- Peggy Moran, Seven Sweethearts, 1941. Rutherford called MGM: “Sorry, but I got the measles.” Studio chief LB Mayer called Rutherford: “You’re fired!” Moran called home: “Got another movie!” She was Albert. Her six sisters were Billie, Cornelius, George, Peter, Reggie and Victor. (Dad wanted sons). When she married director Henry Koster, he promised Moran she’d be in all his films. And she was. A bust of her head was a prop in them all!
irector Henry Koster promised Moran she’d be in all his films. And she was. A bust of her head was a prop in them all! - Betty Grable, Coney Island, 1943. As close to the real Coney as was the Eiffel Tower… Carny operators Laird Cregar and Pat O’Brien plus showgirl Alice Faye were Fox-churned into George Montgomery, Cesar Romero and what Variety called “a 95-minute audition of Betty Grable’s chassis and legs – in color.” She also made the 1949 re-hash, Wabash Avenue.
- Ann Blyth, Mildred Pierce, 1944. Trying to grow up, Shirley Temple pushed herself forward at 16 to be Joan Crawford’s spoilt teenage daughter, Veda Pierce. Bonita Granville, Ann Rutherford, Martha Vickers and Virginia Weidler were just as keen. But when Crawford (after a bunch of flops) agreed to test as Mildred, she turned it into a test of Blyth (also 16) as Veda. They both won. This was Blyth’s finest hour – she should have won an Oscar like Crawford. For her next 42 roles, Blyth simply played sweet, pretty and safe.She was, however, almost a lone voice in Hollywood calling Crawford “the kindest, most helpful human being I’ve ever worked with. We remained friends for many years after the film. I never knew that other Joan Crawford that people wrote about.”
- Nancy Coleman, Mourning Becomes Electra, 1946. In the frame for Hazel Niles – with Heather Angel, Evelyn Ankers, Frances Heflin, and Jacqueline White. The Canadian’s breakthrough at MGM was playing Mickey Rooney’s gal in the Andy Hardy franchise, 1937-1942. She wed the future Batman producer Wiliam Dozier in 1953 until his 1991 death.
- Patricia Breslin, Andy Hardy Comes Home,1958. OK, she played Scarlett O’Hara’s little sister, but MGM a star of the Vancouverian – at 17 – with their Mickey Rooney is Andy Hardy films. She played his sweet girlfriend, Polly Benedict, in 14 of them, , from You’re Only Young Once, 1937, to Andy Hardy’s Double Life, 1942. She then quit MGM and flew solo. And decided not to pick up Polly again for this silly reboot of the Hardys. So she was not the mother of Andy Jr, played opposite Mickey’s Andy Sr, by his son Teddy.
- Gloria Stuart, Titanic, 1996.
Birth year: 1917Death year: 2012Other name: Casting Calls: 6