Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki
Advertisement
Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki

Willy Wonka is the titular main protagonist, later deuteragonist in the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and the film franchise of the same name. He is portrayed by the late famous Gene Wilder in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Johnny Depp in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Timothée Chalamet in the 2023 film Wonka. He is the son of Dr. Wilbur Wonka in the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
and Mrs. Wonka in films Wonka and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

The book and the film adaptations both vividly depict an odd Willy Wonka, a phoenix-like man arising from his creative and eccentric genius. He bewilders the other characters with his antics, but Charlie enjoys Mr. Wonka's behavior. In the 2005 film adaptation, Willy Wonka's behavior is viewed more as a sympathetic character flaw, but in the 1971 film adaptation, Wonka tells Charlie he "can't live forever", so he wants to find a sweet child to whom he could entrust his candy making secrets.

Appearances[]

Live-action productions[]

1971 film adaptation[]

Candy-maker Willy Wonka, portrayed by Gene Wilder, has hidden five Golden Tickets amongst his famous "Wonka Bars." The finders of these special tickets will be given a full tour of his tightly guarded candy factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate. The contest sets off a global craze, with everyone desperately seeking the tickets. They are eventually found by five children from around the world: Augustus Gloop from West Germany, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teavee from the United States and Veruca Salt and Charlie Bucket from the United Kingdom.

Before the tour of the factory can begin, Willy insists the participants sign a confidentiality form. As the children and their guardians enter the chocolate factory, among the many wonders seen, they notice strange looking people whom Wonka introduces as Oompa-Loompas, Willy Wonka's short orange, green haired workers whom he saved from the wild beasts of Loompaland.

The Chocolate Room is the first room encountered in the tour. Wonka states that everything in this room is edible: the pavements, the bushes, even the grass. In reality, only about 50 percent of the things in the room were edible. There are trees made of taffy that grow jelly apples, bushes that sprout lollipops, mushrooms that spurt whipped cream, pumpkins filled with sugar cubes instead of seeds, jelly bean stalks, and even spotty candy cubes. The main features of the room is the Chocolate River where the chocolate is mixed and churned by waterfall. Willy Wonka proclaims, "There is no factory in the world that mixes its chocolate by waterfall." Pipes that are connected to the ceiling suck up the chocolate and send it to other rooms of the factory; Augustus Gloop is sucked into the pipe to the Fudge Room after falling into the river while drinking from it.

The Inventing Room is the second room that the tour goes through. Mr. Wonka states that all of his ideas are simmering and bubbling in this room, and that Slugworth, one of his competitors, will give his false teeth to stay inside for five minutes. The room is home to Wonka's new (and still insufficiently tested) candies, such as Everlasting Gobstoppers, exploding candy and Wonka's greatest idea so far, The Three-Course Dinner Chewing Gum. This gum is a three course dinner all in itself, "Tomato Soup", Roast Beef & Baked Potato, and the dessert, Blueberry Pie". However, once the chewer gets to the dessert, there is a side effect: they turn into a giant "blueberry". This happens to Violet Beauregarde after she rashly grabs and consumes the experimental gum. Violet is subsequently taken to the Juicing Room to be squeezed before she explodes. The tour then leaves the Inventing Room.

Wonka shows them lickable wallpapers for nursery walls, and then shows them the Fizzy Lifting Room where he refuses to allow anyone to drink his Fizzy Lifting Drinks, since he needs more tests on them, and then leads the tour to another part of the room, unaware that Charlie and Grandpa Joe remain behind, and almost got themselves killed after they drank Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Wonka shows the tour the third room, the Golden Egg Room where geese lay giant golden chocolate eggs either deemed to be a good egg or a bad egg by the Eggdicator. Veruca Salt badly wants the goose, but Wonka refuses to give Veruca or her father one of his geese, causing Veruca to start singing about how she wants to have her ways whilst trashing some of the room. As she finishes singing, the Eggdicator that she is standing on sends her straight down to the garage chute. Wonka states that "She was a bad egg", and informs Mr. Salt that Veruca would go through the chute to the furnace, but she would be stuck just inside the tube, prompting her father to dive down the Eggdicator to rescue Veruca. Wonka reveals that the furnace is normally lit on every other day, giving Veruca and her father the chance to escape.

