Paramount Pictures
Actress Denise Nickerson, who played bubblegum blowing Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has passed away, aged 62.
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Denise had suffered a stroke in June 2018, and had never fully recovered.
The star was hospitalised this week due to pneumonia, and subsequently suffered multiple seizures.
Her son, Joshua, and daughter-in-law, Jasmine, made the announcement of her death on a Facebook page they had set up to provide updates to her fans on her condition.
“She’s gone,” the post read.
An earlier post by the couple gave more details of her deteriorating condition.
“They just took off all the equipment. None of it was helping, but making her only more uncomfortable,” they wrote.
“We’re telling her it’s okay to let go.”
The couple had made an earlier plea for fans to donate to Denise via a GoFundMe page.
“We need help. We cannot afford to pay for death expenses. Although she had the fame and notoriety, there is no inheritance. No life insurance. No end of life nest egg,” they wrote on the funding page, along with updates on Denise’s condition.
They reported that she had suffered from seizures shortly after being admitted into the hospital and later entered a “coma-like” state.
“We are heartbroken and reliving a grief we’ve lived every single day since she had the stroke over a year ago,” they shared.
Denise was a young teen when she played the sassy, bubble-gum blowing Violet who turns into a giant blueberry in the 1971 movie of the iconic children’s book, opposite Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka.
She also appeared on Sesame Street companion series The Electric Company and on Dark Shadows. Denise retired from acting age 21.
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