| Michael Böllner | |
| Birth Date: | 14 September 1958[1] |
| Birth Place: | Munich, West Germany |
| Occupation: | Actor, tax accountant |
| Known For: | Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory |
Michael Böllner (born September 14, 1958) is a German former child actor known for playing Augustus Gloop in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Böllner grew up in Munich, West Germany, where he was cast for Willy Wonka and where many scenes in the movie were filmed.[2] [3] He was the only one of the five main child actors to be German, and did not speak much English at the time of filming.[2] [4] After Willy Wonka was completed, Böllner had a few minor roles on German television, but his father decided that education should be a priority.[5] [6] He subsequently gave up acting and became a tax accountant in Munich.[5] [7] By 2005, Böllner had been married and divorced.[8]
With Willy Wonka being rarely shown in Germany, Böllner was unaware of the cultural impact the film had until the mid-1990s, when the cast reconnected for the first time.[9] Other cast members got in touch with Böllner by placing an advertisement in a German newspaper that read "Augustus, Show a Sign".[9] Böllner has since regularly appeared with other cast members at fan conventions.[10] Following the 2016 death of co-star Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka, Böllner expressed regret that he had not talked with him more as an adult after his English improved.[4]
Böllner to date has not had any film roles besides Willy Wonka. He most recently appeared as himself in a TV show called Bizarre Transmissions from the Bermuda Triangle, which aired in 2015.[11] [12]
In 2023, after publishers removed the term "fat" to describe Augustus Gloop in the Roald Dahl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book on which Willy Wonka was based, Böllner publicly defended the original text and called the change unnecessary.[13]