- Sylvia Syms, Victim, 1961. Dirk Bogarde said Mary “was out of sympathy with the theme” of the breakthrough gay drama. She was fine, though, two years later for his sf piece, The Mind Benders, in her tragically brief, nine-film career.
- Angie Dickinson, Point Blank, 1967. For his Hollywood debut, UK director John Boorman wanted to bring a touch of Blighty with him. “She’s too English,” said MGM. Er, Scottish, corrected Boorman.
- Susan Hayward, The Revengers, 1971. The project was already plagued with difficulties when she quit… William Holden had jungle fever, producer Martin Rackin had a heart seizure, Van Heflin died of his heart attack. Mary preferred Broadway, Harold Pinter and Old Times as the vengeful Western became La Hayward’s final film and both womern died in 1975.
- Jacqueline Bisset, Der Richter und sein Henker (End of the Game), Germany, 1974. UK actor-novelist Robert Shaw wrote the first adaptation in 1965 of Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1950 novella, The Judge and His Hangman, for himself and his wife, Mary Ure. Nicholas Ray was due to direct. Instead, Austrian star Maximilian Schell co-wrote and directed the existential whodunnit. He kept Shaw as the crooked nemesis of the usual bulky, burned-out veteran cop – a rare film acting gig for the US ex-actor-turned-director Martin Ritt (Hudd, Norman Rae). Jacquelijne Bisset succeeded Mary Ure as Shaw’s mistress. Anna Crawley, by name. (Can’t think of a better one!).
Birth year: 1933Death year: 1975Other name: Casting Calls: 4