Posted on 07/11/2019 2:02:12 AM PDT by ZagFan
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory star Denise Nickerson has passed away at the age 62.
Nickerson was a child actress when she played Violet Beauregarde, the girl who blows up into a large blueberry shape after breaking factory rules, in the 1971 musical film with Gene Wilder.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Violet, you’re turning violet, Violet
her dad was the best of the 5 parents!
He was a politician & used car salesman from Miles City , Montana. Real people person. /s
Denise on Electric Company “Sweet Sweet Sway” ( and Morgan Freeman & The Short Circus )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVnNdFWG0Q
Did we really learn from much of the show.
Career
Born in New York City, Nickerson’s made appearances in the late 1960s on such shows as The Doctors, and opposite Bill Bixby in an unsold television pilot called Rome Sweet Rome. Nickerson’s big break came in 1968 when she joined the cast of ABC-TV’s Dark Shadows, appearing as recurring character Amy Jennings from 1968-1970. Upon leaving Dark Shadows, she appeared in the television movie The Neon Ceiling.[1]
In 1971, Nickerson was cast as the nymphet Lolita in the 1971 ill-fated musical, Lolita, My Love during its run on Boston, and closed on the road. Also at this time, Nickerson landed her signature role as gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.. From 1972-1973, Nickerson joined the cast of The Electric Company as “Allison”, a member of the Short Circus music group. Producers saw the potential in the fresh-faced Nickerson and often had her singing lead on several songs, including “The Sweet Sweet Sway.”[2] She also guest starred as Pamela, a girlfriend of Peter Brady on one of the final The Brady Bunch episodes, “Two Petes in a Pod”.
Nickerson was considered for the role of Regan MacNeil, the demon-possessed girl in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, but her parents pulled her out at the last minute due to conflicts with the story’s subject matter. The role was eventually made famous by Linda Blair.[1]
Nickerson’s career was temporarily put on hold in November 1976 when she was struck by a car while crossing the street. The injury landed her in a full leg cast for eight months. Afterwards, she appeared in the film Zero to Sixty and TV movie Child of Glass.[1]
http://www.thefullwiki.org/Denise_Nickerson
RIP Ms. Nickerson.
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Funny.
Thanks for sharing.
“Nickerson was considered for the role of Regan MacNeil, the demon-possessed girl in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, but her parents pulled her out at the last minute due to conflicts with the story’s subject matter. The role was eventually made famous by Linda Blair.[1]”
I recall reading about how Shirley MacLaine was offered or seriously considered for the role of the mother Chris MacNeil, but for some reason or another that I do not recall immediately, she obviously did not get it and it went to Ellen Burstyn.
I looked up Denise on the IMDB and she was on the Electric Company for the 1972-73 season, so that’s why both Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart (one of my first TV crushes) were rocking the mini skirts, lol. Hemlines on the ladies did not come down until about 1974 and certainly by 1975.
I have never sat through the entire, unedited film. So scary on so many levels.
She was always a bit chubby as a child actress and then I noticed in her adulthood she was painfully thin.
Wonder if anorexia/bulimia wasn’t a contributing issue.
RIP.
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