Deadpool Detective Work

[Ulitzer95 13,131]

The GRO Index is now publicly searchable through 2023 births/deaths for anyone interested.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp

[The Daredevil 1,232]

Anyone have anything on Famous Five actress, Michele Gallagher?

 

Rumours she was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident and committed suicide in 2000, but nothing concrete.

[Ulitzer95 13,131]

13 minutes ago, The Daredevil said:

Anyone have anything on Famous Five actress, Michele Gallagher?

 

Rumours she was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident and committed suicide in 2000, but nothing concrete.

 

GALLAGHER, MICHELE  BARBARA	1964
GRO Reference:  DOR  Q1/2001 in WESTMINSTER  (2581C)  Reg C51C  Entry Number 70

IMDb says 2000. Death was registered in the first quarter of 2001, so died late 2000/early 2001, likely in London. Obviously can't verify the cause but chatter on threads here and here tend to confirm suicide. At least one user there was in contact with her son, Sean.

No reason to doubt any of this, she simply wasn't notable enough to merit an obituary at the time so the news went unnoticed.

[Spade_Cooley 9,712]

Has there ever been any concrete effort to find "Rudy Borgstaller"? He's the only unaccounted for of the ten actors who played Oompa-Loompas in the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (seven dead, two still alive). He was the one with the thin face:

 

 

Internet has absolutely zero information on him. It also has absolutely zero information on anyone else with the surname "Borgstaller", which makes me think it was either a stage name or it was just written down wrong somewhere 54 years ago and nobody has rectified it since. Although he's listed as "American" on most sites, he is down as "German" on a couple, and Willy Wonka  was filmed in Germany, so... 

[YoungWillz 21,617]

6 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Has there ever been any concrete effort to find "Rudy Borgstaller"? He's the only unaccounted for of the ten actors who played Oompa-Loompas in the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (seven dead, two still alive). He was the one with the thin face:

 

 

Internet has absolutely zero information on him. It also has absolutely zero information on anyone else with the surname "Borgstaller", which makes me think it was either a stage name or it was just written down wrong somewhere 54 years ago and nobody has rectified it since. Although he's listed as "American" on most sites, he is down as "German" on a couple, and Willy Wonka  was filmed in Germany, so... 

 

On 09/04/2020 at 21:44, Ulitzer95 said:

I think this was settled the other year when a link was posted somewhere to an interview with Rusty Goffe saying that himself Dixon and Wilkinson were the last three still living.

I think one or two of the others are missing bio details on IMDb too. Likely that appearing in the film was a one off role for them and they died in obscurity. Quite a few of them were pretty old at the time it was filmed as well.

From 4 years ago on the Munchkins etc Thread.

 

So who knows? Nobody's picking him for anything soon.

[Surprise Demise 99]

23 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Has there ever been any concrete effort to find "Rudy Borgstaller"? He's the only unaccounted for of the ten actors who played Oompa-Loompas in the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (seven dead, two still alive). He was the one with the thin face:

 

 

Internet has absolutely zero information on him. It also has absolutely zero information on anyone else with the surname "Borgstaller", which makes me think it was either a stage name or it was just written down wrong somewhere 54 years ago and nobody has rectified it since. Although he's listed as "American" on most sites, he is down as "German" on a couple, and Willy Wonka  was filmed in Germany, so... 

I'd hazard a guess his last name was actually Burgstaller - it's an Austrian surname and that's the usual spelling. 

But there's also this grave in Munich (where the movie was filmed) for a "Rudolf Purgstaller" who lived from 1933 to 2006. Would seem to fit well (although that would be a rough look for someone in their late 30s), but there's basically no way to verify it's him and not some other guy with the name.

[Ulitzer95 13,131]

22 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Has there ever been any concrete effort to find "Rudy Borgstaller"? He's the only unaccounted for of the ten actors who played Oompa-Loompas in the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (seven dead, two still alive). He was the one with the thin face:

 

 

Internet has absolutely zero information on him. It also has absolutely zero information on anyone else with the surname "Borgstaller", which makes me think it was either a stage name or it was just written down wrong somewhere 54 years ago and nobody has rectified it since. Although he's listed as "American" on most sites, he is down as "German" on a couple, and Willy Wonka  was filmed in Germany, so... 

Goffe has confirmed on multiple occasions that the others are dead. It's just him and Albert Wilkinson left alive. Wilkinson is 87 this year so old for a dwarf actor.

From the pictures of Borgstaller we can tell that he was already old when appearing in the film. The film was shot 55 years ago. The man above looks to be in his 50s or 60s.

The closest thing I can find on Ancestry is a Heinrich R. Burgstaller (note the slight name variation), who married in London in 1967, remarried in Surrey in 1980, then just dropped off the face of the earth. It looks like he was from Austria, not Germany. I think he probably returned there then died... if that even is him.