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Peter Gardner Ostrum ( ; born November 1, 1957) is an American retired veterinarian and former child actor, whose only film role was as Charlie Bucket in the 1971 motion picture Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Ostrum was 12 years old when selected by talent agents for Willy Wonka. Though he enjoyed the experience of shooting the film, he opted not to sign a three-film contract when it was over. After eschewing a career in film and theater, he was reluctant to speak about his one starring role. In 1990, he began an annual tradition of speaking to schoolchildren about the film, and he became a subject of interest again when the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released to theaters.
Ostrum became interested in his family's horses when he returned from shooting Willy Wonka and was particularly influenced by the veterinarian who tended to them. Ostrum received a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984 and retired by late 2023. , he lived in Glenfield, New York with his wife Loretta (), having raised two children.
Ostrum married Loretta M. Lepkowski in . They have two children, Helenka and Leif, with the latter following his father onto the stage as the leading actor in several South Lewis Central School musicals. Ostrum and his wife lived in Glenfield, New York, as recently as 2021.
In 2000, Ostrum recalled that shooting Willy Wonka in Munich was "sort of like being an exchange student for five months". Fond memories of his five months in West Germany included watching the construction of Olympiapark, for the 1972 Summer Olympics, and working with Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson. As Ostrum had not worked in film before, Wilder took it upon himself to instruct the young actor in the business. Ostrum would later describe Wilder as a quirky yet gentle gentleman who "treated people with respect and dignity". The bond that developed between the two actors was such that, even though they never saw each other again after filming Willy Wonka, Ostrum described Wilder's 2016 death as "like losing a parent"; in the 2023 documentary Remembering Gene Wilder, Ostrum remembered Wilder being fun to work with, and not speaking down to the child actors.
Ostrum was tutoring on-set for three hours a day, though sometimes only for 30–60 minutes at a time. Though in his audition he had been assured that his singing would probably be cut and dubbing, it was Ostrum's own singing voice that made it to the screen—albeit significantly cut. In a 2011 interview, Ostrum told the story of how director Mel Stuart gave him a clapperboard from the film, but later asked how he got it because he had forgotten that he had done so; it is Ostrum's only souvenir from the set.
After he finished shooting Willy Wonka, the then 13-year-old Ostrum declined David L. Wolper's offer of a three-film contract. The teenager confided in Frawley Becker, his Willy Wonka dialogue coach, that he turned down the contract to retain "the freedom to choose what he played, and in what picture." (Ostrum and Becker remained friends through at least 1996.) In January 2018, Ostrum said he sometimes misses acting—though not its hurry-up-and-wait nature—but feels he dodged having to make the transition from child- to adult-actor.
, Ostrum still received US$8–9 (equivalent to $– in ) of about every three months.
Since 1990, Ostrum has spoken to students at Lowville Academy once a year—on the last day of school, as a special treat—about his experience in Willy Wonka as well as his work in veterinary medicine. The students chiefly ask about the film's special effects, and Ostrum describes to them "what happened to Veruca, how did Violet blow up like a blueberry, how did Charlie fly with Grandpa Joe, all those types of questions". Ostrum also accepted an invitation to appear at the 2018 Snowtown Film Festival in Watertown, New York, answering audience questions after a screening of the film; "it’s in my backyard—it's become a popular event in January and I like to support local events." Ostrum said of the 2018 event that he enjoyed re-watching the film, and that people ask him "great questions." Ostrum has been called "the most famous man in Lowville", where the local video rental shop twice wore out its VHS copy of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
In the run-up to the release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005, Ostrum garnered a spate of attention that included seeing the film in New York City with NPR as well as being included in VH1's list of "100 Greatest Kid Stars" (at 78th). On the new film, Ostrum quoted fellow Willy Wonka actor Julie Dawn Cole, saying, "It's sort of like going back to a house that you once lived in and it's been redecorated." Ultimately, the media attention was so pervasive that Ostrum stopped answering his phone, and declined further interviews. Of the Johnny Depp-led film, he later said that it served to return "the original film back to the forefront again." When interviewed about the production of 2023's Wonka, Ostrum welcomed its expansion of the fictional universe, saying he was looking forward to the Timothée Chalamet-led prequel.
In October 2000, Ostrum and some of his co-stars from the film were scheduled to record an audio commentary for a special edition DVD. In January 2009, Ostrum teamed up with Dunkin' Donuts to hand out free rides on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) at South Station in Boston; Ostrum's participation connected the MBTA's he was handing out with his portrayal of Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka. The promotion also gave out one "golden ticket", worth unlimited rides on MBTA and unlimited Dunkin' Donuts coffee for 2009. In commemoration of the film's 40th anniversary in 2011, he joined Willy Wonka co-stars Denise Nickerson (Violet Beauregarde) and Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee) for a reunion commemorating the 40th anniversary of the film's release in 2011. That year, they were also joined by Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) as guests on to taste contestants' creations.
By September 2023, Ostrum retired from the Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Lowville, New York, where he had worked mainly with horses and cows. He had also worked with Veterinarians on Call, a Pfizer-funded video series that highlighted the work of large animal veterinarians, and as a managing partner with Dairy Health & Management Services.
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