Denise Nickerson: actress dies aged 62

Question

Denise Nickerson, the former child actress who played Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died aged 62. (BBC report.)

She was aged 13 in the movie.

Nickerson was married twice. Her first marriage to Rick Keller ended with his death from a brain aneurysm in 1983. She had a son Josh with her second husband Mark Willard, whom she divorced in 1998.

She has a Wikipedia page.  I did not find a profile for her, but my WT serach fu is not the best.

(Apologies if this is already known, but I found nothing on search.)

Comments

How sad! I just watched the other a day a "Where are they now?" Willy Wonka youtube video. Thanks for letting us know Melanie.

Answer 1

Thanks for the heads up, Melanie!

May Denise rest in peace and her family find comfort.

Answer 2

I'm about 99% certain she does not have a page. The search comes up with no "Living" Nickerson's when you put her name in, so generally that's a pretty good indication that none exist.

Comments

Well, she's American, so I leave it in American hands.  :)

(Nice to know you got the same search results I did.  Maybe my fu isn't so bad after all.)

---

I thought about starting a profile but sourcing would be difficult at best due to her birth date so I am going to pass on this one.

Answer 3

How sad. Sympathy and prayers to her family!

Answer 4

Thank you for this post. This was my daughter's and my 'favorite' Willy Wonka and all the performances were terrific, including Denise Nickerson's (who was a wonderful bratty child). Our favorite, though, was Gene Wilder, who was from our home town of Milwaukee, WI.

Answer 5

RIP Denise.

Her Violet Beauregarde character was UNFORGETTABLE!!!