Golden Age Casting Choices

Here's some light-hearted fare for you.  Actually, at the last minute I decided not to publish something I wrote (a first for here) and I had nothing else of any real substance ready.  But I did have this and a couple more for just such occasions.  What we have is a number of films that could have looked a bit different had the actors who were first considered actually gotten the roles.  See what you think.  

The Rainmaker (1956)

Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn

Before he made any movies, Elvis Presley auditioned for the role of Joe Starbuck.  It was hard to imagine him sharing a scene with Hepburn so producer Hal Wallis decided to hire William Holden.  But Lancaster, under contract to Wallis, said he was made for the role and obviously Wallis agreed.

The Razor's Edge (1946)

Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter

The role of the alcoholic Sophie would become an Oscar winner for Baxter but she was not the first choice.  Judy Garland was the original choice and she wanted it but her home studio, MGM, would not release her to 20th Century Fox.  Their own Betty Grable was then cornered but she didn't think her devoted fans would accept her in such a role.  Maureen O'Hara, Alice Faye and Susan Hayward all rejected it.

Detective Story (1951)

Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker

There's little doubt that Douglas had one of his best roles as hard-nosed detective Jim McLeod but even he read that Alan Ladd had been given the role.  As Douglas was trying to get someone's attention on him, he heard Charlton Heston was going to do it.  Luckily, that didn't work out.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe

Everyone was running around acting nuts over who was going to play the charming gold-digger Lorelei Lee.  In hindsight, it seems unimaginable that anyone other than MM would be considered but Judy Holliday, Betty Hutton and Betty Grable were.

All the King's Men (1949)

Broderick Crawford, Joanne Dru

Columbia's head honcho wanted Spencer Tracy for the role of Willie Stark but director Robert Rossen thought Tracy might be perceived as being too nice.  No one ever thought that about Columbia contractee, Crawford, who won an Oscar for his efforts.

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire

It's hard to imagine that Bing Crosby, Jean Arthur (who had retired from acting) and James Dean were wanted for the leads.  Thankfully the Crosby idea fell through and Cooper was hired.  Katharine Hepburn was then wanted for the wife but she was filming in Italy.  Vivien Leigh and Ingrid Bergman also declined.  Great actresses all but none are right for the part.  Jane Wyman, Eleanor Parker and Maureen O'Hara were all considered before McGuire was selected.  Director William Wyler was probably unhappy.  He and McGuire didn't get along at all.

Come Back Little Sheba (1952)

Shirley Booth, Burt Lancaster, Terry Moore

Hal Wallis wanted Bette Davis for the role of the put-upon wife Lola and Davis agreed.  But then she saw Shirley Booth in the role on Broadway and told Wallis that no one but Booth should play the movie role.  Booth ended up getting the part and winning an Oscar.  Davis knew she made a boo-boo.

Serenade (1956)

Mario Lanza, Joan Fontaine, Sarita Montiel

As opera hopeful Lanza's lover and benefactress, Fontaine did well in the role.  I feel my temples pulsating contemplating original choice Tallulah Bankhead in the role.

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty

They are the only two people who could have been Deedee and Bud.  The only two!  Of course their subsequent love affair added all the Valentines the film needed.  How about Lee Remick and Troy Donahue?  They were originally considered and then it was Donahue and Jane Fonda.  Fonda was too tough for the fragile lead and Donahue... well, never mind.

Charade (1963)

Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn

Hepburn was first offered the role and said she would only do it if Grant did.  But Grant was otherwise occupied so that casting fell through.  Director Stanley Donen then suggested Beatty and Wood,  so hot in the above film and in life, would be ripe for a comedy.  But then Grant became free and Hepburn said let's go.

Kiss Me Kate (1953)

Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller

Can you imagine Laurence Olivier lip-synching to Grayson?  Well, I can't either but that was originally the brainchild of some loose cannon at MGM.  Thankfully they came to their senses and hired Keel who was delightful opposite Grayson in Show Boat two years earlier.

King's Row (1942)

Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan

There was never any idea that anyone other than Sheridan would play Randy.  But 20th Century Fox would not release either of its big stars, Henry Fonda or Tyrone Power, to play Parris so Robert Cummings got the role of his career.  Jack Carson and Robert Preston were in line for the part of Drake but it went to Ronald Reagan, in the role of his acting career, and Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland were wanted for Cassandra which went to Betty Field.

The Fountainhead (1949)

Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal

Hollywood was all giggly over the casting of the film based on Ayn Rand's famous novel about an independent architect who has trouble conforming.  Bogie and Cagney were early choices for the lead that Cooper would inherit.  The only choice for the willful Dominique was Garbo but she reminded Hollywood for the thousandth time that she had retired.  Stanwyck's name came up but the director didn't think she was sexy enough.  The part went to Neal (coincidentally Cooper's mistress).  

Forty Guns (1957)

Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan

It seems unbelievable to me that the lead role in this B western about a tough rancher was coveted by Monroe.  Apparently this director found Stanwyck sexy enough.

