Willy Wonka

This article is about the fictional character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For the candy company, see, The Willy Wonka Candy Company.

Willy Wonka is a fictional character in the 1964 Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the film adaptations that followed.

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A musical film adaptation of Dahl's book Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, titled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, was directed by Mel Stuart and starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It was released in 1971. It was originally a box office disappointment, but has since been considered a children's classic by critics, and has attracted a worldwide audience. This film added some dialogue with references to poetry, including Shakespeare, that were not in the novel. The film also included a rival chocolate maker offering the children money if they betrayed Wonka and provided him with an Everlasting Gobstopper, but this turns out to be a morality test set by Wonka to determine the finders' worth. Another departure from the novel had Charlie disobeying Willy Wonka with the encouragement of Grandpa Joe and drinking a soda that made them drift up to the ceiling, although they were able to cancel out the effects before they floated out of the room. It appears that Wonka is unaware of Charlie's transgression, but at the end of the tour he reveals that he knew all along and denies Charlie of the prize. An enraged Grandpa Joe declares that he will give Slugworth the Gobstopper in revenge, but Charlie refuses to betray Wonka and sets it on his desk. This prompts Wonka to clear Charlie of his misdeed and declare him the new owner of his factory when he retires.