- Denise Coffey, Georgy Girl, 1966. After winning the title role, Vanessa wrote to director Silvio Narizzano asking him to consider her sister, Lynn, for Georgy’s girl neighbour. He met with her and didn’t talk much. “How could I?” he told producer Otto Plansckes. “She should be playing Georgy.” Andshe was when Vanessa pulled out.
- Maggie Smith, Hot Millions, 1968. Pregnant. Peter Ustinov said of Lynn’s replacement: “I’d have to really search my memory to find any actress to equal her and after a long time I’d probably have to give up.”
- Angela Lansbury, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, 1971. Among the Brits (Julie Andrews, Judy Carne)considered fortrainee-witch Eglantine Price.
- Sharon Gless, House Calls, TV, 1979-1981.
Redgrave or no Redgrave, Lynn was fired for bringing her baby daughter to work for breast-feeding – but not on set, as Universal claimed at the time. To studio execs this meant she wanted more money! Well, that was true, too. As her successor revealed in 2017, “she wanted to make as much money as [co-star] Wayne Rogers – by the way, she was billed over the title with Wayne Rogers.” The show tanked without her. Gless threw a farewell party for the cast, “to say how much I loved being on the show and how kind they were to me even when they missed her. I did not invite Wayne. I called Lynn and said, ‘Don’t hang up. The cast has been miserable without you. Would you come to my party?’ She’s classier than I am and said, ‘I’d love to. I’ll come late. Let’s have a fight!’” Gless went out to meet her and they began hurling F-bombs at each other in front of a horrified cast. “She said, ‘I heard you were having a party and you didn’t invite me.’ I said, ‘Why would I invite you – you can’t act for shit.’” Etc, etc, until everyone got the joke and had a good time. Redgrave never found another big hit. Gless had better fortune – replacing Meg Foster as Cagney – in Cagney and Lacey, 1982-1988.
Birth year: 1943Death year: 2010Other name: Casting Calls: 4