Laura (1944)

Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb

I cannot imagine Laura being played by anyone other than Tierney but her home studio offered it to Jennifer Jones, who worked elsewhere.  But Jones got pregnant and Tierney was ready.  The role made her world-famous.  John Hodiak was first offered the role of the detective that went to Andrews.  Laird Cregar and Monty Woolley were considered for Waldo Lydecker but Otto Preminger insisted on Clifton Webb, reigniting his long-forgotten earlier movie career.

Mogambo (1953)

Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly

There was never any doubt Gable would repeat the role he originally had in the earlier version called Red Dust.  But MGM wanted the two female leads to go to Lana Turner and Deborah Kerr.  Turner didn't want to go to Africa and director John Ford thought Kerr was too much a lady so he hired Kelly instead.  Gracie, your reputation preceded you.

The King and I (1956)

Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno

Though Brynner was a sensation on Broadway in the part, he was at first wanted to direct the film version while Brando would play the king.  Dinah Shore campaigned long and hard to play Mrs. Anna but it went to Kerr, though she couldn't sing, because, I'm guessing, she was a lady.  Dorothy Dandridge accepted the role of Tuptim until she realized the character was a slave and she declined.  Moreno said yes.

Duel in the Sun (1946)

Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck

John Wayne was originally offered the role of the randy younger son of a ruthless land baron.  The starring role of Pearl was first offered to Hedy Lamarr who was pregnant, then to Veronica Lake who refused to darken her hair and then to Teresa Wright (the writer's wife) who rightly claimed the role was beyond her.  David O. Selznick agreed to loan his wife, Jones, if Wayne were replaced.  Peck hired on for one of his most unusual roles.

Bus Stop (1956)

Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray

MM campaigned long and hard to play Cherie but 20th Century Fox was considering Broadway's Cherie, Kim Stanley, and also a bold but yummy choice of Dorothy Dandridge.  MM prevailed and then wanted Rock Hudson for the male lead but he was not interested.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard

Writers Truman Capote and George Axelrod both wanted Monroe to play Holly Golightly but 20th Century Fox wouldn't release her because they didn't want her to play a prostitute.  Of course not... she would have been horrible at it.  Steve McQueen was first offered the Peppard part.  Mmmm, now that's an interesting idea.

 

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

William Holden, Alec Guinness

Bogie, Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward were all originally considered for the role that eventually went to Guinness and won him an Oscar.   Cary Grant had been considered for the role that went to Holden who should have won the Oscar.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews

Farley Granger was signed to play one of the returning WWII vets along with March and Andrews.  But after director William Wyler saw amputee Harold Russell in a military film, he hired him for his movie debut which resulted in an Oscar.  Olivia De Havilland and Fred MacMurray turned down the two starring roles because the parts weren't large enough.  

Ball of Fire (1941)

Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck

This superlative comedy about a testy nightclub singer who is hired to teach slang to a group of stuffy professors writing a new encyclopedia is one of Stanwyck's best roles.  She was originally hired but then backed out and was replaced by Lucille Ball.  Stanwyck changed her mind and Ball was out.  What did she know about comedy?

Auntie Mame (1958) 

Rosalind Russell, Coral Browne

Browne, of course, was a scream as Mame's frenemy Vera Charles but the role was first offered to Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy fame).  Vance had scheduling problems and had to bow out.  I would have loved to have seen what she would have done.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara

Lana Turner famously left the production... she says because mean Otto Preminger was mean to her but he says it was a costume dispute.  Remick stepped into the role and became a star.  Burl Ives and Spencer Tracy were both offered the role of the judge but turned it down and Joseph Welch, a real-life attorney, famous for the McCarthy hearings, made his only movie.

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

William Holden, Gloria Swanson

Billy Wilder's choice for the role of Norma Desmond was Mae West.  She declined because she thought she was too young.  (I haven't the words...)  Montgomery Clift was hired and then reneged because he didn't think he would be convincing making love to an older woman.  (My head is full of snarky retorts but I demur.)  Fred MacMurray, Gene Kelly and Marlon Brando were all considered before Holden moved in.

To Each His Own (1946)

Olivia De Havilland, John Lund

Ginger Rogers was offered the role of an unwed mother who gives up her son but follows his progress as an adult and then changed her mind because she did not want to be a mother of an adult child.  De Havilland won an Oscar.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) 

Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell

There were only two actresses at the time who could have possibly played this whirling dervish title role.  One of them, Shirley MacLaine, apparently couldn't make the deal come alive with MGM so the other one got the part and an Oscar nomination.

Separate Tables (1958)

Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Burt Lancaster

When Terrence Rattigan's play was to become a movie, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh wanted to play the leads... there were four of them, two men, two women.  They had done so on the stage but it was deemed to be too stagey and confusing for the film.  Neither was interested in playing just one of the roles so the above stellar cast was hired to utter perfection.  Niven won an Oscar.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon

The original thought was Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and Mitzi Gaynor.  And just that thought makes me so sick I can't go on.  

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A good 40s mystery