VIDEO : Gene Wilder's Co-Star Shares Memories Of The Late Comedian

Peter Ostrum Steve Granitz/WireImage; Photofest Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket in 1971's 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,' says the late acting giant used the element of surprise to keep the young cast on its feet. No one has more vivid, Technicolor memories of Gene Wilder's mad genius than Peter Ostrum, who was chosen at age 12 from a pool of thousands of young hopefuls to play Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl's dark children's story.