- Olga San Juan, Blue Skies, 1945. Producer-director Mark Sandrich, who made an earlier Irving Berlin musical, Holiday Inn, also with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, was in charge – and then died of a cardiac arrest, March 4, 1945. Sol C Siegel took over and replaced Charisse with San Juan, aka The Puerto Rican Pepperpot… it says here…
- Ann Miller, Easter Parade, 1947. Break-a-leg, Cyd! And she did. During On An Island With You. “This meant I danced with Fred Astaire in my MGM debut and worked with my schoolhood friend, Judy Garland,” recalled Miller, the eternal showgirl with a heart of gold. And a neckbrace of iron after a husband threw her downstairs… As Cyd recovered, she was wooed by both Tony Martin and the man he had (foolishly) introduced her to – Howard Hughes. Tony won her; he proposed marriage. .
- Janet Leigh, The Red Danube, 1947. At the start of the year the selected stars were Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter and Charisse. By the time the title had changed five times (from Vespers in Vienna) and George Sidney started shooting the anti-Communist thriller, they had become: Walter Pidgeon, Ethel Barrymore, Peter Lawford, Angela Lansbury… and so it was Janet Leigh who had to jump out a window as a Russian refugee ballerina. “I got very emotional. It was a very difficult scene for me to do. I was very overwrought, burst into tears… couldn’t turn it off after the cameras stopped rolling.” Co-star Lawford tried to help: “Now, Janet, what’s all this about?” ”I guess it was his British… reserve where you don’t show your emotions that readily… He was more comfortable playing the sophisticate or the playboy.”
- Esther Williams, Pagan Love Song, 1950. Cyd and Van Johnson had top spots. Then, Cyd was pregnant . The script was re-spun to suit Esther – also pregnant.
- Leslie Caron, An American In Paris,1951. Hey, it was the guy who was supposed to be American… Anyway, she was pregnant with “Little T,” Tony Martin Jr. Realisateur Roger Vadim told me he suggested Leslie (from the same dance class as his wife, Brigitte Bardot); Gene Kelly’s then wife, Besty Blair,said it wasanother American in Paris: Eddie Constantine. Kelly and Astaire chose Cydfor unforgettable setpieces intheir next films, Singin’ inthe Rain and The Band Wagon – when Fred delivered the immortal praise: “When you dance with Cyd, you stay danced!”
- Gene Tierney, Never Let Me Go, 1952. “Clark Gable Outwits Russians Again, Wins a Ballerina” was how Bosley Crowther’s review was headlined in The New York Times. Charisse and Shelley Winters (rather top heavy for ballet?) were also seen for Marya Lamarkina. Charisse, of lourse, became memorably, marvellously Russian fours years later in Silk Stockings.
- Ann Blyth, Kismet, 1955. For the much-filmed 1911 Edward Knoblock play – Aladdin meets MGMusicals – Blyth finally won Marsinah, daughter of Howard Keel’s wandering poet and self-styled King of the Beggars – vowing that she will become Queen of Bagdad.
- Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face, 1956. Audrey’s agent said No. Cyd said: Sure. Hepburn said: Let me read it, at least. I need to do something in Paris while [husband) Mel Ferrer] is shooting Eléna et les hommes. Astaire said: Audrey! Who’s retired – when do we start?
- Mitzi Gaynor, Les Girls, 1956. First, Leslie Caron rebelled; then, Cyd quit Gene Kelly’s last MGMovie for Fred Astaire’s Silk Stockings.
- Dolores Gray, Designing Woman, 1956. Lesser known for filmusicals, Dolores had ruled London’s Annie Get Your Gun for 2.5m people over three years.
- Gwen Verdon, Damn Yankees!, 1958. To go the beauty route, Warners wanted Cyd and Cary Grant, but chose the cheaper route of the Broadway star and Ray Walston.
- Eva Marie Saint, North By Northwest, 1958. MGM’s idea. Alfred Hitchcock stuck to his blondes… and “acted just like a rich man keeping a woman, I supervised the choice of her wardrobe in every detail. You know, just like Jimmy Stewart did with Kim Novak in Vertigo.” “We didn’t talk business at all,” Saint told the New York Times, 1999, “but by the time the lunch was over, I was Eve Kendall. To this day, I’m fascinated that he saw me as a sexy spy-lady.” And no Hitch hanky-hanky: “he was very protective of me.” Of course he was, he always called Saint “the holiest of actresses.”
- Polly Bergen, Move Over Darling, 1963. Like Dean Martin and director George Cukor, she quit Marilyn’s Something’s Got To Give when it gave and was completed by – of all people – Doris Day.
- Gloria DeHaven, Call Her Mom, TV, 1972. Helen Hardgrove in the TV pilot masquerading as a tele-movie, went through three MGM song ’n’ dancers: from Charisse to Ann Miller to DeHaven. The series idea – sexy waitress Connie Stevens as a fraternity house mother – took off, OK, just never landed.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 14