- Dana Wynter, Fraulein, 1957. According to the LA Times in June 1956, Borgnine and Ursula Thiess (or Schell) were due for Berlin, Cologne and Munich locations as the GI and the woman (a Nazi’s fiancee) who saved his life during WWII. They became a very different couple: Ferrer and the South African Wynter. Thiess was Robert Taylor’s wife from 1954 until his 1969 death.
- Geraldine Page, Sweet Bird of Youth, 1961. Scripter-director Richard Brooks wanted Garbo and no one else as the Hollywood hasbeen Alexandra Del Lago – think Norma Desmond with a star with a Tennessee Williams spin – Alexandra Del Lago spin. She did not agree, of course. (“Me, a has been?”) Brooks tried Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, plus Greek Melina Mercouri and Austrian Maria Schell, – before realising no one could match Geraldine Page from the 1959Broadway play – which also featured her husband, Rip Torn. Their Big Apple postbox was marked Torn Page!
Birth year: 1926Death year: 2005Other name: Casting Calls: 2