Actors Considered to Play Willy Wonka

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/reference/

Gene Wilder ... Willy Wonka

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/trivia/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/trivia/?item=tr0732204

Several actors were offered the role of Wonka before Gene Wilder:

Joel Grey was first choice for the role of Willy Wonka, 
but was not considered physically imposing enough.

Roald Dahl's original choice to play Willy Wonka was Spike Milligan.

Peter Sellers was desperate to play the role,  and even begged Dahl for approval.

The role was offered to Ron Moody, who declined it.

Jon Pertwee had to turn down the role 
because he was in the tight schedule of Doctor Who (1963) at the time.

Sidney James and Kenneth Williams showed interest in the role.

Frankie Howerd was offered the role,

but scheduling conflicts with Up Pompeii (1971) and

The Chastity Belt (1972) forced him to turn down the role.

Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, and Michael Crawford were also considered for the role.

All six performing members of Monty Python - Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin -

had expressed great interest in playing the role, but they were deemed not big enough names for an international audience.

Cleese, Idle, and Palin were considered for the same role in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

Eric Idle recorded the audio version of the book.

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