Kristy McNichol

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

 

  1. Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver, 1975.     
  2. Tatum O’Neal, The Bad News Bears,  1976.    Kristy had won Amanda and was told to start prepping.Then, she was phoned – the role had goneto the youngestOscar winner.
  3. Brooke Shields, Pretty Baby, 1977.    The plot sickens… A prostitute allows her 12-year-old daughter’s virginity to be auctioned off in a brothel in the red-light Storyville district of New Orleans, circa 1917. Elegant French director Louis Malle saw 29 hopefuls and/or instant (parental) refusals for pretty little Violet. From Laura Dern aged 10 and future Sex And The City co-stars Cynthia Nixon, at 11, Sarah Jessica Parker, 12 (like Shields) and (the often too buxom) teenagers McNichol, Melissa Sue Anderson, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Blair, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Mariel Hemingway, Helen Hunt, Anissa Jones (who tragically ODed at 18 before her audition), Diane Lane, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tatum O’Neal (Dad said no), Dana Plato (Mom said no), Michelle Pfeiffer, Ally Sheedy, Meg Tilly, Charlene Tilton (pre-Dallas)… to seven twentysomethings. However, no make-up and soft lenses could make 12-year-olds out of Isabelle Adjani, Bo Derek, Carrie Fisher, Melanie Griffith, Amy Irving, Mary Steenburgen or Debra Winger.
  4. Brooke Shields, The Blue Lagoon, 1979.   Auditioned for of Emmeline – despite Grease director Randal Kleiser wanting his shipwrecked couple to be naked throughoutthe re-make. (They were not). Shields had her long tresses glued to her front – and a nude body double.
  5. Cherie Currie, Foxes,  1979.        Sex and the American teenage girl… Two films had the same subject that year. McNichol was up for both. She won Angel, one of the Little Darlings with Tatum ONeal and lost runaway Annie among Adrian Lyne’s foxes to the singer from… wait for it… The Runaways band. She only made six other movies; Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft in 2012 was her first for 22 years!
  6. Brooke Shields, Endless Love, 1980.       Now this doesn’t happen very often… Shirley Knight was displeased with Brooke Shields as her teenage daughter and set about re-casting Jade. She gave a list of better prospects to her director Franco Zeffirelli. Including McNichol, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Blair, Bo Derek, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Pfeiffer.   Knight wuz right. They were all better, with the possible exception of beauteous Bo. Zeffirelli, however, was a very macho Italian maestro. He was the boss. OK, ready Brooke – and… action! Just do your best…
  7. Michelle Pfeiffer, Grease 2, 1981.   The youngest actress considered for hig !-schooler Stephanie Zinone. Kristy was then 17… while two singers also offered the rôle, Kim Carnes and Debbie Harry, were… 34! Pfeiffer was 23 with a surprise quirky quality said director Patricia Birch. To say nothing of an outstanding beauty. McNichol quit acting after 24 years, “to play my biggest part – myself.” She taught acting in LA and came out as gay in 2012 to help help youngsters being bullied over their sexuality.
  8. Elizabeth McGovern, Once Upon a Time in America, 1982.   Italian maestro Sergio Leoneclaimed he interviewed “over 3,000 actors,” taping 500 auditions for the 110 speaking roles in his New York gangster epic.  He certainly saw 33 girls for nymphet Deborah Gelly: Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Beals, Linda Blair, Glenn Close, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Farrah Fawcett, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Goldie Hawn, Mariel Hemingway, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Heather Locklear, Kristy McNIchol, Liza Minnelli, Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Cybill Shepherd, Sissy Spacek, Meryl Streep, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver, Debra Winger. Plus  Brooke Shields as the younger version. Deborah was 15 in the first script; McGovern was 20.
  9. Michelle Pfeiffer, Scarface, 1982.     Tried hard to be the glacial Elvira Hancock, but director Brian De Palma (succeeding Sidney Lumet) rejected her… and Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Colleen Camp, Glenn Close, Geena Davis, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Kelly McGillis,   Deborah Raffin, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone,Kathleen Turner.

  10. Linda Hamilton, The Terminator, 1983.    
    In all, 52 actressesarah  were considered, seen, or tested for Sarah Connor.   James Cameron  auteur-ed  Sarah  for Bridget Fonda. She passed; so did Tatum O’Neal. He decided to go older…  Glenn Close won – her schedule didn’t agree. OK,Kate Capshaw! No, she was tied to  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – just as Kathleen Turner was Romancing The Stone. Debra Winger won her audition, said yes… then no.The other46 ladies were:Kristy,Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Christy Brinkley, Colleen Camp, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Teri Garr, Jennifer Grey, Melanie Griffith, Darryl Hannah, Goldie Hawn, Barbara Hershey, Angelica Huston, Amy Irving, Diane Keaton, Margot Kidder, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz,Heather Locklear, Lori Loughlin, Kelly McGillis, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Mary TylerMoore, Rhea Perlman(!), Michelle Pfeiffer, Gilda Radner(!), Deborah Raffin, Miranda Richardson, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Jane Seymour, Ally Sheedy, Cybill Shepherd, Brooke Shields, Sissy Spacek, Sharon Stone, Sigourney Weaver. Most were in contention again a few years later for Fatal Attraction (won by Close) and The Accused (going to Foster and McGillis).

  11. Kathleen Turner, Prizzi’s Honour, 1984.      “I’ve been doin’ three to four hits a year for the past couple of years, most at full pay…” Director Johnm Huston looked over 11 Charley Partanna potentials, 19 Maerose Przzis, but just five Irene Walkers… and three of them (McNichol, Tatum O’Neal, Brooke Shields) were r too young to be falling for Jack Nicholson, hit man for the prizzi Family and the unlikeliest Mafioso since the Corleones’ James Caan.
  12. Helen Slater, The Secret of My Succe$s, 1987.    This is a job for Supergirl…  Just before shooting, Kristy heard she had lost it. The producers feared she might be difficult. “That kind of stuff happened all the time… because of the past.” Shooting on her 1982 movie, Just The Way You Are, was halted for a year due to her “chemical imbalance,” fuelling rumours of drugs or booze addiction. Truth was she was burnt out, an emotional basket-case, suffering a delayed reaction breakdown after her high-pressure years of child stardom on the Family TV show.  She still awaits another decent film.  Some Hollywoodians obviously didn’t wish to believe that what they had presumed was a rehab problem was, in fact, bipolar disorder – causing the Family and Empty Nest TV star to retire in 1992. “Time to play my biggest part – myself!”  Twenty years later, she came out as gay with her partner of 20 years: Martie Allen.
  13. Jennifer Aniston, Friends, TV, 1994-2004.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  13