Peter Ostrum was born in Dallas, Texas in 1957, however spent a considerable portion of his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in Cleveland that he started performing professionally, showing in kids’s theater productions on the Cleveland Play Home. The story goes that expertise scouts from Paramount, someday in 1970, had been scouring kids’s theaters on the lookout for potential actors to play the 5 central kids in a movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s confection-based 1964 novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Manufacturing unit.”
The 12-year-old Ostrum was requested to pose for a number of Polaroids and was recorded studying passages from Dahl’s guide right into a tape recorder. He additionally sang “My Nation ‘Tis of Thee” as proof of his singing skills. The photographs and recordings had been then flown to New York and proven to the movie’s producers. Ostrum was excellent and beat out many, many different kids for the position of Charlie Bucket. His expertise on stage gave him an edge. “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Manufacturing unit” (retitled as to focus on the movie’s zany chocolatier performed by Gene Wilder) was shot in Germany within the late months of 1970 and launched within the United Acknowledged on June 30, 1971.
“Willy Wonka” was critically lauded. Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars, evaluating it favorably to “The Wizard of Oz.” It wasn’t a smash success in theaters, nevertheless, and really light into obscurity for a few years. It wasn’t till Paramount’s distribution rights lapsed and Warner Bros. purchased the movie within the Nineteen Eighties that it might change into extra standard. WB confirmed “Willy Wonka” on TV lots and, when the VHS market exploded, broadly distributed the movie. A brand new technology found it and it turned a well-liked cult sensation.
Whereas that counts as a hit story, 12-year-old Peter Ostrum doubtless wasn’t glad that his film tanked on the field workplace. Ostrum has given many interviews about his days on “Willy Wonka” and the way his profession stalled when he was nonetheless in highschool.
Peter Ostrum was provided a three-picture deal, however he turned it down
In a 2000 interview with NPR, Ostrum stated that engaged on “Willy Wonka” was like being an alternate pupil, as he needed to persist with his research whereas residing in Germany for about three months. He even bought to witness early development on the Olympiapark, constructed for the then-upcoming 1972 Olympic Video games. He saved one of many movie’s clapperboards as a memento. General, filming “Willy Wonka” was a very good time. Within the 2023 documentary “Remembering Gene Wilder,” Ostrum talked about how working with Wilder was enjoyable, as he bothered to talk to the kid actors and deal with them as fellow professionals.
Earlier than it was launched, “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Manufacturing unit” regarded like a possible hit for Paramount (an odd thought, given how bizarre the film is). Ostrum carried the movie so effectively that Paramount’s David L. Wolper provided him a three-picture deal, pondering he had discovered a bankable new little one star. Ostrum, nevertheless, turned the provide down. Even at his age, he understood that contracts sealed actors into sure initiatives and most popular the concept of selecting what movies he started working on and when. Ostrum, as a substitute, went again to highschool to check.
Ostrum continued to audition for roles on the stage, however he by no means appeared to get any traction. “Willy Wonka” was sort of a bomb, so it did not do lots for his profession. By the point Ostrum was about 17 and no additional main alternatives introduced themselves, he retired from performing. Ostrum did not just like the limelight, declined many interviews, and ran from “Willy Wonka,” preferring to speak about anything. For years, he even instructed those that it wasn’t him in “Willy Wonka,” however his brother. Within the NPR interview, Ostrum admitted that he even saved his position a secret from his spouse. It wasn’t till he was about to satisfy his spouse’s mom for the primary time that he introduced it up. He needed a standard job.
Dr. Ostrum is now retired from veterinary drugs in addition to performing
After Ostrum retired from performing, he pursued a brand new ardour: veterinary drugs. Ostrum’s household purchased a horse when he was nonetheless a teen, and the younger man was very impressed with the vet that came visiting to take care of the animal. After highschool, Ostrum took a spot yr and moved to Pennsylvania to use for a job on the Delaware Equine Heart, which entailed grooming horses. Ostrum was at a crossroads; he might transfer again to California and pursue performing as a younger grownup, or he might go to highschool and change into a vet. He determined to do the latter. In 1984, he bought a Doctorate in Veterinary Drugs from Cornell.
Dr. Ostrum spent most of his medical profession caring for cows and horses, working on the Countryside Veterinary Clinic in New York. Now 67, Ostrum has been retired from his observe for a yr. He has lengthy cared about animals and lived his true ardour. He has two kids along with his spouse, Loretta.
Through the years, Dr. Ostrum often acknowledged his presence in “Willy Wonka within the Chocolate Manufacturing unit.” In 2013, he and a few of his “Wonka” co-stars appeared as judges on an episode of “High Chef: Simply Desserts.” He has spoken on a number of DVD editions of “Willy Wonka,” making his face extra seen now that the movie has change into a cult phenomenon. He often parlays his fame into profitable promotional offers; he as soon as helped Dunkin’ Donuts with a promotion involving free prepare passes in Massachusetts.
Dr. Ostrum, it appears, at all times lived the life he needed. And people occasional $10 royalty checks are at all times going to remind him of that film he made when he was 12.
