IT’S been a staggering 54 years since iconic children’s film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang burst on to our screens, and it’s still a popular family classic even now.
Released in 1968, the film centres around a magical flying car, invented by Dick Van Dyke’s character, Caractacus Potts.
Potts, together with his two children and romantic interest Truly Scrumptious, embark on a magical adventure to a land ruled by an evil Baron who locks up kids caught by the sinister Childcatcher.
The film is based on James Bond author Ian Fleming’s novel, and the screenplay was co-written by famous author Roald Dahl.
Here, we take a look at what happened to the main cast, over half a century on from the film’s release.
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Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke played the role of inventor Caractacus Potts, and his memorable roles meant he became one of the most famous actors in Hollywood, with a career spanning seven decades.
The 96-year-old was already a household name from playing Bert the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins, but the success of Chitty cemented his legendary status.
Among his accolades, Dick has won a Grammy, Tony and five Primetime Emmy Awards and he has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
He has also starred in the self-titled The Dick Van Dyke show, Night at the Museum, Curious George and Dick Tracy.
Most recently, he was spotted out and about with wife Arlene Silver, 50, and earlier this year they celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary.
In his autobiography, Van Dyke revealed he repeatedly turned down the role of Potts and had to be bribed with a seven figure sum. He added that he disliked the movie, saying: “I know the film is beloved by many but for me it lacked the magic of Mary Poppins, which its producer had hoped to emulate.”
Heather Ripley
Heather was eight years old when she played cute blonde Jemima Potts but life was far from Truly Scrumptious after the film ended.
As a teenager, Heather ran away from her Dundee home after her parents’ split, which she blamed on her global fame.
“For a long time I blamed the split of my family on the film,” she later said.
“As an eight-year-old it was a natural conclusion to reach, that it must be the film’s fault.
“But I am now beginning to realise that there are some problems in my family that have nothing to do with the film.”
After leaving home she became an activist and lived in makeshift peace camps where she raised two children, daughter Josie and son Cosmo.
In 1984, she was arrested during a protest at the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland after lying down in the road to block traffic but she was released without charge after 15 hours in custody.
She eventually settled down in her hometown of Dundee but in 1999, she faced a legal battle with her family after her aunt and uncle attempted to get her evicted from her grandmother’s house.
Seven years later she was arrested for driving without a licence.
Now 63, she made a brief return to acting in 2020, voicing a character in a short animation called Lavatory of Terror.
Sally Ann Howes
Sally Ann played Truly Scrumptious, the daughter of a confectionery magnate, and performed classic songs including Toot Sweets and Hushabye Mountain and Doll On A Music Box, performed as she span in a giant musical box.
She later told US TV show host and actress Rosie O’Donnell she was proud to get the music box routine down in one take, especially as she had lied about being able to dance in order to get the role.
After her success on-screen in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she returned to her first love, the theatre.
“I would have liked a film career, but I didn’t pursue it – I just loved connecting with an audience,” she once said.
“The theatre is a drug. The problem is that to be remembered, you have to do films.”
Sally Ann adopted the children of first husband, Richard Adler, in 1964 but they divorced soon after.
She was married to literary agent Douglas Rae from 1972 until his death in September 2021.
The British star died in Palm Beach in December, aged 91.
Adrian Hall
Adrian Hall captured the nation’s heart in his first screen role as Jeremy Potts.
He went to grammar school after finding fame in the film, before attending drama school at 18.
But he later blamed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for his failure to land more roles.
He said: “I know that it stopped me being considered for roles. People only think you’re a child actor.”
He eventually gave up acting to work as a teacher at the Guildford School of Drama.
Adrian, also 63, has two sons from his former dancer wife Barbara and was most recently Principal of London’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, until 2021.
Robert Helpmann
Before taking on the sinister role of the Childcatcher, Australian-born Robert was already and award-winning ballet dancer, frequently partnered with the legendary Margot Fonteyn.
He was principal dancer at Sadler’s Wells Ballet from 1933 to 1950 and went on to become the director of the Australian Ballet Company.
He was awarded a knighthood in 1957.
During the production of Chitty, Helpmann put his young co-stars as ease by making them laugh between takes, meaning they often struggled to keep a straight face when the cameras rolled.
Lifelong smoker Sir Robert died in 1986, at age the age of 77, from emphysema.
He was given the rare honour of a state funeral in Sydney, Australia.
Lionel Jeffries
Despite playing Grandpa Potts, the eccentric dad of Professor Potts, Lionel Jeffries was six months younger than Dick Van Dyke in real life.
Jeffries already had a string of hits behind him, including the Trial of Oscar Wilde and Two-Way Stretch, when he starred in the film.
He went on to write and direct children’s films, including the 1970 movie The Railway Children.
Jeffries retired from acting in 2001 and his health declined in the following years. He died on 19 February 2010, at a nursing home in Poole Dorset at the age of 83. He suffered from vascular dementia for the last twelve years of his life.
He was married to Eileen Mary Walsh from 1951 until his death. They had a son and two daughters.
Gert Frobe
German actor Frobe famously starred as villain Auric Goldfinger in the 1964 James Bond film, opposite Sean Connery, before taking the role of the comical child-hating Baron Bonburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
His other screen credits include Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines in 1965 and the 1969 classic Monte Carlo or Bust.
After he found fame, it was discovered that he had joined the Nazi party at age 16, although he left in 1937, before World War II.
Israel temporarily banned Frobe’s films until Mario Blumenau, a Jewish survivor, revealed eight weeks later that his life and his mother’s were probably saved when Frobe hid them from the Nazis.
He died at the age of 75, in 1988, after suffering a heart attack.
Anna Quayle
The Birmingham-born actress played Baroness Bomburst and enjoyed a successful acting career, starring in James and The Giant Peach and the children’s show Grub Street.
In 1982, she took on the role of a nun in the series Father Charlie and from 1990 to 1994 she starred as teacher Miss Monroe in Grange Hill.
She died in 2019, at the age of 86, after suffering dementia.
Barbara Windsor
Although she had already starred in her first Carry On film foour years before, National treasure Babs was simply credited as ‘Blonde’ in the classic movie.
In a career spanning six decades the bubbly Londoner with the raucous laugh starred in 12 Carry On Films, opposite legendary comic Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtry.
She went on to pull pints in the Queen Vic, starring as the formidable Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders from 1994 to 2016.
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She quit the soap after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, becoming a campaigner for sufferers in the final years of her life with devoted husband Scott Mitchell.
Babs passed away in December 2020, aged 83.
