Willy Wonka film’s Violet dies aged 62

TRIBUTE Denise & Violet THE actress who played gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory has died.

Denise Nickerson’s son Josh and his wife Jasmine announced her passing yesterday in a Facebook post that read: “She’s gone”.

Her family said she had pneumonia and had experienced several seizures.

She is the first of the film’s five golden ticket winners to die.

Denise, 62, suffered a “major medical emergency” at home on Monday that caused her to be admitted to an intensive care unit in Colorado.

Wonka co-star Julie Dawn Cole, who played the spoilt Veruca Salt, said: “It is dreadfully sad. She has been like a sister to me.”