- Julia Roberts, Hook, 1990. On Steven Spielberg’s short list (with Rebecca De Mornay and Carrie Fisher) for Tinkerbell in his Peter Pan update. Sam would have been easier to deal with than Roberts. The crew called her Tinkerhell.
- Julia Ormond, Legends of the Fall, 1994. Women were not vital when it was first planned as a Sean Connery-Tom Cruise vehicle. Julia, who’d never ridden before, became Susanne Fincannon Ludlow during her inexplicable, Warholian 15 Minutes.
- Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, TV, 1999-2020. “There’s no doubt who we should choose – Hargitay and Meloni,” said iconic producer Dick Wolf. They’d always been his favourites – “perfect chemistry!” – of the final group of of Mariska, Samantha and Reiko Aylewsworth plus four guys. The adorable Mariska made Detectives Olivia Benson her Emmy-winning own during a record 479 episodes by 2020. She and Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler were named after Wolf’s children.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3