Movies | Pop Culture | 70s

What Do All The Kids From Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Look Like Now?

We all watched Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory when we were kids and dreamed about opening up our chocolate bars to find a golden ticket. We all wished that some eccentric candy man would give us the keys to a factory that made the most wonderful things.

Unfortunately it never happened for us, but it's probably for the best, as most of us would have fallen into the traps long before we made it to the end. The kids who did get to go to the Wonka factory were such a big part of our childhoods it's normal to be curious about what happened to them all.

The kids were so young when the movie came out in 1971, so where are they all now? Find out below!

Michael Bollner - Augustus Gloop

Michael Bollner played Augustus Gloop, the German boy who was the first to fall victim to one of the perils of Willy Wonka's factory. I mean, can you blame him? It was a river of CHOCOLATE! I would have done the same buddy.

After he finished this role, his father made him stop acting and got him to finish school. Bollne had wanted to continue acting at first, but has since gone into accounting and has his own firm in Munich, Germany.

Denise Nickerson - Violet Beauregarde

She actually was a part of the show Dark Shadows before taking on the role of Violet, and continued acting after. She was in the show The Electric Company and had a few other small roles before quitting acting in 1978.

Did you know she actually auditioned for the role of Princess Leia? Since retiring from acting she has also become an accountant, just like Augustus Gloop! She is a single mother and lives in Colorado.

But did all the kids just grow up to be accountants?

Julie Dawn Cole - Veruca Salt

After getting her start in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory she has continued acting. she has been on several TV shows including Angels, Poldark and The Mill on the Floss.

She is the only kid from the cast that is still acting and actually managed to hold onto her "Everlasting Gobstopper" and "Golden Ticket" from filming even though she was supposed to give it back. She now has two kids of her own, and when her daughter acts out she calls her Veruca. That's a pretty good technique if you ask me!

Paris Themmen - Mike Teevee

This kid was just a little preview into the future really. Now we all watch TV all the time, no one would judge him now! But at the time it wasn't the best! Mike was the second last kid in the game they didn't really know they were playing, but TV was his downfall.

He had a few very small roles after growing up, but stopped acting in 2000. He ended up going onto a couple game shows including "Win Ben Stein's Money" where he lost and "Trivial Pursuit: The Game Show" which he actually won. He then graduated from NYU and worked as a financial consultant in California and then as a business manager for Disney.

Peter Ostrum - Charlie Bucket

Charlie Bucket is the only role he ever played, but I guess that's fair, how could you top that? After finishing that he said that he was still appreciated acting but didn't really want to pursue anything. The only thing he auditioned for was the play "Equus" but didn't end up getting it.

He ended up going to school to become a veterinarian and is very happy with his choice. He said that "My parents told me to look on [acting] as an experience, which is what I did....My mom and dad were not at all stage parents. They made sure I had a clear choice about what I did for a living. I'm really grateful to them because being a veterinarian is very gratifying."

It's been 46 years since the movie came out but kids today still watch it and love it just as much as they did back then. Do you remember watching this movie when you were a kid?

Share if you love this movie!

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