Whilst travelling to the forth room of the factory, Wonka shows off his Wonkamobile that transports the tour to another part of the factory, foam sprays Wonka and the guests, until they are dry-cleaned through the Hsawaknow ("Wonkawash" spelt backwards), and advises everyone to put on white jumpsuits and goggles, knowing there are dangerous equipment inside the Television Room. He demonstrates Wonkavision, his latest and greatest invention which can shrink a bigger-than life chocolate bar to a regular sized chocolate bar. Mike Teevee is fascinated by this, and request that people should try it out, Wonka considers this and quotes that "there might be some messy results", Mike then shrinks himself with the invention. Wonka requires to a distressed Mrs. Teevee that her son is be stretched back to his normal size with a taffy-pulling machine, before dismissing Mrs. Teevee away who is beginning to faint.

After Charlie and Grandpa Joe are the only ones left, Wonka dismisses them, stating them he has important things to do: pay bills, reply back to mail, etc. Wonka goes to his office and works silently with a cigar. Grandpa Joe and Charlie enter his office and Grandpa Joe asks him why he hasn't promised Charlie "the lifetime supply of chocolate", Wonka refuses, revealing that Grandpa Joe and Charlie had violated the contract, yelling at the top of his lungs that they stole Fizzy Lifting Drinks, bumped into the ceiling which will now have to be washed and sterilized before finally dismissing them "Good day, sir!" Grandpa Joe first calls Wonka out for crashing Charlie's dreams, before Wonka shouts at Joe again saying "I said good day!". Charlie and Grandpa Joe prepare to leave and plan to give the gobstopper to Slugworth, but Charlie turns in the gobstopper to Wonka by placing it on the desk. Wonka, seeing the errors of his own ways, turns to Charlie and truly congratulates him, revealing that his rant was only a test, Slugworth is actually Mr. Wilkinson, his employee, and plans to give Charlie the grand prize.

Wonka leads both Charlie and Joe to his Wonkavator, he allows Charlie to press the "Up and Out" button, which the Wonkavator transports the three out of the factory and into the air. Wonka reveals that he is giving the factory to Charlie, allowing his family to move in, and tells Charlie that he always wanted a child to run his factory when Wonka retires.

2005 film adaptation[]

Willy wonka 2005 character

Willy Wonka in the 2005 film

Willy Wonka is portrayed by Johnny Depp in this 2005 adaptation. However, many changes were put into the character: He acts childish because of his troubled childhood, and therefore does not take any interest in the kids. This version was widely acclaimed by the public, often referred as the best incarnation of the character.

One day, Willy informs the world of a contest, in which five Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will be given a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate upon their departure, while one ticket holder will be given a special prize at the end of the tour. After all five of the tickets are found, Willy greets Charlie and the other ticket holders outside the factory and leads the group into the facility.

Throughout the movie, Willy has flashbacks to his troubled childhood.

During the tour, each of the bad children disobey his orders with something related to their individual character flaws. Augustus begins to drink the chocolate river until he overbalances and falls into the river and is sucked into a pipe. After a fast boat ride, the tour then progresses to the Inventing Room, where Violet chews on an experimental piece of gum against Wonka's orders. She then transforms into a large blueberry. Later on, Veruca wants to buy a squirrel from the Nut room and when Wonka and her father refuse to get her one, she goes into the room herself. But when she goes to grab a squirrel, all of the squirrels team up and throw her down the chute, and then later send her father down the chute as well. Later, the last two kids, Mike Teavee and Charlie Bucket, enter the Great Glass Elevator with him, and Mike picks the Television Room. Once there, Willy demonstrates his latest invention, Television Chocolate, which is seemingly impossible as he clearly has no clue about how science and television work. When Mike tries to teach him the basics, he dismisses it as mumbling. He then proceeds to send a large bar of chocolate from one end of the room to another on a TV screen. Mike is surprised when Willy dismisses any other suggestions to send through the teleporter and replies (while smiling a little), "Don't you even realize what you've invented? It's a teleporter. It's the most important invention in the history of the world. And all you ever think about is chocolate." Mike then teleports himself through the teleporter and gets shrunken to a few inches. As a result, Charlie is the only child left on the tour.

