Yes, when Sondergaard was going to play the witch, they were going for a "Wicked Queen" look from Snow White. After all, it was the (monster) success of Snow White that put The Wizard of Oz into production at MGM. Suddenly, children's fantasy was a golden genre (at least potentially). So they thought they could try to get away with having the Wicked With of the West be more like the Wicked Queen.
Thankfully, somewhere along the way, they changed their minds. I'm guessing that withe a good witch who was already beautiful, it didn't make sense for the bad witch to be beautiful as well. (Plus, it's clear in Oz that "bad witches are ugly!")
So they tested Sondergaard in the hag makeup, and it just didn't work. She looked like a pretty lady made up to be a hag, and I'm sure she still had her "catlike" persona to go with it. She was a wonderful (Oscar-winning) actress, and played "evil" really well. Had this been Snow White, she would have been the perfect Wicked Queen back then.
So she dropped out of the movie, and they went with Margaret Hamilton.
THANK GOD.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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