Actress Denise Nickerson, best known as Violet from the 1971 film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," has died at age 62, her family said in a Facebook post late Wednesday.
"She's gone," read the post, which came days after the former child star was hospitalized for a "medical emergency," Entertainment Weekly reported.
She's gone.
Posted by Denise, Jasmine, and Josh Nickerson on Wednesday, July 10, 2019
On Monday, family members said Nickerson "had seizures this morning and is in pulmonary and respiratory distress."
"The doctors have found that she aspirated and has developed pneumonia," the family wrote on Facebook at the time.
So as a public update, Denise had a major medical emergency yesterday morning. We spent all day in the ER and she was...
Posted by Denise, Jasmine, and Josh Nickerson on Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Earlier Wednesday, the family removed Nickerson, who had a do-not-resuscitate order in place, from "basic machines" such as an IV drip and an oxygen pump "because it wasn't helping her," according to another post.
It's been a very long day. I have avoided posting updates until we had updates to provide. Denise is still here. The...
Posted by Denise, Jasmine, and Josh Nickerson on Wednesday, July 10, 2019
She died about a year after multiple news outlets reported that she had suffered a stroke.
Before she starred in "Willy Wonka" at age 13, Nickerson appeared in the television series "Dark Shadows" from 1968 to 1970. She also landed roles in "The Electric Company," "The Brady Bunch" and other shows and movies before she stopped acting in 1978, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Nickerson leaves behind a son, Josh, and a daughter-in-law, Jasmine. If you'd like to donate to the family's GoFundMe page, click here.
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