Willy then travels with Charlie and Grandpa Joe to Charlie's house and meets the family via the Great Glass Elevator. He also reveals that the purpose of the Golden Tickets and the tour was to make the "least rotten" child the heir of the factory itself, so he can have someone carry on his legacy when he gets too old to do so himself, and requests that Charlie come live and work in the factory with him. The only condition, however, is that Charlie must leave his family behind, since Willy believes family is a hindrance to a chocolatier's creative freedom. This is because of his father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka (who was said to be the greatest dentist in the city), denying his son candy simply because of the potential risk to his teeth. As a child, Willy had to wear headgear and braces. After secretly sampling some candy, Willy was instantly hooked and ran away to follow his dreams, only to find that his father and his home were gone when he returned. As his family is most important to him, Charlie refuses to accept the offer.

Willy then falls into a state of emotional depression, which in turn makes life for Charlie's family much better but his candies taste terrible and poor in sales. Willy then returns to Charlie to seek advice and they travel to meet Willy's estranged father. Willy gets his teeth checked while Charlie discovers that even though Wilbur was against his son's wishes of becoming a chocolatier, he has followed his son's success. Wilbur then realizes that it is his son and calmly says "All these years, and you haven't flossed". Wonka replies with "Not once". They both share a hug, and Wilbur feels tearful because of having learned a painful lesson about accepting his son for who he is and not what he does for a living. Charlie watches with a smile. Afterwards, Willy repeats his offer to Charlie, who then accepts on one condition - that his family can come too. And this time, Willy agrees.

Charlie and Willy then arrive at the Buckets' home in time for dinner, and the camera pans out to reveal that the house is now in the Chocolate Room inside the factory. An Oompa-Loompa narrates that "one thing was absolutely certain - life had never been sweeter".

Animated productions[]

Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory[]

Candy-maker Willy Wonka, portrayed by J.P. Karliak, has hidden five Golden Tickets amongst his famous "Wonka Bars." The finders of these special tickets will be given a full tour of his tightly guarded candy factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate. The contest sets off a global craze, with everyone desperately seeking the tickets. They are eventually found by five children from around the world: Augustus Gloop from West Germany, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teevee from the United States, and Veruca Salt and Charlie Bucket from the United Kingdom.

Before the tour of the factory can begin, Willy insists the participants sign a confidentiality form. As the children and their guardians enter the chocolate factory, among the many wonders seen, they notice strange looking people whom Wonka introduces as Oompa-Loompas, Willy Wonka's short, orange, green haired workers whom he saved from the wild beasts of Loompaland.

The Chocolate Room is the first room encountered in the tour. Wonka States that everything in this room is edible: the pavements, the bushes, even the grass. In reality, only about 50 percent of the things in the room were edible. There are trees made of taffy that grow jelly apples, bushes that sprout lollipops, mushrooms that spurt whipped cream, pumpkins filled with sugar cubes instead of seeds, jelly bean stalks, and even spotty candy cubes. The main features of the room is the Chocolate River where the chocolate is mixed and churned by waterfall. Willy Wonka proclaims, "There is no factory in the world that mixes its chocolate by waterfall." Pipes that are connected to the ceiling suck up the chocolate and send it to other rooms of the factory; Augustus Gloop is sucked into the pipe to the Fudge Room after falling into the river while drinking from it.

The Inventing Room is the second room that the tour goes through. Mr. Wonka states that all of his ideas are simmering and bubbling in this room, and that Slugworth will give his false teeth to stay inside for five minutes. The room is home to Wonka's new (and still insufficiently tested) candies, such as Everlasting Gobstoppers, exploding candy and Wonka's greatest idea so far, The Three-Course Dinner Chewing Gum. This gum is a three course dinner all in itself, "Tomato Soup", Roast Beef & Baked Potato, and the dessert, Blueberry Pie". However, once the chewer gets to the dessert, there is a side effect: they turn into a giant "blueberry". This happens to Violet Beauregarde after she rashly grabs and consumes the experimental gum. Violet is subsequently taken to the Juicing Room to be squeezed before she explodes. The tour then leaves the Inventing Room.

