A CHILD star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory looked unrecognizable on a rare outing after vanishing from public life.
The 1971 movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is now something of a classic.
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While it spawned a remake in 2005 starring Johnnie Depp and a prequel film in 2023 with Timothee Chalamet as Wonka, the original still holds a special place in many hearts.
It saw Gene Wilder play the eccentric Willy Wonka, while Peter Ostrum played Charlie Bucket.
He was joined by a cast of fellow child actors to play the other competition winners Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop, Mike Teevee and Violet Beauregarde.
While many remained in the spotlight after the film’s success, others disappeared, including Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee.
However, the former child star was pictured on a rare outing this week, dressed casually in jeans, a faded red T-shirt and trainers.
Paris decided to step away from the limelight when he was a teen, saying he just wanted ‘to be a kid’.
While he did return to the industry sporadically as an adult for commercials and occasionally TV appearances, he also set up a travel service arranging charter flights to Europe for backpackers called Access International.
He even appeared on an episode of Jeopardy! in 2018, but failed to mention his starring role in the cult film.
However, Paris also attends conventions to sign autographs for fans of the movie.
He previously said: “The film was also not hugely popular at the time. It grew in popularity around the ’80s.
“They were showing it once a year on TV and it started to get cult status.
“So, now we can look back and go, ‘Wow, I was working with all these great people. Look at how much talent is all in that one place.’
“But at the time, we didn’t have that perspective. It’s only in hindsight that we really can recognize that in many ways we were really lucky to be in this wonderful film.”
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