- Jill St John, Holiday for Lovers, 1958. The female roles seemed jinxed. Or was it just the lousy script ? Tierney was set for Mary, wed to her waspish Laura co-star Clifton Webb! – and taking their teenager daughters on a South American holiday. Then, Tierney had an emotional breakdown. Joan Fontaine replaced her – and had her own breakdown. Head Fox Darry Zanuck had similar trouble with one of the daughters. He went for a real, trouble-free pro and Wyman made her first films for three years. Suffering her own nervous breakdown, Varsi quit Hollywood after Compulsion that year.
- Antonella Lualdi, A double tour (UK: Web of Passion; US: Leda) France-Italy, 1959. For his third nouvelle vague drama, auteur Claude Chabrol wanted the latest fashion model to hit Hollywood. She impressed him in the second of her eight movies, 10 North Frederick, 1957. “But shedidn’t fit in with the decor at all.” And for La Lualdi, the script had to be switched around: Léda became an Italian who had known a Hungarian in Japan. Sounded like a joke – or a limerick!
- Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra, 1963.
- Jacqueline Bisset, The Detective, 1967. “I don’t think a man and his wife should act together,” said the titular Frank Sinatra. “Least that goes for us.” Yet he was livid when his new child bride, Mia Farrow, was delayed on Rosemary’s Baby making him wait for her to join him as his co-star. He refused to delay his film for her, looked over Parker and Suzanne Pleshette, before choosing the British Bisset… and having divorce papers served on Farrow on her film set. Lo, verily, wotta charmer!
Birth year: 1932Death year: 2003Other name: Casting Calls: 4