Wonka shows them lickable wallpapers for nursery walls, and then shows them the Fizzy Lifting Room where he refuses to allow anyone to drink his Fizzy Lifting Drinks, since he needs more tests on them, and then leads the tour to another part of the room, unaware that Charlie and Grandpa Joe remain behind, and almost got themselves killed after they drank Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Wonka shows the tour the third room, the Golden Egg Room where geese lay giant golden chocolate eggs either deemed to be a good egg or a bad egg by the Eggdicator. Veruca Salt badly wants the goose, but Wonka refuses to give Veruca or her father one of his geese, causing Veruca to start singing about how she wants to have her ways whilst trashing some of the room. As she finishes singing, the Eggdicator that she is standing on sends her straight down to the garage chute. Wonka states that "She was a bad egg", and informs Mr. Salt that Veruca would go through the chute to the furnace, but she would be stuck just inside the tube, prompting her father to dive down the Eggdicator to rescue Veruca. Wonka reveals that the furnace is normally lit on every other day, giving Veruca and her father the chance to escape.

Whilst travelling to the forth room of the factory, Wonka shows off his Wonkamobile that transports the tour to another part of the factory, foam sprays Wonka and the guests, until they are dry-cleaned through the Hsawaknow ("Wonkawash" spelt backwards), and advises everyone to put on white jumpsuits and goggles, knowing there are dangerous equipment inside the Television Room. He demonstrates Wonkavision, his latest and greatest invention which can shrink a bigger-than life chocolate bar to a regular sized chocolate bar. Mike Teevee is fascinated by this, and request that people should try it out, Wonka considers this and quotes that "there might be some messy results", Mike then shrinks himself with the invention. Wonka requires to a distressed Mrs. Teevee that her son is be stretched back to his normal size with a taffy-pulling machine, before dismissing Mrs. Teevee away who is beginning to faint.

After Charlie and Grandpa Joe are the only ones left, Wonka dismisses them, stating them he has important things to do: pay bills, reply back to mail, etc. Wonka goes to his office and works silently with a cigar. Grandpa Joe and Charlie enter his office and Grandpa Joe asks him why he hasn't promised Charlie "the lifetime supply of chocolate", Wonka refuses, revealing that Grandpa Joe and Charlie had violated the contract, yelling at the top of his lungs that they stole Fizzy Lifting Drinks, bumping into the ceiling which will now have to be washed and sterilized, and allowing Tom and Jerry to enter the factory before finally dismissing them "Good day, sir!" Grandpa Joe first calls Wonka out for crashing Charlie's dreams, before Wonka shouts at Joe again saying "I said good day!". Charlie and Grandpa Joe prepare to leave and plan to give the gobstopper to Slugworth, but Charlie turns in the gobstopper to Wonka by placing it on the desk. Wonka, seeing the errors of his own ways, turns to Charlie and truly congratulates him, revealing that his rant was only a test, Slugworth is actually Mr. Wilkinson, and plans to give Charlie the grand prize.

Wonka leads both Charlie and Joe to his Wonkavator, he allows Charlie to press the "Up and Out" button, which the Wonkavator transports the three out of the factory and into the air while Tom and Jerry follow them using Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Wonka reveals that he is giving the factory to Charlie, allowing his family to move in, and tells Charlie that he always wanted a child to run his factory when Wonka retires.

Differences from the original character[]

Relationships[]

WARNER BROS. WIKI LOGO
Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki has an article focusing on the relationships of Willy Wonka.

Quotes[]

WARNER BROS. WIKI LOGO
Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki has a collection of quotes said by Willy Wonka.

Gallery[]

WARNER BROS. WIKI LOGO
Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Willy Wonka.

Trivia[]

  • One scene in particular of actor Gene Wilder as the character in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory inspired an internet meme known as "Condescending Wonka".


v - e - d
Wonka logo
Media
Films: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (soundtrack/video) • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (soundtrack/video) • Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (video) • Wonka (soundtrack/video) • Wonka 2 (soundtrack/video)
Video games: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Books: Wonka
Characters
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Willy WonkaCharlie BucketGrandpa JoeAugustus GloopViolet BeauregardeVeruca SaltMike TeaveeArthur SlugworthMr. TurkentineOompa-LoompasMrs. BucketMr. BucketMrs. GloopMr. GloopMrs. TeaveeMr. TeaveeMrs. BeauregardeMr. BeauregardeMrs. SaltMr. SaltGrandma GeorginaGrandpa GeorgeGrandma JosephineWinkelmannTinkerMr. Jopeck
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Prince PondicherryPrincess PondicherryWilbur WonkaShopkeeperProdnoseFicklegruber
Wonka: NoodleChief-of-PoliceMrs. WonkaMrs. ScrubittFather JuliusMiss Bon BonAbacus CrunchBleacherPiper BenzLarry ChucklesworthLottie BellOfficer AffableBasilBarbaraGwennieThe CountessShip CaptainDorothy SmithFruit & Vegetable VendorColinSinister Ship CaptainLoftyAbigail the Giraffe
Locations
Bucket HouseWilly Wonka's FactoryWilbur Wonka's HouseNew DelhiIndiaTokyoJapanMarrakechMoroccoNew York CityGermanyEnglandAtlantaGeorgiaDenverColoradoBill's Candy ShopGaleries GourmetScrubbit & Bleacher Bilk LaneWilly Wonka's Chocolate Shop
Songs
Original: The Candy ManCheer Up, CharlieI've Got a Golden TicketPure ImaginationOompa LoompaThe Wondrous Boat RideI Want It Now

