The Godfather, Starring … Ernest Borgnine

[rpannier]

Actors and Actresses that turned down or did not get the role in a movie or TV show where they were the first choice include:

George Raft as Rick Blaine in Casablance (Humphrey Bogart - like we didn't know that)

Mark Wahlberg and Jaoquin Phoenix in Brokeback Mountain (They reportedly passed because they were "a little creeped out" by the sex scenes)

Robert Redford in the Graduate

Chevy Chase in American Beauty (Chevy Chase was reportedly considered for the role of depressed suburban dad Lester Burnham before Kevin Spacey )

Matthew Broderick in Family Ties (Though Michael J. Fox eventually landed the role of Alex P. Keaton on the 1980s sitcom, it was Broderick that the studio and network initially wanted)

Molly Ringwald in Pretty Woman (...was originally offered the starring role as Pretty Woman's endearing prostitute, but reportedly turned it down)

Ernest Borgnine in The Godfather (...Brando wasn't the original choice. Academy Award-winner Ernest Borgnine was an earlier candidate for the now legendary role.)

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones (this is fairly well known. at least I knew this one)

link:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/26/hollywood-movies-celebrity-biz-media-cx_lr_0226starmisses_slide_2.html?partner=omg

other notables

Myrna Loy turned down the role of Ellie Andrews in "It Happened One Night" and the role went to Claudette Colbert

Burt Lancaster was chosen over Humphrey Bogart to play "Doc Delaney" in Come Back Little Sheeba

Julie Andrews was the first choice for Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but the role went to Audrey Hepburn

Bette Davis in Gone With The Wind (She refused to do it because she heard Errol Flynn was going to be Rhett Butler)

[Orsino]

1. My favorite is Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man...

...in The Wizard of Oz.


...Despite having turned down Louis B. Mayer's offer of an exclusive contract with MGM, earning Mayer's warning that he would never get a job in Hollywood again, he was cast in the role of The Scarecrow in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, but later swapped roles with Ray Bolger, who was to play the Tin Man. Ebsen recorded all his songs, went through all the rehearsals, and started filming with the rest of the cast, but he was rushed to the hospital nine days after filming began when his lungs seized after a week of inhaling aluminum dust from the "tin" makeup.

While Ebsen was in the hospital for two weeks, recovering from his near-fatal reaction to the dust, he was replaced by Jack Haley. Haley did not run the same risk, as the makeup was changed in the meantime from a dust to a paste. (Although Haley re-recorded most of Ebsen's vocals, Ebsen's midwestern voice with the enunciated "r" in the word "wizard" can still be heard on the soundtrack during a couple of the reprises of "We're Off to See the Wizard".) As noted in a documentary included with the 2005 DVD release of Wizard of Oz, MGM did not publicize the reasons for Ebsen leaving the film, and even Haley was not made aware of why Ebsen left until later. In an interview videotaped before his death (also included on the DVD), Ebsen recalled that the studio heads did not believe he was sick until someone tried to order Ebsen back to the set and was intercepted by an angry nurse. Footage of Ebsen as The Tin Man was included as an extra with the U.S. 50th anniversary video release of the film. Until his dying day, Ebsen complained of lung issues due to his involvement in "that damned movie."<1> Ironically, Ebsen outlived all of the major cast members of The Wizard of Oz....

[NewJeffCT]

2. Wow, Chevy Chase in the Kevin Spacey role?

that would have been bizarre.

[Tyler Durden]

3. La Ringwald as the "Pretty Woman" ROWR!

I have always had a major crush on Miss Molly, and I have never figured out why Julia Roberts ever passed her first screen test.

[terrya]

4. There was no reason whatsoever why Julie Andrews couldn't have done "My Fair Lady"

She WAS in the Broadway stage version.

Nothing against the wonderful Audrey Hepburn, but Dame Julie certainly could have reprised her role in the film.

[LeftinOH]

5. At the time, Julie Andrews had never appeared in any film...and was

mostly unknown (outside the Broadway-going crowd). It was decided that a popular, established star needed to take the role of Eliza Doolittle for the film version. Thus, Audrey Hepburn got the part -but all of her singing was dubbed (by Marni Nixon, who also provided the singing voices for Deborah Kerr in 'The King and I', for Natalie Wood in 'West Side Story'..and a few others).

The irony is that Julie Andrews made her first film during the same time 'My Fair Lady' was being made: 'Mary Poppins'. At Oscar time, 'My Fair Lady' won Best Film, and Julie Andrews won Best Actress for 'Mary Poppins'... while Audrey wasn't even nominated for 'MFL'. Sweet justice, I think.. because if Andrews had taken the lead in 'MFL' she probably would still have won.

[BuelahWitch]

8. And Julie Andrews thanked Jack Warner when she accepted her Oscar

I still loved Audrey in MFL though...

[meegbear]

6. Ernest Borgnine as Don Corleone?

I could just scream.

[Kingofalldems]

7. And Capt. Binghampton as his nemesis

Tataglia.:rofl:

[Auggie]

9. Other potential Corleones:

Coppola was considering Laurence Olivier too. Paramount at one time wanted Carlo Ponti. AND, according to imdb.com, Frank Sinatra approached Coppola about the part.

[Auggie]

10. Ronald Reagan as Rick in Casablanca

:puke:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. Imagine how different the world would be if Reagan had been a better actor.