As the adorable star of one of the biggest and most-loved family movies of all time, it looked like Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket in 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, had a bright future in Hollywood.
Yet, by the age of 12, the child star knew that the entertainment industry wasn’t for him. In fact, he never acted again. Now 67, the former actor looks back fondly at being catapulted to fame as the movie’s sweetest, most angelic Golden Ticket winner — but he’s also proud to have dedicated his life to a fulfilling career as a veterinarian.
The movie, starring Gene Wilder as Wonka, was the first cinematic adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel and was a modest success on its release, bringing in $4 million at the box office — roughly equivalent to $75 million now. However, over the years, its popularity soared and, naturally, everyone wondered what had become of its charming young star.
“There was a little bit of fanfare but not much and the film died a quiet death,” Ostrum recalled in a 2018 interview with the Daily Mirror. “Back then when the film came out there was no red-carpet premiere. I was in my hometown in Ohio. It had lukewarm reviews and people forgot about it. It wasn’t until video 10 years later that it resurfaced and it took on a life of its own.” He added: “We had no idea at the time that it would have any kind of success at all so it’s pretty neat that it is still so loved.”
Ostrum got the part of Charlie when he was spotted by talent agents at a children’s theater show in Cleveland, Ohio. He was then given just 10 days to leave his school and move to Munich, Germany for five months to shoot the movie, with Wilder — who Ostrum says “treated people with respect and dignity” assuming a fatherly role and coaching him in acting. When the Hollywood legend died in 2016 at age 83, Ostrum said it was “like losing a parent” even though the pair had lost touch.
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When shooting wrapped, Ostrum turned down a three movie deal. After spending a week in California mulling over his options, he ultimately decided the showbiz life wasn’t his thing. What he really loved was animals, not Oompa Loompas — something he realized when his parents bought him a horse to celebrate the release of the movie and he got to know a local veterinarian.
“This person really enjoyed what he did for a living,” he said in an interview with the American Veterinary Medical Association. “My father was a lawyer, and I really didn’t have a clue what he did all day. But I knew exactly what the veterinarian did. Someone making a living from something he enjoyed so much really sparked my interest. I thought, if that doesn’t work, then maybe I could do something else. But I would always have in the back of my mind, ‘you should’ve tried to get into veterinary school.’ If I didn’t pursue that, I’d always kick myself.”
Sure enough, after high school, he spent time grooming horses in Pennsylvania before enrolling at Cornell University where he graduated with a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine in 1984. “I’m a veterinarian,” he told HollywoodChicago in 2011. “Being in the film industry as a child was hard, and I couldn’t keep it going. But in the end leaving was the right decision.”
Ostrum enjoyed a long and rewarding career with animals, largely at the Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Lowville in upstate New York and married wife Loretta in 1987 — who only found out about his secret chocolatey past when he was serious enough about her to introduce her to his mom. “Once I saw it, I realized — ’Wow, he had a major part!’,” she recalled at the Snowtown Film Festival in 2018. The couple share two children, Helenka and Leif, who Ostrum said enjoyed reading the story as kids.
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Occasionally, usually when the movie is celebrating an anniversary or getting another reboot — like 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, and 2023’s Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet — Lostrum comes out of retirement to celebrate his brief life in the spotlight, appearing at film festivals and giving talks at schools.
“You can’t kill Wonka,” Ostrum said during a 2021 virtual reunion hosted by Yahoo. “It just gets played over and over again, whether the original or the remake with Johnny Depp. And that brought attention back to our film. Kids saw Johnny Depp’s version, their parents said, ‘You need to see the original.’ Anything that talks about Wonka is good for the Wonka story. It’s a great story and it needs to be retold, regardless of who’s producing it or who’s making it.”
When Ostrum talks to kids about his unlikely career trajectory, he has an important message. “I want them to know that they have options in their lives, and when one door closes, another opens,” he told Veterinary Practice News in 2023. “It’s important for kids to realize that you don’t have to be locked into one particular thing. It’s OK to change your mind.”
At the Snowtown Film Festival, Ostrum also revealed that he still gets royalties from the film being shown on TV — adding up to around $8 to $9 every three months. OK, so we’ve definitely heard of more lucrative passive incomes, but it sounds like working with animals and leading a quiet, settled existence with his family has brought Ostrum a richer, happier life than the one he saw for himself in Hollywood. “Everybody could be so lucky to have an experience like this and then to go in a completely different direction,” he told the Today show in 2015. Yup, that sounds like the ultimate golden ticket to Us.
