The American child actress best known for playing Violet Beauregarde in 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has died aged 62. Denise Nickerson passed away yesterday after her family had her taken off life support. The star had been intensive care since suffering a stroke last year and was diagnosed with pneumonia on Monday. Her role as Violet, which she landed aged just 13, is fondly remembered by film fans around the world.
The Roald Dahl character is one of a number of spoilt brats, except Charlie Bucket of course, who win a tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
An obsessive gum chewer, she snatches a piece that is said give a taste tour through a three-course meal.
But after the first two courses, Violet gets to the dessert, blueberry pie and cream, except she then turns into a blueberry.
Her father exclaims: “Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet.”
Enter the Oompa Loompas for another rendition of their classic song, before rolling the now rotund Violet to the juicing room before she explodes.
While Tim Burton remade the film as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005, a prequel is now in the works.
So far Donald Glover, Ryan Gosling and Ezra Miller are rumoured to be in the running to play Willy Wonka.
Warner Bros producer David Heyman, who is behind the Harry Potter octology, teased the film last year.
Speaking with Collider, he said: “We are still trying to figure out how to tell that story, what the story is. It’s a prequel, it’s not a sequel.
“What makes Willy—when we find him at the chocolate factory doing the golden ticket, where is he before that?
:What leads him to that place where he’s locked himself away? It’s how does he get there? So we’re playing around with that.”
Herman is hopeful that Paddington and The Mighty Boosh director Paul King will helm the project.