- Elliott Gould, M*A*S*H, 1969. Skerritt, from Robert Altman’s TV pilot of The Long Hot Summer, swopped roles with Gould who’d told the director: “My drawl would be a sham. While Trapper John really gives me an opportunity to come out of myself and give you a lot of heat and spirit.” Like: Gimme the lead!
- Donald Sutherland, Ordinary People, 1980. Friends since making their film debuts in War Hunt, 1962, Skerritt said he and (debuting director) Robert Redford are independent loners. “I guess we relate a lot on that level.” He became a Redfordian patriarch – a full dozen years later – in A River Runs Through It.
- John Heard, Home Alone, 1990. For the zero roles of Macauley Culkin’s forgetful parents (in a film written for and duly stolen by him), an astonishing 66 stars were considered – including 32 later seen for the hot lovers in Basic Instinct:Kim Basinger, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, Kevin Costner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Douglas, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Marilu Henner, Anjelica Huston, Helen Hunt, Holly Hunter, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Christopher Lloyd, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Annie Potts, Kelly Preston, Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Martin Sheen, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, John Travolta. Other potential Pops were Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jeff Daniels, Tony Danza, John Goodman, Charles Grodin, Tom Hanks, Robert Hays, Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Ed O’Neill, John Ritter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Skerritt, Robin Williams… and the inevitable unknowns: Broadway’s Mark Linn-Baker, Canadian musicians-comics Alan Thicke (“the affordable William Shatner”) and Dave Thomas.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3