Charlie and the Veterinary Hospital

Charlie and the Veterinary Hospital

                The world lost a great comic actor last week—the incomparable Gene Wilder.  Mr. Wilder made numerous movies, but he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Willy Wonka in 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  What does this have to do with veterinary medicine aside from a reminder not to feed your dog chocolate?  Well, it so happens that Wilder’s young costar, Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket--finder of that last fateful golden ticket--grew up to be a veterinarian.

                Charlie Bucket, protagonist of the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fanciful tale is Ostrum’s one and only film role.  While he has said he thoroughly enjoyed the close-knit family atmosphere on the set while living in Germany during filming, Ostrum found that acting was not easy and decided he was meant for another path. 

                Young Peter purchased a horse with some of his earnings from the movie and worked as a stable hand.  Ostrum said, “I can remember the veterinarian coming out and taking care of the horses, and it made a huge impression on me.  This person really enjoyed what he did for a living.  Someone making a living from something he enjoyed rally sparked my interest.”  Ostrum did consider pursuing acting, but said he would have always had in the back of his mind, “you should’ve tried to get into veterinary school.”¹ And so he did.

Dr. Ostrum graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984 and still practices at Countryside Animal Clinic in upstate New York specializing in large animal medicine. 

                Dr. Ostrum certainly could have had a great life as an actor, and I am sure a film career would have been much more glamorous than burying one’s arm in the wrong end of a cow on a daily basis.  But there is little doubt he makes a difference every day in the lives of the farmers he works for and the animals he treats.  To quote Shakespeare a la Willy Wonka, “So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

                The life of a veterinarian is not a life of pure imagination, but there is no question for Dr. Ostrum and for most of us who have chosen veterinary medicine as our profession, it can be a sweet life indeed.   As Willy Wonka says to young Charlie, “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted…he lived happily ever after.”  It seems Dr. Ostrum is doing just that.

                This blog brought to you by the Patton Veterinary Hospital serving Red Lion, York and the surrounding communities.

1.  “Dr. Ostrum and the Chocolate Factory,” AVMA.org, American Veterinary Medical Association, 1 November,  2000.  (https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/s110100g.aspx)