Nell Potts

  1. Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon, 1973.    Before director Peter Bogdanovich rolled O’Neal pere et fille, in black-and-white, the iconic John Huston was prepping it as Addie PrayPray (the book’s title)in colour for Newman pere et fille, Nell Potts. Paramount chief Robert Evans had wanted Warren Beatty or Jack Nicholson. Except neither one had a kid (of the right age). . O’Neal said he wouldn’t have made the film without Tatum. “No father and daughter can connect with the intensity of a movie, and in a way, the story is a parallel of our lives.”  Oh really? In her autobiography, Paper Life, O’Neal said when she was Oscar-niominated and Pop wasn’t, he hit her!  (No wonder she said after Peter’s death in 2022, that he “was my heaven and earth. A father figure. A friend. From Paper Moon to Nickelodeon, he always made me feel safe”).Ten at the time,Tatum remains the youngest Oscar-winner. Potts made two films – Rachel, Rachel, 1967, The Effect of Famma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, 1982 – both starring her mother, Joanne Woodward, and directed by her father.
  2. Linda Blair, The Exorcist,  1973.    She made two films only, both starring her mother, Joanne Woodward, and directed by her father, Paul Newman.  Earlier on she had been invited to test as the head-twirling, mouth-swearing  Regan from the William Peter Blatty book. Any such idea was squashed from a great height by her folks.

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  2