- Ava Gardner, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, 1953. Fox was playing safe withcontractees Anne and Susan Hayward as Gregory Peck’s bookends. The author also voted Ava as Cynthia Green. And he was… Ernest Hemingway. (He told Ava he loathed the film but loved her. And the hyena).
- Elizabeth Taylor, Rhapsody, 1953. Francis tested for the rich bitch caught between two classical musicians in Zurich – Vittorio Gassman and John Ericson. But at MGM, Taylor got whatever she wanted. (And whoever…)
- Terry More, King of the Khyber Rifles, 1953. Re-making the original, 1928 version of The Black Watch had been shelved since 1936, exhausting many Fox producers, directors, writers and stars – including Francis, Audrey Dalton and Mala Powers for Tyrone Power’s co-star. She was only a British Colonel’s daughter but More played her like a high school cheerleader.
- Doris Day, Julie, 1955. Natually, the Arwin producers (Day and husband Martin Melcher) squelched MGM plans for Francis to be the ex-airline stewardsess who lands a Douglas DC-6… which has little do with the suddenly dropped main storyline of fighting her abusive husband.
- Diane McBain, Claudelle Inglish, 1960. The title seems written by an illiterate… Claudelle rejected by Ann Francis – despite head bro Jack Warner saying he would personally make it worth her while financially. (From his own pocket?) But she disliked the tawdry script and after some thought about Shirley Knight, McBain was signed. Alas, like her previous Parrish, it did not advance her career. A rape victim in 1982, Diane later worked as a rape counselor.
- Martha Hyer, The Carpetbaggers, 1963. Anne Francis and Suzanne Pleshettte were in the frame for Jennie Denton, favourite callgirl-cum-movie-sex-symbol of George Peppard’’s “Howard Hughes” – in the first of New York producer Joseph E Levine’s three snitty/snotty movies about Hollywood – followed by Harlow, 1964 (also with Baker), and The Oscar, 1965. Each one was worse than the precedent.
Birth year: 1930Death year: Other name: 2011Casting Calls: 6