Second Adaptation: Wonka's Welcome SongAugustus GloopViolet BeauregardeVeruca SaltMike Teavee
Prequel: A Hatful of DreamsYou've Never Had Chocolate Like ThisScrub ScrubSweet ToothFor a MomentA World of Your OwnSorry, Noodle

Objects
Wonka BarGolden TicketEverlasting GobstopperScrumdiddlyumptiousWonka's Magic Chewing GumWhipple-Scrumptious Fudge-Mallow DelightLickable WallpaperBluebird's Egg CandyWonkavatorChocolate Extraction Pipe
See also
Paramount PicturesWarner Bros.Village Roadshow PicturesWolper Pictures, Ltd.The Quaker Oats CompanyThe Willy Wonka Candy CompanyPlan B EntertainmentThe Zanuck CompanyTurner EntertainmentMusical


v - e - d
Tom and Jerry
Media
Animated shorts: Tom and Jerry

Television series: The Tom and Jerry Show (1975)The Tom and Jerry Comedy ShowTom & Jerry KidsTom and Jerry TalesThe Tom and Jerry Show (2014)
Specials: Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo CelebrationTom and Jerry: The Mansion CatTom and Jerry: Santa's Little Helpers
Films: Tom and Jerry: The MovieTom and Jerry: The Magic RingTom and Jerry: Blast Off to MarsTom and Jerry: The Fast and the FurryTom and Jerry: Shiver Me WhiskersTom and Jerry: A Nutcracker TaleTom and Jerry Meet Sherlock HolmesTom and Jerry & The Wizard of OzTom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry MouseTom and Jerry's Giant AdventureTom and Jerry: The Lost DragonTom and Jerry: Spy QuestTom and Jerry: Back to OzTom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate FactoryTom and JerryTom and Jerry: Cowboy Up!Tom and Jerry: Snowman's Land

Main Characters
Tom CatJerry Mouse
Other characters
Spike BulldogTyke BulldogMammy Two ShoesButch CatToodles GaloreTuffy MouseDroopyBarney BearLightning CatMeathead CatTopsy CatQuackerFluff, Muff and PuffGeorge and JoanGeorge and Joan's BabyTootsZuriCherie MouseTaraDevil DogScrewy SquirrelMeathead DogGeorge and JuniorRedSlick McWolfButch DogGatekeeper ConductorDollfaceRed HerringSabrinaAmbroseGopher BrokeGopher Broke IICat BullyWild MouseBlast-Off BuzzardCrazy Legs SnakeMerli
Movie characters
The Alley Cat GangStraycatchersDr. ApplecheekPristine FiggLickbootFerdinand
Guest/Crossovers characters
Dorothy GaleTotoScarecrowTin WoodmanCowardly LionGlinda the Good Witch of the NorthThe Wicked Witch of the WestThe Wizard of OzAunt EmUncle HenryMiss Almira GulchProfessor MarvelHunkHickoryZekeFlying MonkeysThe Munchkins
Locations
Heavenly Express
Songs
Video games
Video games:
People
Jeremy Crutchley
Other
Home video
Companies and Distributors
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studioMGM Animation/Visual ArtsTurner EntertainmentHanna-BarberaWarner Bros.Miramax FilmsWarner Bros. AnimationWarner Bros. TelevisionWarner Home VideoWarner Archive CollectionTaft BroadcastingWorldvision EnterprisesMGM TelevisionTurner Program ServicesFilmation
Advertisement