- Cathy Lee Crosby, Wonder Woman, TV, 1974. Bizarre! Linda failed to win the tele-movie but, two years later, director Jack Arnold refused the very idea of a series without her. When she got that news, Lynda had $25 in her bank account.
- Sylvia Kristel, The Nude Bomb, 1979. But how could they make a film version of the spy send-up series by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry… without the ravishing Agent 99: Barbara Feldon? Kristel as Agent 34, Pamela Hensley, Agent 36, and Andrea Howard, Agent 22, did not add up to 99. Feldon was persuaded back for the TV sequel, Get Smart Again!, 1988. Which is why it was better. Carroll was reportedly so difficult that her career ended because no one would hire or work with her.
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Catherine O’Hara, 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 near Moms were Kirstie Alley, Lynda Carter, Kim Cattrall, Geena Davis, Laura Dern, Jennifer Grey, Gates McFadden, Kelly McGillis, Bette Midler, Ally Sheedy, Mary Steenburgen, Debra Winger… and the inevitable unknown: Maureen McCormick, part of The Brady Bunchfor seven 1981 chapters.
- Kate Mulgrew, Star Trek: Voyager, TV, 1995-2001. Who else but Wonder Woman would suffice as Captain Kathryn Janeway, the first female skipper in star fleet history, circa 2371… Well, a few others had something to say about that… Karen Austin, Nicola Bryant, Joanna Cassidy, Lindsay Crouse, Patty Duke, Chelsea Field, Susan Gibney, Erin Gray, Linda Hamilton, Kate Jackson, Patsy Kensit, Carolyn McCormack, Tracy Scoggins, Lindsay Wagner, Mary Woronov. Plus three guys – Californian Gary Graham, posh Londoner Nigel Havers and Havers and intense San Antonian Rene Rivera – if Paramount suits turned too macho about about having a dame messing with their space toys. Kate, the ex-Mrs Columbo, TV, 1979, ran a tight ship for six seasons.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4