" I Bet It's A Pip!" — Page 2

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#26

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 11/12/04 at 7:21pm

Just FYI - Even though "Jezebel" was released before "Gone With the Wind", Davis was offered that lead role after "Gone With the Wind" had started production. She didn't actually turn the role down as much as she refused to be victimized (in her mind at least) by her studio's insistance that if they lent her out for the role of Scarlet, then MGM must also take Errol Flynn for the role of Rhett. She refused to work with Flynn. This is the story as I've found it:

"More than 40% of the movie-going public chose her as their ideal Scarlett. Bette refused the role, since she did not want to play opposite Errol Flynn (as Rhett Butler). The Warner Brothers, who both Errol Flynn and Bette Davis were under contract to, were willing to make them both available for the movie, but not just Bette. She was so upset about being deprived the role that she had Warner Brothers make a movie about the South with a Scarlett-like heroine, called Jezebel. Selznick was upset when Bette won an Academy Award for her role in that movie, which came out a year before Gone With the Wind."

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#27

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 11/12/04 at 7:26pm

Well I know that both Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves turned down the Brad Pitt role in Thelma and Louise. Depp for Scissorhands and Reeves for Hamlet, of all roles, onstage in Canada.

Also Dustin Hoffman turned down playing Franz Leibkin in the original Producers movie to do The Graduate.

I got rid of my teeth at a young age because... I'm straight. Teeth are for gay people. That's why fairies come and get them

#28

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 11/14/04 at 6:04am

Cary Grant turned down the Music Man movie for the same reason -saying no one but Preston could do it.

#29

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 12/24/04 at 2:27pm

Whenever I read about stars turning down movies that became big hits, I wonder if the movie would have been as a big a hit with a different star. For instance, would The Wizard of Oz have had the same staying power over the years if it had starred Shirley Temple or was part of the appeal due to Judy Garland's portrayal of Dorothy and her voice? I can't imagine a Shirley Temple version would have had the same draw year after year for decades.
We tend to think that an actor made a mistake in turning down a certain role in a movie that became a classic when, in reality, it may have been the right decision.

Some movies stand on their own. Silence Of The Lambs may have been just as good with Pfieffer but Nancy Reagan or Esther Williams wouldn't have made the same impact in Mother that Debbie Reynolds did.

As for A Star Is Born, Cher, Barbra, it wouldn't have mad a difference, it was a horrid movie.

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#30

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 12/24/04 at 2:44pm

Believe Sinatra & Paul Newman turned down Dirty Harry before it went to Eastwood

As far as Finney & Lawrence, I believe he actually did a few days of shooting before he declined to go further. There are pictures of him in arab attire in a book about David Lean

Burt Lancaster & Rock Hudson turned down Ben Hur

Leslie Neilsen (Naked Gun) tried out for Messala in Ben Hur. Do not think it was offered to him but nice trivia nonetheless.

One of the most famous ( & career altering) was Bela Lugosi turning down Frankenstein as their was no dialogue for the monster. He passed on it & the rest is history. That was a real great career move (not)

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Updated On: 12/24/04 at 02:44 PM

#31

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 12/24/04 at 3:43pm

1) Mamie--your story about Davis/Jezebel/GWTW is PRECISELY my understand as to what happened.

2) "Pip" was 1930s slang for an attratice person--I'm sure Davis was using it in a sarcastic manner when she first heard about GWTW.

3) Mary Martin turned down the role of Eliza Doolittle in MY FAIR LADY.

4) Anne Bancroft turned down the role of Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL.

5) Ethel Merman (at least, initially), turned down the role of Dolly Levi in HELLO, DOLLY!

6) Rex Harrison turned down the role of The King in THE KING AND I.

7) Danny Kaye, Dan Dailey, Gene Kelly, Ray Bolger, Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Jason Robards, Art Carney & Bert Parks ALL turned down the role of Harold Hill in THE MUSIC MAN.

"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."

#32

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 12/24/04 at 4:56pm

susan dey turned down the role of "sandy" in "grease" [1978]

Updated On: 12/25/04 at 04:56 PM

#33

re: ' I Bet It's A Pip!'

Posted: 12/25/04 at 3:56pm

Frank Sinatra as Billy Bigelow in Carousel.

Judy Garland was being considered for Julie in Carousel and Nelly in South Pacific. Pity they didn't materialize.

As for the Shirley Temple-as-Dorothy story, from what I have read she was considered briefly (and auditioned) for the role when M-G-M realized how expensive the picture was going to be and the money people (Nick Schenck) in New York wanted a box office "champ" -- Shirley was number one three (?) years in a row. The movie had always been envisioned as (and book rights purchased for) a vehicle for Judy.

Shirley mentions Oz in her bio "Child Star" and says something like "Sometimes fate knows what's best" (I recall)

Gale Sondergard did turn down the Wicked Witch of the West when she was told she would be made to look ugly.

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Updated On: 12/25/04 at 03:56 PM

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