Nev. Man Admits Lying About 'Wonka' Role

RENO, Nev. - A man who long claimed to have played one of Willy Wonka's Ooompa Loompas in the original 1971 motion picture now admits he was lying.

Ezzy Dame, a high-fashion hairdresser and art enthusiast, confessed Tuesday in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal. He said the false claim seemed harmless at the time but grew into a beast of a deception.

"It was not for fame or glory," said Dame, 57, of Reno. "I never made a profit or earned a financial gain from this."

Dame said he was 23, 4 feet tall and weighed 90 pounds at the time. He was looking for an acting job in Los Angeles, but parts for little actors were rare. He said his agent told him to pad his resume with an acting credit from Mel Stuart's 1971 film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

The movie was Dame's favorite. He watched it religiously, partly because it portrayed little actors in a positive way. And he needed to watch so he could embellish his story.

"There is something so special when a child looks at a little person and they're not scared or feel that they're looking at a freak. When you say you played that part, they look at you and smile. They see you as a human being," he told the newspaper.

"I never intended to harm anyone or my community by this little white lie. It was a little white lie that became my haunted nightmare."

Two stories were published in Reno newspapers in 2003 with Dame commenting on the role he played as an Oompa Loompa.

A third story, published July 16 in the Reno Gazette-Journal, shined the spotlight brighter on Dame, as he watched and commented on Tim Burton's remake, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and compared the two films from an Oompa Loompa's perspective.

That's when the claim came to the attention of Rusty Goffe, credited in Stuart's film as an original Oompa Loompa.

"There were only 10 original Oompa Loompas," Goffe of England wrote in an e-mail to the Gazette-Journal.

"Six English guys, one English girl, one Turkish, one Maltese and one German. Unfortunately, six of them are now dead. And the girl is in a retirement home here in England. She is very old and now blind so I do like to keep her privacy. All are in poor health. I hope you understand."

"I guess Ezzy is a nice guy," he wrote. "But we have to be loyal and truthful to the fans."

Yep...can't get much lower than lying about portraying fictional midgets in a movie... n67uftr56

Think of the limbo contests he could win though....

Or the jobs he could get..like the guy that cleans teh gum and boogers off of school desks...I mean, to be able to do that without having to get on your hands and knees..he'd make a fortune...it's shit work, but I bet it would pay well.... beyhg456y

He could pioneer in it....

Yep...won't be as sexy as saying you were an Oompa Loompa, but he wouldn't have to be lie about it.... 67i47

He could go to work in a bar with low ceilings...can't ya just see him walking literally along the bar serving drinks and lighting cigs without ever having to worry about hitting his head on the ceiling....

Or he could light his hair on fire, and go around lighting the cigars for the customers WHILE pouring their drinks... 7urjj

Only you.......

I'm just thinking about bar effieciency...I mean, you've got a bartender, cigar lighter, and live entertainment rolled up into one...that's how you're supposed to do it...multi tasking... g6wvuymh87

It'd HAVE to be a female then...

Probably..all I know is, it ain't me.... nb5e67


Nite all..be back later on...gotta go home and cut my yard... rtgh6

Have fun mowing the yard...when you're done you can come do mine...