Who doesn’t love to listen to stories of actors and actresses who passed on roles over the course of the past 100 years of movie making. Lugosi as the Frankenstein Monster in 1931 is the stuff of legend as is the missing reel of test footage Lugosi supposedly filmed.
I’ll bet there’s not a single classic film buff who hasn’t heard the story that George Raft turned down nearly every role Bogie made his own in the early 1940’s from High Sierra to The Maltese Falcon to Casablanca.
Are they fact or partly fiction? If you know the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance then you’ll know this quote, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”
Maybe I should be writing a book on this subject going decade by decade on just who was up for key roles we are all familiar with but somehow either passed up or the studio/producer opted for someone else. I’ve heard the story that Sinatra broke a wrist and bowed out of Dirty Harry. Or how about Peter Ustinov backing out of playing Inspector Clouseau at the last second allowing Peter Sellers to move in to his most identifiable role in 1963’s The Pink Panther. Mitchum as Patton. John Hurt as Ghandi. Mary Pickford as Norma Desmond and on and on…
Well let’s have some fun with a look at 7 films I’ve picked out to ponder what might have been.
Errol Flynn was well on his way thanks to the success of 1935’s Captain Blood followed by The Charge of the Light Brigade. Robin Hood was just around the corner and Flynn will always remain the screen’s greatest Robin of Loxley who takes refuge in Sherwood Forest and claims the hand of Maid Marian essayed by the beautiful Olivia de Havilland. However Flynn was no shoe in to play the man in the green tights. Apparently as early as 1935 it was James Cagney who was set to play the role but could it have been his ongoing war against studio head Jack Warner that cost him the role? I love Jimmy Cagney but I’m sure happy the way things turned out with Flynn in what I would call his greatest role and easily one of the greatest adventures ever caught on film. Period!.
The legend of Frank Sinatra and his Oscar winning turn in 1953’s From Here To Eternity has only grown over the years. At the time of the production Sinatra’s career was spiraling downwards and he was grasping for a lifesaver. He was convinced the character of Angelo Maggio was exactly what he needed to get his career back on track and he was right. He’d be playing opposite Monty Clift and Burt Lancaster. But lurking in the weeds was a young actor catching Broadway by storm, Eli Wallach. Did Wallach have the role? The stories have only grown over the years and most famously that it’s the mob that stepped in getting Frank the coveted role by making a not so subtle demand that their boy get the part he wanted. Otherwise someone might wind up with a horse’s bloody head under the bedsheets as was referenced in Coppola’s Godfather. Then again maybe Frank was the logical choice as his performance indicated. Maybe Eli wanted to much cash or was tied up in a long Broadway run. If that’s the case, it was pure luck for Ol’ Blue Eyes.
Every time I think of Elvis Presley on screen I wish Col. Tom Parker never existed. No one is ever going to convince me that he did much good for The King when it comes right down to it. Sure there were some decent movies early on and a couple of real good ones but Parker did more to hinder the singer than help him when it came to picking movies. As a huge fan of Robert Mitchum I love the story where The Mitch goes to visit the very young King who had just starred in Love Me Tender. Mitch had a bottle in one hand and a script in the other for his pet project and wanted to have Elvis play his kid brother in the now cult favorite moonshine flick, Thunder Road. The meeting supposedly went like this as is covered in Lee Server’s excellent bio on Mitchum titled Baby, I Don’t Care.
“Here’s the f-king script. Let’s get together and do it.” When Elvis deferred to his manager Mitch said, “F-k, I’m talking to you. I don’t need to talk to your manager. Let’s do the picture.” Needless to say it never happened and in Mitchum’s style of phrasing I can only add, “that’s a f–king shame, man.”
Now here’s one of cinema’s great what if’s and one that leaves us all to wonder if a certain actor on the TV show Rawhide would have ever found a huge break and an identifiable role elsewhere let alone become one of the greatest icons of cinema over the past 60 years. I’ve heard the stories of Sergio Leone attempting to make a western remake of Yojimbo numerous times and his many attempts to land an American film star to no avail before settling on a young Clint Eastwood. According to Christopher Frayling’s book on Leone, Something To Do With Death, Henry Fonda’s agent never bothered to show him the script, James Coburn was too expensive at $25,000 for the producers to afford him and Charles Bronson thought the script was “just about the worst I’d ever seen.” Had any one of these three men taken on the role of The Man With No Name, there’s little doubt movie history would have changed drastically in the ensuing years. Eastwood? Who knows. Fonda was already established so I don’t think his career would have played out much differently but when it comes to Coburn and Bronson who knows where their career paths may have taken them.
