- Charles Farrell, The Man Who Came Back, 1931. Two of Katharine Hepburn’s friends from her earliest New York – and indeed, Connecticut – stage days were promised the lead role. One was the gay MacKenna. The other, Humphrey Bogart. MacKenna, who took the bisexual Hepburn’s virginity – repeatedly – was among her three closest confidants (and gossips) – with actor Anderson Lawler and director George Cukor.
- Leslie Howard, Secrets, 1932. Mary Pickford’s last film began as a talkie re-make of Norma Talmadge’s 1924 hit. But “America’s Sweetheart” stopped shooting about a third through in 1930 and burnt the footage because, well, she blamed it on a drunk director (Marshall Neilan), but the trtuth was that, at 31, MacKenna looked too young for her at 37. By the time she re-started it with Howard in 1933, MacKenna (the movies’ second Bulldog Drummond), had wed and divorced Kay Francis… and never made another film for 27 years.
Birth year: 1899Death year: 1962Other name: Casting Calls: 2