- Richard Kiley, The Little Prince, 1974. Best kept secret of the casting shuffles once Sinatra quit the Lerner and Loewe version of Saint-Expury…. Gene Hackman, Richard Harris were consulted, singers like Robert Goulet… and, absent from all the casting headlines of the time, the balladeer from the Welsh valleys.
- Oliver Tobais, The Stud, 1977. Instead of singing the theme songs, the Welshman wanted to act in movies. He was very fussy. After a version with Tony Curtis never happened, and Paul-Michael Glaser was stuck in Starsky and Hutch – Joan has been in one episode. Next, she asked Tom to co-star with her in a fllm of her sister Jackie’s soft-porn book. But he’d read it and was “shocked!” (Yet not by female fans throwing their undies at him on-stage). Tobias, a Swiss-born Brit, was out out to stud! Said Joanie: “He thought he was the Second Coming.” Said Tobias: “It ruined my career.” Big hit though. As Collins rescued her career by giving her fans what they’d been hoping to see for 23 years – Joanie swinging naked on a trapeze! As Collins rescued her career by giving her fans what they’d been hoping to see for 23 years – Joanie swinging naked on a trapeze! She was forbidden to do that, of course, in the stuffy ‘54-Hollywood version of The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing.
- James Darren, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, TV, 1998-99. The saloon singer in space was written for Frank Sinatra Jr. (“I wanna play an alien!”) Next in line: Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale… even our Tom.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Usual occupation: SingerCasting Calls: 3