In 1967 it was Anne Bancroft seducing a young Dustin Hoffman in the now classic Mike Nichols film, The Graduate. Nichols won the Oscar for Best Director and all the principles scored Nominations. I’ve always found this piece of movie “what if’s” intriguing. One of my all time favorite leading ladies, Doris Day in the role of Mrs. Robinson. Stories vary from Doris not thinking she was a good fit for the role to her manager/hubby Martin Melcher turning down the project. Who can be sure but I do think it was a missed opportunity for Miss Day to turn the movie world on it’s ear and show us her acting chops that had mainly been used in the romcom field since her knockout performance in 1955’s Love Me Or Leave Me opposite Jimmy Cagney.
Before Michael Winner offered Charles Bronson a chance to shoot muggers in an adaptation of Brian Garfield’s novel, Death Wish, director Sidney Lumet was attached to the project with Ensign Pulver starring. I can’t help but admit that Jack Lemmon taking on the role of Paul Kersey leaves me wishing there was an alternate universe where the film actually exists. The film is far too often overlooked as a lesson in violence when in fact it’s a fine dramatic piece with Bronson delivering a solid performance and Lemmon was clearly one of the best dramatic actors of his generation even if he’s best remembered for his comedic touch in Billy Wilder comedies and other assorted titles. Many alongside his screen partner, Walter Matthau. I think we can be certain of one thing had Lemmon starred in the film, there would never have been a Death Wish 2,3,4 and 5.
I’ll close with One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest which was one of Kirk Douglas’ great regrets. He owned the rights to the source novel by Ken Kesey. The cleft chinned Douglas first played the part of Randall McMurphy on stage in 1963 with Gene Wilder in the part of Billy. Douglas relates the story of the stage production and it’s ultimate failure in his book, The Ragman’s Son. Kirk tried to get the studio system interested over the course of the next decade but to no avail. When he turned the project over to his son Michael, the younger Douglas got the film produced scoring great acclaim and Oscars for all five of the main categories. Best Picture. Director (Milos Forman), Actor and Actress (Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher) and Screenplay (Laurence Hauben and Bo Goldman). Kirk was on to something but time wasn’t on his side and by the time the film was greenlit he was deemed too old for the part. Of course Jack Nicholson scored a bullseye and for my money it’s his finest motion picture and greatest performance among so many. Again, who knows how history would have differed had Kirk gotten the project off the ground in the mid 60’s.
I’m sure you’ve got some favorite what if’s of your own when it comes to casting your favorite movies. Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones? Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Zaius? Claudette Colbert in All About Eve?
Yeah they go on and on….
Till next time and another look at Movie Might Have Beens.
Mike's Take On the Movies 
I often re-cast films – but before I give you an example, I think Anne Bancroft was ideal as Mrs. Robinson. Equally, she was first-rate as the Princess San Ferdinando in: ‘Up At The Villa’ (2000). You must see her too in: ‘Nightfall’ (1957), a superb noir.
I would re-cast: ‘The Philadelphia Story’ (1940) thus:-
Tracy – Constance Bennett
Dexter – Phillip Reed
The Reporters – Bruce Cabot and Joan Blondell
George Kittredge – Glenn Ford
Dinah – Diana Lynn or Bonita Granville
Seth Lord – FrankMorgan
Uncle Willie – William Powell
Margaret Lord – Billie Burke
Bancroft was perfect in the role. It’s a good example to wonder what may have differed had Doris embraced the role and film. Nightfall another good Noir.
Thank you for this. Interesting. Can’t really imagine those movies any other way. Crazy how “fate” works.
There are so many “what if’s” in Hollywood history. Some seem to make sense but others leave you wondering what were they thinking? But then in part that’s because many of the films in question are so beloved.
