‘Willy Wonka’ Actress Denise Nickerson Dies at Age 62, Family Says

A stock photo shows an ambulance with lights flashing. Joshua Lott/Getty Images

The actress who played gum-chewing character Violet Beauregard in 1971’s “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” died.

Denise Nickerson was 62, according to her family’s Facebook page.

Her son and daughter-in-law have stated on Facebook and GoFundMe that she suffered a stroke a year ago and wasn’t able to recover.

“She’s gone,” the page said.

News reports, including CNN, said that she died on July 11.

“It’s been a very long day. I have avoided posting updates until we had updates to provide. Denise is still here. The doctors, nurses, and we are surprised that this is the case as it was expected her respiratory system would’ve shut down hours and hours ago. She’s still not going to improve at all, she’s just going very slowly,” wrote her family on Facebook before they announced her death.

The family also said that she was never taken off life support because she was never placed on life support.

“She has a DNR in place. She was never ON life support. She simply had basic machines running like the IV drip with antibiotics and anti seizure meds, and a very strong oxygen pump (not a ventilator which is a life support device). We stopped the use of those at 4 am because it wasn’t helping her,” the page wrote.

Previous reports, including one from TMZ, said she was taken off life support.

They added: “She was declining just as fast with the machines running as she has without them running. They were just making her uncomfortable and were unnecessary to stop or fix the problems she’s having. She’s surviving at a base level, while much longer than anticipated, she’s not suffering but also not being ‘rushed’ along.”

In a 2016 interview with People magazine, Nickerson reflected on her experience working on “Willy Wonka.”

“He created an iconic character,” Nickerson told People about being in the film with star Gene Wilder. “He did the majority of that himself, his little idiosyncrasies [in character], kicking the ball, whipping the cane, stuff like that, that was all him.”

“Gene was a very, very quiet, tender-hearted, calm reflective individual,” she added. “He was not out on the forefront introducing himself, telling jokes, he kind of stayed to himself.”

Nickerson told the magazine:  “I remember sitting on the bleachers waiting for him to come out of the [chocolate] factory and rumor had gone around set that he was going to do the somersault—and he did and we all clapped. We got to know him a little more when we went in the room that got smaller and smaller [in the film], and when we sign the contract, but when we filmed in the chocolate room and he sang ‘Pure Imagination’ that just, he stole my heart.”

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Correction: Headline and article have been updated to reflect the current condition of Michael Sleggs