein. His final screen performance, in Will & Grace, earned him a Primetime Emmy. He died in 2016 at the age of 83 from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

Jack Albertson was already a celebrated performer when he took the role of Charlie's Grandpa Joe.

Just a few years before Willy Wonka, Jack had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Subject Was Roses, having previously won a Tony for the stage production.

He continued acting following Willy Wonka and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977. Jack died from colorectal cancer in November 1981, aged 74.

Rusty Goffe was 22 when he appeared as the Head Oompa Loompa and became one of the performers behind the factory's famously orange-faced workers to receive an on-screen credit.

His career didn't end when he left Wonka's factory.

Rusty subsequently appeared in some of cinema's biggest franchises, including Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope and several Harry Potter films.

Looking back at the movie, Rusty has admitted nobody involved realised what they were creating. "When we were doing it we didn't realise it was going to be as big," he previously said.

And he remembered Gene particularly fondly following the actor's death, describing his co-star as "very gentle, very quiet," and a man with a "magical aura".