Thanks for a very interesting article – I hadn’t seen these near misses before. James Cagney as Robin Hood is insane! I was recently browsing for info on George Lazenby after seeing a documentary, and ran across a Wikipedia list of actors who had been considered for the James Bond role. The oddities that stood out: James Brolin (!?), who was all set to take over for Roger Moore on Octopussy when Roger changed his mind; and Mel Gibson and Christopher Lambert who apparently were considered for The Living Daylights. Of course, Lazenby was an improbable Bond, and perhaps somewhere, in an alternate universe, somebody is scratching their head about an unknown Australian model named Lazenby almost being hired on before Rowan Atkinson became the greatest James Bond ever. 🙂
LOL. Johnny English as James Bond. I was aware of the Brolin story but don’t recall the Lambert connection. I’d read also that Oliver Reed was considered back before Moore and I think that may have been a good fit but Reed’s off screen antics probably killed any chance of it ever happening.
A guy called Tony Sloman, mostly an editor but twice a director of British sex movies, shared a flat with a guy called Michael Billington and said he was the person most often screen tested for James Bond.
Had to look him up. Not a name I’m aware of. I see he actually turns up in Spy Who Loved Me.
I know quite a few of these stories by heart, never knew Jack Lemmon was considered for Death Wish though; he’d have been an interesting choice as the book depicts Kersey as a mild mannered man, and Lemmon fits that to a tee. Whenever I talk about Col. Parker screwing over Elvis, my Dad always responds with Parker made Elvis a rich man, which while true, doesn’t mean he advanced Elvis’ career one bit. I’ve learned to not mention that to him anymore. The stories of Fonda, Bronson, and Coburn being up for The Man with No Name are my favorites. The only reason Coburn wasn’t cast in the end is because he felt the paycheck they offered was chicken feed and his own asking price was actually the entire budget of the film itself. Bronson admitted he turned it down cause he couldn’t make heads or tails of the script, but I think his career was still interesting non-the-less. Cagney was offered Robin Hood because he’d been a hit with both fans and critics as Bottom in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but looking back on it I can’t see him in green tights running around Sherwood Forest. A cool article as always Mike.
Thanks. I love to blast Col. Tom at every opportunity. As legendary as Elvis’ career was it could have been so much more. Had he lived longer maybe we would have seen some memorable duets with contemporaries. I think we were cheated there and who knows what may have happened had he taken on A Star is Born opposite Streisand. Might have woke him up going back in front of cameras to shed some weight and get back in shape…. a great loss in our home as we were all Elvis fans.
Cool article, Mike! Most of these possibilities I’d never heard of, but the most intriguing to me is Doris Day in ‘The Graduate’…it would’ve been interesting to see an entirely different side of her in that role. Of course, the movie that always comes to mind in the ‘what if’ scenario is one I’m sure you know all about, Jaws. I always like to wonder, if Heston, Bridges, and Hayden had taken the roles, would people today think, oh, I can’t picture Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw in the those roles at all!
Yes the Jaws story is the stuff of legends. Turned out slightly above average in the end wouldn’t you say? And if Shaw hadn’t come aboard The Orca we may never have heard the story of the Indianapolis.
Interesting and fascinating piece. Often wondered, what if Steve Reeves was chosen to play Samson in Samson And Delilah!
Reeves was a no brainer but it’s all in the timing I guess. He came along too late for the DeMille film and too early for the Arnold years.
Great article. I love a good Hollywood What If. I have an advert for Sinatra as Dirty Harry. Marlon Brando had The First Deadly Sin before Sinatra, George Segal was in pole position for 10. In doing research for my books on Lawrence of Arabia and The Guns of Navarone, I discovered John Wayne was cited for the former in the early 1950s for the first Cinerama dramatic film and Maria Callas to make her debut in the latter in the Irene Papas role. But my favorite is Hitchcock and Cary Grant planning to do a modern version of Hamlet, which they were in fact sued for since another guy said they’d stolen his idea.
I was never quite sure how far into the production Sinatra actually got and I’ve even heard that Audie Murphy was attached to play Scorpio but his early death nullified that. I can easily see Segal doing the Dudley Moore part in 10. Interesting trivia on Cary and Hitch. So many great what if’s out there depending on our tastes of who we like and number as one of our favorites. Kirk Douglas supposedly made Spartacus after being turned away from Ben-Hur. They wanted him to play the Boyd part …. and on and on….
It’s a jungle out there.