Irish actor Spike Milligan was, in fact, Dahl’s first choice to play eccentric chocolate maker Willy Wonka, but Fred Astairewas rumored to be interested and Cabaret star Joel Greywas seriously considered for the role. All the members of British comedy troupe Monty Python wanted to play Wonka, and Pink Panther star Peter Sellers was reportedly dying for the part, too. Even crooner Sammy Davis, Jr. expressed interest in being a part of the film, specifically hoping to play Bill, the candy store owner. (That didn’t work out, but Davis’ rendition of the song “The Candy Man” from the film gave him his only Billboard No. 1 hit!) In the end, it was Gene Wilder who was chosen to play the slightly off-center candy maker. Letters between Wilder and director Mel Stuart reveal that Wilder had serious suggestions about how his character should dress and act; he even detailed how the character should first appear on screen. “When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself; but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.” Why? “From that time on, no one will know if I’m lying or telling the truth." And that’s exactly how Wonka first appears in the film. Wilder was every bit as caring and warm as Wonka himself could be. “He was kind, he was considerate, he was fun to be around and he was patient,” says Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca Salt and, in real life, now works as a therapist. Cole, who was only 12 when the film was shot in Germany, primarily in Munich, didn’t have any family with her there. When Wilder found out, Cole has said that Wilder told Roy Kinnear (who played her movie dad, Mr. Salt) and Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe), “‘Look, boys, she’s on her own here. We’ve got to look out for her.’ And they did, they all kind of took care of me. So that was Gene. He was very much looking around at what was going on and taking care of everybody else. Very, very kind man.” While the film wasn’t a big hit when it was released, it has grown ever more popular in the years since, spawning a 2005 remake starring Johnny Depp and directed by his frequent filmmaking collaborator, Tim Burton. Today, Wonka-mania is still growing, with a prequel starringTimothée Chalametslated to be released in March 2023. In October 2021, Chalamet shared two photos of himself in costume as Wonka. “The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last… WONKA,” he captioned the pics. The film won’t veer into the darker areas that the Burton film played with, Chalamet says, explaining in an interview, “It’s a celebration of being off-center and of being OK with the weirder parts of you that don’t quite fit in.” What did Dahl think of the 1971 film that made his story so popular? “Roald eventually came to tolerate the film, acknowledging that were ‘many good things’ in it,” a friend once said. “But he never liked it.” Ah well! To celebrate 50 years of the beloved film, here are 50 Willy Wonka quotes from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
50 Willy Wonka Quotes
- “The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last.”
- “A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men.”
- “We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams.”
- “Oh, you should never, never, doubt what nobody is sure about.”
- “Try some more. The strawberries taste like strawberries.”
- “The snozzberries taste like snozzberries.”
- “Because that pipe doesn’t go to the marshmallow room, it goes to the fudge room!”
- “[My shoe] gives it a little kick.”
- “Now, don’t get excited. Don’t lose your head, Augustus. We don’t want anybody to lose that.”
- “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.”
- “She was a bad egg.”
- “Help. Police. Murder.”
- “If the good lord intended us to walk, he never would’ve invented roller skates.”
- “Bubbles, bubbles everywhere, but not a drop to drink.”
- “Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous.”
- “There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.”
- “Impossible, my dear lady! That’s absurd! Unthinkable!”
- “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.”
- “I’m sorry, but all questions must be submitted in writing.”
- “It happens every time, they all become blueberries.”
- “No, no, don’t speak. For some moments in life there are no words.”
- “Time is a precious thing. Never waste it.”
- “No other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by waterfall… But it’s the only way if you want it just right.”
- “Stop. Don’t. Come back.”
- “Well, fortunately, small boys are extremely springy and elastic. So I think we’ll put him in my special taffy-pulling machine. That should do the trick.”
- “All I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by. All aboard, everybody.”
- “Where is fancy bred? In the heart or in the head?”
- “Hm… well, I think that furnace is only lit every other day, so they have a good sporting chance, haven’t they?”
- “A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping.”
- “So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.”
- “There’s no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going.”
- “Want to change the world? There’s nothing to it.”
- “Oh, you have questions? Let me drop everything.”
- “Invention is 93% perspiration 6% inspiration 3% perspiration and 2% butter scotch ripple.”
- “Is it my soul that calls upon my name?”
- “Who can I trust to run the factory when I leave and take care of the Oompa-Loompas for me? Not a grown-up. A grown-up would want to do everything his own way, not mine.”
- “Wrong! It’s the most amazing, fabulous, sensational gum in the whole world!”
- “This little piece of gum is a three-course dinner.”
- “You really shouldn’t mumble. because I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
- “We have so much time and so little to see.”
- “I don’t understand it. The children are disappearing like rabbits. Well, we still have each other. Shall we press on?”
- “So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
- “Everything in this room is edible. Even I’m edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”
- “Rainbow drops. Suck them and you can spit in seven different colors!”
- “Why? Are you having fun?”
- “You get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!”
- “I had to find a child. A very honest, loving child, to whom I could tell all my most precious candy-making secrets.”
- “The whole family. I want you to bring them all.”
- “I’m very pleased to hear you say that, because I’m giving it to you.”
- “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted….He lived happily ever after.” Next, These 50 Frankenstein Quotes
