‘I played Charlie in the original Willy Wonka film but quit Hollywood for a new career’

He was the child star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Hollywood success looked written in the stars.

But after Peter Ostrum played Charlie Bucket in 1971, the budding actor decided to ditch the silver screen at the age of just 12 in pursuit of a very different life.

Peter, now 65, starred opposite legendary actor Gene Wilder, playing Charlie as he finds a golden ticket and wins a trip to Wonka’s chocolate factory.

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Despite skyrocketing to stardom, the young actor decided a life in Tinseltown wasn’t for him and now, he’s an acclaimed veterinarian in New York.

Peter was whipped away from his hometown of Dallas, Texas, after being spotted in a play, and arrived in Munich, Germany for five months of filming to bring Roald Dahl’s revered novel to the big screen.

The film was a critical smash-hit, and despite the initial slump in cinema ticket sales, the flick has stood the test of time and become one of the world’s most iconic kids’ movies.

Peter became an overnight star and was urged to sign a contract for a “three-picture deal”.

But turning down bucket loads of cash, the child actor decided to stray away from Hollywood’s bright lights.

“Well, I guess I did have the option of a three-picture deal, but I had no idea. They had no idea of what those pictures were going to be”, he told NPR on the 50th anniversary of the film.

A lack of certainty over the plot made Peter’s OCD go haywire, and he struggled to commit to the unknown.

He added: “And I just didn’t – maybe because I’m obsessive-compulsive a little bit, I didn’t like giving up that freedom of signing on the dotted line, not knowing what I was going to be asked to do.”

While he enjoyed his job as an actor, Peter wasn’t fully convinced that it was the career that he wanted to pursue for the entirety of his life.

In 1984, 13 years after his appearance in the iconic flick, he graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

While at college and years after walking away from the spotlight, Peter admitted that one Broadway play tempted him to come back to the arts.

“The only time I ever considered it again was when I heard they were holding auditions to replace Peter Firth in Equus on Broadway,” he told HollywoodChicago.

Lighting didn’t strike twice for the Texan and the part wasn’t his – so he continued with his majors in animal husbandry and veterinary science.

Now, armed with a PHD and a career as a vet, the former actor is happy away from the spotlight.

Peter is a long way from the Hollywood hills as he works primarily with horses and cows in Lowville, New York.

And half a century later, he still has no regrets over his career choices.

“So, my point is, if you can only make one film – this was the film to make”, he concluded.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk