- Norma Crane, Fiddler on the Roof, 1970. The American opera diva – born Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn – was a wild card consideration for Tevye’s wife, Golde, once Anne Bancroft passed. When winning the role, Norma learned she had breast cancer – a fact she revealed only to a few, including her close friend, Natalie Wood… who paid Norma’s hospital and 1973 funeral bills.
- Barbara Harris, Family Plot, 1975. Surprise, surprise – for one of his two leading ladies in what proved to be, alas, his final film, Alfred Hitchcock considered “America’s Queen of Opera.” Plus Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli. Then, he fell – again – for Harris, a delightful actress he had tried to hire in the past. Hitch was prepping The Short Night when he died, at age 80, on April 29, 1980.
Birth year: 1929Death year: 2007Other name: Usual occupation: SingerCasting Calls: 2