1. – Martha Vickers, The Big Sleep, 1945. She tested for the nymphy Carmen Sternwood, who tried to sit in Philip Marlowe’s lap while he was standing up. Then, director Howard Hawks chanced upon a photo of Vickers, an ex-model then known as MacVicars and buried (alive!) in Universal horrors. Martha was so good, said scripter William Faulkner, that most of her role hit the cuttingroom floor to avoid over-shadowing her screen sister, Lauren Bacall. Darrin played Geiger’s secretary (uncredited like five of her six features) and when a technician posed the famous question, “Who killed Owen Taylor?”, she replied: “It must have been Hawks!”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 1