- Phyllis Calvert, Kipps, 1941. Maggie did not want to play a maid. Nor did Phyllis, originally booked for a bigger role: “But the maid was the only ‘real’ person in the film,” recalled Phyllis. “I got good notices.”
- Phyllis Calvert, The Young Mr Pitt, 1941. The young Mrs Rupert de Lion was pregnant.
- Deborah Kerr, Hatter’s Castle, 1941. Still pregnant. With future actress Julia Lockwood.
- Jean Kent, The Magic Bow, 1946. More popular in Britain than Greer Garson, Maggie tired of bodice-ripping romances. So did James Mason and both leapt free from this Paganini biopic.
- Valerie Hobson, Great Expectations, 1945. Vengeance is mine… In 1934, Hobson had been selected as the young Estella – then suddenly dropped and replaced. Eleven years later, she won the adult Estella in the third screen version – despite being too old at 28 and much better suited to her second role of the girl’s mother, Molly, in David Lean’s perfect rendition of the Dickens classic. Then again, Hobson was younger than her rivals – Margaret Lockwood, 29, and Lean’s first choice, Ingrid Bergman was 30.
- Linda Darnell, Forever Amber, 1947. Britain’s wicked cleavage lady was logical but dropped like Vivien Leigh for being too old. When Peggy Cummins was fired after 30 days, Lana Turner was briefly considered.
- Googie Withers, Once Upon A Dream, 1949. Maggie fled from this inane comedy – for a better one, as Nell Gwynne opposite Sid Field’s Cardboard Cavalier.
- Jean Kent, The Reluctant Widow, 1950. All bodices and Napoleonic spies! One 1947 headline about Jean: “Miss Kent put the sex into Sussex.”
- Jean Kent, The Browning Version, 1951. Bad mistake. This was something stronger – from Terence Rattigan’s play.
Birth year: 1916Death year: 1990Other name: Casting Calls: 9