Peter Ostrum - Acting Career

Acting Career

Ostrum was in the sixth grade and performing at the Cleveland Play House children's theatre, when he was noticed by talent agents who were searching nationwide for the actor to portray Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The agents took Polaroid photos of Ostrum and recorded him reading from the original novel before they returned to New York. Two months later Ostrum was called to New York for a screen test where he sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", and a month after that he was contacted and given ten days to prepare to leave for filming.

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, Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics, and working with Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson. Though in his audition he had been assured that his singing would probably be cut and dubbed, 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, and then forgot 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 the offer of a three-film contract, later recalling that "verybody thinks that acting is such a glamorous profession, but it's a difficult profession."