- Mona Freeman, Danger Signal, 1944. Not seeing the danger signals of a toboggan going out of control meant she had to pull out of the melo after two weeks’ shooting… Freeman took over as victim, like her sister (nearly Bette Davis) , of con-man come (literal) lady-killer Zachary Scott.
- Helena Carter, River Lady, 1947. Stephanie Morrison was first given to Blyth, who was probably happy to leave the Rod Cameron programmer. Oh, and Yvonne de Carlo’s river boat was played by the 1929 Showboat. It’s all in the details, you know…
- Gale Storm, Abandoned, 1949. Originally signed to rival Deana Durbin at Universal, Ann was locked into froth. She bided her time, even went on suspension (rather than break this baby adoption racket with Dennis O’Keefe) until free (unlike another Durbin rival, Susanna Foster, and indeed Durbin, herself) to join the MGMusicals she craved.
- Anne Baxter, All About Eve, 1950.
- Claudette Colbert, One Minute To Zero, 1952. Joan Crawford dillied and dallied about replacing the injured Colbert on a jinxed location in Colorado. So the role was swiftly respun for the (much) younger Blyth.
- Anne Baxter, The Ten Commandments, 1954
- Elizabeth Taylor, Giant, 1955.
- Shirley Jones, Oklahoma! 1955. He saw both but director Fred Zinnemann wanted actors rather than singers. Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Paul Newman, Dale Robertson, Robert Stack, plus singers Vic Damone and Howard Keel, as Curly… Ann Blyth, Ailene Roberts, Eva Marie Saint, Joanne Woodward plus singers Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell… or even Piper Laurie for Laurey…Ernest Borgnine, Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin, Rod Steiger or Eli Wallach as poor Jud Fry. For a wee while, it looked as if Woodward and future husband Paul Newman would be Laurey and Curly. However, the musical’s parents had casting approval – Rodgers and Hammerstein agreed only about Steiger. And Oklahoma was played by Arizona!
- Susan Hayward, I’ll Cry Tomorrow, 1955. MGM went through nan odd mix of actresses and ages! (from Piper Laurie at 23 to Jane Wyman at 38) to play the 30s’ alcoholic singer Lilian Roth. Ann Blyth, Grace Kelly (!),Janet Leigh, Jane Russell, Jean Simmons and Shelley Winters. Director Charles Walters quit when his choice of June Allyson (no, really!) was rejected (obviously) while Ava Gardner stopped trying to win another 30s chanteuse, Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me, to battle for Roth. After winning Best Actress at the 1956 Cannes festival, Hayward won her fourth Oscar nomination. She won one for the similar sounding but way heavier I Want to Live! about the 1955 gas chamber execution of alleged killer Barbara Graham. Said Hayward’s producer Walter Wanger: ‘Thank goodness, we can all relax, Susie’s won the Oscar she has been chasing for 20 years.”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 9