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People who were considered for a role

C

chris12

Guest
Who were some people who were considered for a role on a tv show that didn't get it who were either considered, auditioned but didn't get the role or even filmed a pilot. Some examples are:

Sharon Tate was up for the role of one of the Bradley sisters on Petticoat Junction and even did some publicity photos until nude photos of her surfaced.

The original Patty Duke Show pilot had Mark Miller playing Martin Lane rather than William Schallert.

Matthew Broderick was up for the role of Alex on Family Ties.
 
...Don Ameche was the first choice for Oliver Wendell Douglas on "Green Acres," but blew it when the producers took him out to dinner and he spent the whole time carping about the lousy service of the restaurant (wonder if Eddie Albert ever sent Ameche a thank you card, heh heh)...

...and Micky Dolenz actually auditioned to be Fonzie on "Happy Days"...
 
Ernest Borgnine was considered for the role as Archie Bunker. [I think Mickey Rooney was also...butI might be thinking of another show]
Rob Lowe was considered for the part of "Dr. McDreamy" on Grey's Anatomy.
Buddy Ebsen was cast as the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz but had a near fatal reaction to the silver makeup so Jack Haley got the part.
Ray Liotta was considered for the part of Tony Soprano.
 
I Love Lucy: Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet were the
first choices to play Fred and Ethel Mertz, but Gordon
was doing Our Miss Brooks, where he played the principal,
Osgood Conklin, on radio (later television); Benaderet was
playing the Ethel-like role of Blanche Morton on Burns and
Allen's show. (Of course, both appeared on I Love Lucy:
Gordon as Tropicana owner Alvin Littlefield in two episodes,
Benaderet as an unmarried little old lady that Lucy tried to
pair off with Edward Everett Horton. And Gordon worked as
Lucy's harrumphing boss on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy,
where he also played her brother-in-law, as well as her harrumphing
brother-in-law and partner in a hardware store on the forgettable
Life With Lucy.)
 
Since we've already wandered into movies a little (Wizard of Oz), my favorite item in this category was the story that Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan were considered for the starring roles in Casablanca that, of course, went to Humprhrey Bogart and Ingred Bergman.

More recently, this has been debunked as a Hollywood "urban legend," if you will, though it apparently started with an actual publicity story printed in the Hollywood Reporter around the time the movie was being cast. These kinds of stories were (and probably are) often planted by publicists to promote their clients...in this case, either Reagan or Sheridan> Needless to say, they are often...uh...lies.

Still, it's amusing to think of Reagan playing Rick Blaine.
 
What a fun topic! Here are some more...

Archie Bunker: Jack Warden, Jackie Gleason, Tom Bosley

Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch): Gene Hackman

Columbo: Bing Crosby

Rob Petrie: Johnny Carson (the working title of The DVD Show was "Star Of The Family")

Gilligan: Jerry Van...Um, Dick's Brother

Matt Dillon: John Wayne

And, on the short list of actors trying out for the role of Ted Striker (Robert Hays) in "Airplane!": David Letterman
 
Some I read about in the TV Guide 100 Greatest Sitcoms book:
Fred Dryer and Julia Duffy were up for the roles of Sam and Diane on Cheers
Gavin Macleod was originally up for the role of Ted Baxter on Mary Tyler Moore show, Jack Cassidy and Charles Nelson Reilly were considered for the role of Murray.
Jerry Van Dyke was up for the role of george on Newhart
Nicollette Sheridan lost out to Debra Messing auditioning for the role of Grace on Will And Grace
Patricia Heaton, Megan Mullaley and Rosie O'Donnell were considered for the role of Elaine on Seinfeld.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
Gilligan: Jerry Van...Um, Dick's Brother
Click to expand...

Not funny enough that you intentionally omit the word "Dyke", but you sustitute "Dick" instead, which would also have been struck by the Naughty Word Detector. ;D
 
Candace Cameron (D.J. on Full House) auditioned for the role of Vicki the Robot on Small Wonder (That role went to Tiffany Brissette). I wonder how that would've turned out.
 
