- Richard Beymer, West Side Story, 1961. Among all the guys seen for Jets and Sharks, only two were singers. Darin and… Elvis! Kevin Spacey made no mention of this in his biopic about the singer with a dodgy heart.
- Rock Hudson, Send Me No Flowers, 1963. Jayne Mansfield, The Wayward Bus, 1957. When Marilyn Monroe , so cruelly scorned by her studio, astounded us in Bus Stop, Fox dusted down John Steinbeck’s busload of Chaucerian passengers to do the same for Jayne Mansfield. (Hah!). Darnell would have been stag-party babe Incidentally, Marilyn’s bus driver, Robert Bray, turned up here as a chopper pilot hovering around Collins. (He then blew his career by refusing South Pacific).
- Edd Byrnes, The Secret Invasion, 1963. Director Roger Corman signed the singer for this pre-Dirty Dozen in Yugoslavia. “The way I heard it,” said Corman associate Jack Hill, “on the eve of filming, Bobby ran off with some girl.” Convinced he’d die at 34, he did not have long to go. He died, after open heart surgery, at 37, leaving his body to the UCLA Medical Center.
- James Franciscus, Youngblood Hawke, 1964. Truck driver makes good as a novelist… Warren Beatty needed money and beat singer Bobby Darin, Terence Stamp (at 26 a year younger than Beatty) and the too old (36) George Peppard and Stuart Whitman to a mediocre Warners quickie based on Herman Wouk’s book. Beatty just never signed any contract. And so, Jack Warner canned him and slashed the budget – from colour to monochrome. And never forgave… “Warner Beaker”!
- Jerry Lewis, The Day The Clown Cried, 1972. “My clown,” said scenarist Joan O’Brien, “is obnoxious and self-centered.” Well, that explains Jerry’s interestin playing a German clown keeping kids amused… in Auschwitz. Milton Berle, Joseph Schildkraut and Dick Van Dyke also tried. Jerry felt the whole world conspired against his (never released) version. It was called – take your pick – unwatchable/never finished/never seen/buried in his vault/in litigation/out to lunch. “Perfect” – in its awfulness!” said actor Harry Shearer. “Like a student film,” said producer Jim Wright. Not even Steven Spielberg offered to re-make it.
Birth year: 1936Death year: 1973Other name: Usual occupation: SingerCasting Calls: 5