1. – Victor Francen, Ariane/The Loves of Ariane, France, 1931. The debt-ridden lover of women and petanque regretted refusing director Paul Czinner’s Ariane – for the role, not the high salary. Yet he admitted Francen was far better than he could have been.
2. – Arnaudy, Cigalon, France, 1935. With the kind of artistic freedom enjoyed by Chaplin and Woody Allen, playwright and film-maker Marcel Pagnol took one look at his Cigalon – and decided to re-shoot. The sound was deplorable and the titular Poupon was all wrong. Arnaudy, his future second Topaze, was better. The film was not.
3. – Raimu, La femme de boulanger/The Baker’s Wife, France, 1938. When Maupi fell out of the baker’s shop, Raimu (jealous of Pagnol’s new successes with Fernandel) shouted: “Why should I play a role written for mossieur Maupi.” He kept bad-mouthing his mentor, even suggesting it was Paul Pagnol, not Marcel, who wrote the scripts. Result: Henri Poupon accepted – even got new teeth for “the role of my life.” And he refused any other role when Ginette Leclerc convinced Raimu to finally curb his temper and play her baker-husband.
Birth year: 1884Death year: 1953Other name: Casting Calls: 0