Roald Dahl wanted Charlie Bucket, the lead character in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, to be black, his widow Liccy and official biographer, Donald Sturrock, have said.
Dahl’s famous novel was released in 1964 before it was adapted into movies in 1971 and 2005. Despite the author, who died in November 1990, envisioning Charlie as being black, the book’s protagonist was ultimately written as a white boy.
Liccy Dahl spoke out about the casting decisions in a BBC Radio interview on Wednesday, which was the 101st anniversary of the novelist’s birth.
She explained: “His first Charlie that he wrote about was a little black boy.”
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She added that the character was inspired by American sensibilities and that it was a shame Dahl’s wishes couldn’t be granted at that time.
Sturrock, Dahl’s biographer, continued: “It was his agent who thought it was a bad idea, when the book was first published, to have a black hero. She said, ‘People would ask why.’”
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Following on from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”‘s success, Dahl also wrote the sequel “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”, written in 1971 and published in 1972.
The story was originally inspired by Dahl’s experiences at chocolate companies during his school days, with Cadbury often sending test packages to the children in exchange for their opinions on the new products.
