- Richard Beymer, The Stripper, 1962. “I turned down a lot more films than I made,” said the squeaky-clean singer forever rolling the sex out of rock. He refused the college kid – not due to his age, 28; Beymer was 23; Warren Beatty was 22 on Broadway – but because of his affair with a washed-up singer – offered to Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak, Natalie Wood. (Surprisingly Joanne Woodward accepted the rotten new title for William Inge’s play, A Loss of Roses). “If it had been with Marilyn, it might have been on a different level of intertest.” But he would not tell young people: “Hey, a little immoral escapade, no harm done! They can’t twist my arm to make me do a film where (my) character is either immoral or unredeemed.” Except he had just done exactly that in The Main Attraction – and with two women! The Swedish Mai Zetterling and Hong Kong’s Nancy Kwan. (Boone would later write such books as Pray to Win: God Wants You to Succeed, own a right-wing IV station and defend Mel Gibson’s notorious anti-Semitic tirade in 2006).
- Steve McQueen, The Sand Pebbles, 1965. A zero on-screen – as on on discs – Boone tried hard to convince director Robert Wise to make him the hero, Jake Holman – a US Navy engineer in war-torn China, circa 1926. No way! Holman was perfect for McQueen (his only Oscar nomination). You just knew he knew all about motors….
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Usual occupation: SingerCasting Calls: 2