- Janet Gaynor, A Star Is Born, 1937.
- Glynis Johns, The 49th Parrallel, 1940. Bergner is (naturally!) still visible in long-shots but once she stalked off the film (fearing a Nazi invasion of Britain), Director Michael Powell and scenarist Emeric Pressburger called up young Glynis.She gave up her first lead role in Love On The Dole to play their shy Mormon heroine.
- Jean Seberg, St Joan, 1957. Ruling out Bergner as “too teary,” George Bernard Shaw could never win the perfect lead (Ingrid Bergman) for his Maid of Orleans project, circa 1942.Fifteen years later, Otto Preminger chose a 17-year-old Iowa schoolgirl who had never acted before.
- Ruth Gordon, Harold and Maude, 1971. There were obviously quite a few possible Harolds, but surely Ruth was the only possible Maude – even if shecouldn’t drive a car.Not quite. Director Hal Ashby chatted up every funky old bird still breathing and insurable…Peggy Ashcroft, Gladys Cooper, Mildred Dunnock, Edith Evans, Edwige Feuillère, Mildred Natwick, Dorothy Stickney.
- Beatrix Lehman, The Cat and the Canary, 1977. For the fourth (some say best) version of the grandpappy of haunted house chillers, ex-porno director Radley Metzger saw Bergner only as the housekeeper. She passed. Lehman passed over a few months after shootingi finished.
Birth year: 1897Death year: 1986Other name: Casting Calls: 5