- Claudette Colbert, The Sign of the Cross, 1932 Adrianne Allen, Pola Negri, Norma Talmadge, and latterly Elissa Landi were seen for Nero’s wife.. In fact, even two weeks before shooting was to start on June 18, director Cecil B DeMille still not found his Empress Poppaea… until noticing Colbert strolling by his office. He opened his window to call out: “Claudette, how would like to play the wickedest woman in the world. “I’d love it!” She was not so happy about her milk bath – turning to cheese under the hot lights.
- Katina Paxinou, For Whom The Bell Tolls, 1942. The Greek star won in The clinches with such old-times as Ethel Barrymore, Alla Nazimova, Pola Negri, Flora Robson, Marjorie Rambeau and Gloria Swanson… who’s one-time lover. Cecil B DeMille. had planned his own version of the Ernest Hemingway book. But Glorai the diva was interested only in the lead. At age 46, she wondered why she lost that role to Ingrid Bergman… at 28!
Birth year: 1893Death year: 1957Other name: Casting Calls: 2