- Monty Woolley, The Man Who Came To Dinner, 1941. When the comedy tickled director Howard Hawks’ fancy, he wanted Cary Grant as the titular critic Sheridan Whiteside However, public insisted that only Woolley could and should play his famous stage role. Orson Welles wanted to direct and play Whiteside. (And he did so in a 1972 TVersion). Bette Davis wanted John Barrymore, but he could no longer remember his lines. Tests of Robert Benchley and Laird Cregar were respectively deemed “too mild-mannered” and “overblown and extravagant,” by producer Hal Wallis. (Probably why Charles Coburn refused to test at all). Director William Keighley also saw Charles Laughton (he made two terrible tests) and Fredric March. And Grant was still around – “far too young and attractive,” said Wallis. Anyway, acerbic or no, causing havoc or not, who’d be upset if Cary Grant suddenly came to dinner? Benchley’s son, Nathaniel, wrote the book filmed as The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Aee Coming – and his son, Peter, wrote Jaws., Nathaniel, wrote the book filmed as The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Aee Coming – and his son, Peter, wrote Jaws.
Birth year: 1889Death year: 1945Other name: Casting Calls: 1