- Claire Bloom, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, 1964. For the first film of one of his books, spymeister John le Carré had wanted “Tush” as the waif-like innocent embroiled in Richard Burton’s espionage activities – “a bit kooky, someone who could play working class, a bit solitary, a natural recruit for the Communist party.” Burton wanted his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. Far too glam, said le Carré (and everyone else). But he felt the same about Claire loom. And about Burton, as qell. He finally loved them both. Liz Taylor kept visiting (and disrupting) the set. She knew what she was doing. Hubby and Bloom had had a famous affair… “Bloom preserved a dignified distance in her caravan,” reported le Carré, who never understood why her character was not allowed to be Jewish. She was Liz Gold in the book, Nan Perry on-film… to avoid the media jabbering on about Burton’s Other Liz… Honest!
- Richard, Lorna Doone, TV, 1976. Six years earlier, Rita and director Desmond Davis announced their version of the RD Blackmore classic. Nothing happened and the next production (the seventh of eleven since 1920) came fderoim the BBC. Where else? (Rita was now 36)
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 2