‘Willy Wonka’ Actor Leonard Stone Dies at Age 87

Leonard Stone, who played the fast-talking father of Violet Beauregarde in 1971′s ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,’ died of cancer on Wednesday just shy of his 88th birthday.

In Gene Wilder’s classic film, Stone watches in disbelief as his perpetually gum-chewing daughter samples an experimental piece and blows up into a giant blueberry, uttering the famous line, “Violet, you’re turning violet, Violet!”

The Oregon native also played recurring characters in television series such as ‘Barney Miller,’ ‘Hill Street Blues,’ and ‘L.A. Law’ in addition to portraying Warren Buffett in the 2005 Arnold Schwarzenegger TV biopic, ‘See Arnold Run.’

[Associated Press]