The actor who played Charlie Bucket in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ended up going down a completely different path after the iconic flick hit screens.
Peter Ostrum put in a great performance after getting the part of little Charlie in the film, which enjoyed great success in the years following its release.
Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka has gone down as one of the most unforgettable and memorable performances of its time, with several scenes leaving people terrified, and others leaving audiences busting a gut.
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Despite failing to be a financial success, the movie enjoyed critical success as Ostrum became a star in Hollywood off the back of it.
Ostrum, then 13 years old, played Charlie, a poor boy who lives in a small house with his parents and four grandparents, who share a bed. But his life changes forever when he finds a golden ticket to Wonka's magical and mysterious chocolate factory.
It is based on the popular Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with the film featuring a cast of numerous other children, such as Julie Dawn Cole as Veruca Salt, Denise Nickerson as Violet Beauregarde, Paris Themmen as Mike Teevee, and Michael Böllner as Augustus Gloop.
While the young cast went on to have massively differing careers following the film, Ostrum never acted again, instead choosing to pursue a completely different career.
In 2021, Ostrum and the cast reunited for an interview commemorating the 50th anniversary of the film, and the now 66-year-old explained why he decided not to pursue the bright lights of Hollywood.
He said: “Well, I guess I did have the option of a three-picture deal, but I had no idea.
“They had no idea of what those pictures were going to be.
“And I just didn't — maybe because I'm obsessive compulsive a little bit, I didn't like giving up that freedom of signing on the dotted line, not knowing what I was going to be asked to do.
“And I ... you know, I liked working on the film.
“But I wasn't completely sold that I was to be an actor the rest of my life.
“But this is — I mean, it's still fun to be contributing to a film that people, 50 years later, are watching.
“I mean, who would have known?
“Who would have thought that that would have taken place?
“So, my point is, if you can only make one film — this was the film to make.”
In the end, Ostrum went on to become a veterinarian.
After he returned from the film, his family bought a house, which made the young Ostrum think about a career as a vet.
Before he went to college, he took some time out to see what he wanted to do, before embarking on a successful career in the field.
In fact, he spoke to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2000 about his career decision, saying that acting was a 'difficult profession' despite people thinking it was 'glamourous'.
The former actor became a doctor of veterinary medicine in 1984 after studying at Cornell University, later working as a vet at New York's Countryside Veterinary Clinic before retiring.
Lately, he’s been working in Lowville, New York, dealing mainly with horses and cows.
It’s a long way from Tinseltown, but still a great career.
Topics: Nostalgia, Jobs, Film, TV and Film, Celebrity
Joshua Nair