Denise Nickerson, Violet Beauregarde in ‘Willy Wonka,’ dies at 62

Las Vegas Review-Journal

5 years ago

Cast and crew from the 1971 film, "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory," from left, Paris Themmen, who portrayed Mike Teevee, Denise Nickerson, who portrayed Violet Beauregarde, director Mel Stuart, Julie Cole, who portrayed Veruca Salt, and Rusty Goffe, who played the cart-wheeling Oompa-Loompa, pose at Jacques Torres Chocolates during an event promoting the 40th anniversary of the popular children’s film and the Warner Home Video Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and DVD launch on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/StarPix, Marion Curtis)

Denise Nickerson, who portrayed the bratty, gum-chewing bloated Violet Beauregarde in the popular 1971 movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” has died.

Nickerson was 62. On Wednesday night, her son Josh and his wife posted “She’s gone” on a Facebook page.

Nickerson suffered a stroke in 2018 and on Monday she suffered a major medical emergency. Nickerson was admitted to the intensive unit at a Colorado hospital. She developed pneumonia.

“It’s been a very long day,” he son posted on Facebook Wednesday. “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.

“They just took off all the equipment. None of it was helping, but making her only more uncomfortable. We’re telling her it’s OK to let go.”

Although she is most remembered for her role as Violet, Dickerson also appeared in the original “Dark Shadows” series as well as “The Electric Company.”

She was 13 years old when she landed the role of Violet, opposite Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka.”

According to IMDB.com, Nickerson left the acting industry in 1978, settled in Denver and worked in a doctor’s office.

The family has created a GoFundMe page to help pay for Nickerson to be cremated and have her ashes made into a piece of glass art, her final wish.