Community Chat

[Moonlady]

Here are some interesting tidbits I remember reading or hearing on TV interviews:

-John Travolta turned down Richard Gere's role in American Gigolo

-Bette Midler turnded town the role of Annie Wilkes in Misery because it was "too violent"

-Paul Williams wanted The Carpenters to record his song Just An Old Fashioned Love Song, but they hated it so much they nixed it before hearing it in its entirety and it went on to become a smash hit for Three Dog Night

-Shirley Jones lost the lead role in Psycho to Janet Leigh

-Cher passed on The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, so Vicki Lawrence "sang" it

-Doris Day turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate

-The producer wanted John Wayne to star in TV's Gunsmoke but he wasn't interested so he suggested his good friend, James Arness

-CBS wanted Heather Locklear, who'd had a history of successfully juggling multiple TV gigs for the Candice Bergen role in Murphy Brown

- Don Johnson passed on the NCIS lead role which went to Mark Harmon

-Angela Lansbury's role in Murder, She Wrote was initially offered to Jean Stapleton

-Angie Dickinson was offered the Krystle Carrington role in Dynasty, which went to Linda Evans

-Debra Winger was originally cast to play the Geena Davis role in A League Of Their Own, but dropped out

-Steve McQueen was the first one offered the lead in Close Encounters..., but withdrew when director Spielberg said he'd have to cry on cue (something McQueen said he couldn't do). The role went to Richard Dreyfuss.

-A series called My Four Daughters starring the Lennon Sisters was pitched to TV network execs, but they weren't interested in committing themselves to another TV show. Enter....My Three Sons

-Bruce Willis turned down the Patrick Swayze role in Ghost, which also starred his then-wife Demi Moore, because he didn't want to play a ghost. Nine years later, he had a hit movie, The Sixth Sense, in which he played.....a ghost

-Mia Farrow's lead role in Rosemary's Baby was originally offered to Tuesday Weld

-Spielberg's first choice for the role of Matt Hooper in Jaws was Jon Voight, who turned down the role (went to Richard Dreyfuss). The "Quint" role was originally offered to Lee Marvin, who turned it down saying that he was "doing real fishing" out of the U.S. at the time

What I think is most interesting about a lot of these original cast/role/song choices is that they're often offered based on "flavors of the moment." Many starring roles, for example, were offered to people who'd just finished a run on a successful TV show or movie. As we can see, it doesn't always matter.