- Blanche Yurka, A Tale of Two Cities, 1935. The silent screen queen felt Madame Defarge was not quite her. She recommended Blanche – who had a long wait. She was the 67th and last actress to test for the seat by the guillotine.
- Judith Anderson, Rebecca, 1939.
- Katina Paxinou, For Whom The Bell Tolls, 1943. The Ukrainian legend quit the screen in 1925 until returning in 1940 for five movies including Blood and Sand. 1941. Off-screen, Alla was Nancy Reagan’s lesbian – well, bisexual – Godmother. The Greek star won in the clinches with such other old-timers as Fay Bainter, Ethel Barrymore, Pola Negri, Flora Robson, Marjorie Rambeau, Norma Talmadge,,, And Gloria Swanson… her one-time lover. Cecil B DeMille. had planned his own version of the Ernest Hemingway book. But Glorai the diva was interested only in the lead. At age 46, she wondered why she lost that role to Ingrid Bergman… at 28!
Birth year: 1879Death year: 1945Other name: Casting Calls: 3