- Orley Lindgren Mister Scoutmaster, 1953. The Father Knows Best star busted his foot and was subbed by Lindgren. Some 27 years later, one of the the film’s kid stars, Jimmy Hawkins, produced a tele-film version, Scout’s Honour, with the same director Henry Levin… who dropped dead on the set after shooting the final scene.
- Sal Mineo, Rebel Without a Cause, 1955. Bud from the (“totally false”) archetypal 1950s family sitcom, Father Knows Best, was among director Nicholas Ray’s initial thoughts for poor Plato. As were Mineo, Jeff Silver – and James Dean’s pals, Dennis Hopper and Jack Simmons, who finally played Cookie. Billy was no kin to Peter Gray (a Brit) up for the sympathetic juvenile division counselor Ray Fremick. Plus… Bobby Driscoll, no longer young Jim Hawkins from Disney’s Treasure Island, 1949… Claude Jarman Jr, no longer the kid from The Yearling, 1945… and Sheffield, no longer Tarzan’s adopted son, Boy, in seven films during 1938-1947. (He had to be “adopted” because the ape-man and Jane were not wed! (Sidney Lumet had launched James Dean, Sal Mineo and Paul Newman (a Jim Stark candidate) in his New York TV shows).
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 2