Mastaclocksetta said:
Candace Cameron (D.J. on Full House) auditioned for the role of Vicki the Robot on Small Wonder (That role went to Tiffany Brissette). I wonder how that would've turned out.
Click to expand...
Probably like it has in 'real life'...both has-beens.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
Archie Bunker: Jack Warden, Jackie Gleason, Tom Bosley
Click to expand...

...interesting, since Gleason hated "All in the Family." He admired Carroll O'Connor but thought the character was written to get cheap laughs...
 
The role of Ted Baxter was written with Jack Cassidy in mind. Cassidy turned down the role because he didn't want to do a series.
And legend has it that the role of "Dirty Harry" Callahan was offered to Frank Sinatra.
 
somewhat on topic but Monty Hall in the mid 70's really wanted Bob McAllister ( host of the kids show Wonderama and later Kids Are People Too ) to do Lets Make A Deal in the event he decided to stop hosting it.
McAllister actually did do one Lets Make A Deal as a test ( I don't think it ever aired though ). Hall did tap McAllister for a game show pilot called Carnival but it never sold.

Another story goes that Merv Griffin also wanted McAllister to host some game show he had planned as well but I'm not sure it what it was though. Either way both Griffin & Hall believed McAllister would be great hosting a game show and with kids shows going away at the time in favor of cartoons it would be a good way for him to re-invent himself. But McAllister sticked with doing shows for children and once he was dropped from Kids Are People Too in favor of Michael Young, McAllister pretty much faded away.
 
"The role of Ted Baxter was written with Jack Cassidy in mind. Cassidy turned down the role because he didn't want to do a series."

Interesting...I googled Cassidy. IMDB credits Cassidy's appearance on one episode of Mary Tyler Moore - as Hal Baxter. I guess he must have played Ted's brother?

Knight was a better choice. Though it may have only applied to those of us from Los Angeles - we appreciated Knight's impression of local pompous, bloviating news anchor George Putnam (KTLA, KTTV).

Cassidy was great at playing pompous jerks - but they were generally prissy and fussy types.
 
Jackie Gleason was actually offered the role of Archie Bunker in "All in the Family"
but turned it down. Would have been interesting to see how that show would have developed with Gleason as Archie Bunker.

How Sweet It Is!

Gary
 
IdentityProgramming said:
Jackie Gleason was actually offered the role of Archie Bunker in "All in the Family"
but turned it down. Would have been interesting to see how that show would have developed with Gleason as Archie Bunker.
Click to expand...

I'll guess that it would have been similar to his Buford T. Justice character in Smokey & the Bandit, only without the Texas accent and cop uniform. I don't think it would have been successful either.
 
Going back to Happy Days for a second...Don Most originally auditioned for the part of Postie Weber, and of course, that part went to Anson Williams. Garry Marshall and the producers then wrote-in the Ralph Malph character specifically for Most.
 
"Would have been interesting to see how that show would have developed with Gleason as Archie Bunker."

Let me try:

Stifle, dingbat, or BANG - Zooooom! Ya wanna go to da moon, Edith? Well, do ya?
 
In a biography of Gleason, "How Sweet It Is," it
says that Carroll O'Connor once wrote Gleason,
hoping he didn't mind the similarities between
Archie Bunker and Ralph Kramden. Gleason replied,
"I wish I could have done some of the things
you're doing." (I'm not sure those were the exact
words, but they're close enough I'm putting quotes
around them.)

Somebody mentioned Bing Crosby as the first
choice to play Columbo. The Old Groaner turned
it down for two reasons: (1) it would take too much
time from his golf game, and (2) he prided himself
on his clothes and didn't want to be seen in the
dirty raincoat and general sloppy appearance of
Columbo. Talk about something that would have
been entirely different if Crosby had taken the role!

Groucho Marx, fresh off You Bet Your Life, was offered
The Tonight Show when Jack Paar chose to step down.
Groucho didn't think that at his age (71 then) he could
do what was then a 1 hour, 45 minute show five nights
a week. He did, however, introduce Johnny Carson on
Carson's first night as host.

One more. Someone at either ABC or the production
company wanted Bill Cullen to host Who Wants To Be
A Millionaire. He had to be told that Uncle Bill had been
dead almost ten years. (Bob Costas and Phil Donahue were
also considered before Regis Philbin got the job.)
 
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