Lisa Whelchel

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

 

  1. Krista Errickson, Hello, Larry, TV, 1979-1980.      Surely the only US actress who is an ex-Mouseketeer and ventriloquist, Lisa auditioned  for the oldest daughter  Diane Alder, who lasted all  26 episodes of the Diff’rent Strokes  spin-off.

  2. Daryl Hannah. Splash, 1983.    A mermaid?  Moi? That’s what they  all said, more or less.  Except Debra Winger who longed to be  Madison. (Director Ron Howard did not agree). The full 19 options were… Hannah,  Rosanna Arquette, Jodie Foster (she was booked into The Hotel New Hampshire), General  Hospital  soap queen Genie Francis, Melanie Griffith, Diane Lane, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Tanya Roberts (booked for Sheena: Queen of the Jungle), Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields (studying French Literature at Princeton),  Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner, Lisa Whelchel (from The Facts of Life, 1979-1988), Debra Winger.  Plus two Brits, Lynne Frederick and Fiona Fullerton – impressive as the daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, 1970.  Oh and PJ Soles, who was originally chosen to co-star with… Bill Murray – as Disney’s new (“adult”) Touchstone unit rushed Splash into production to beat Warren Beatty’s similar “half-human-half-kipper” tail. Mermaid.

  3. Jennifer Aniston, Friends, TV, 1994-2004.  
    “My daughter once said :  Are you telling me that Brad Pitt could have been my father?” Whelchel was in the running, As if there could be another Rachel… “I remember reading the pilot episode and I said to my husband: This is the funniest script I have ever read and this is going to be a huge hit,’” But Whelchel was – is –  a devout Christian, and, well,  it was “going to be all about sex.”  (Christians don’t indulge, of  course). And at 50. she further explained “there were many opportunities I could have pursued, but I didn’t feel comfortable.” Her faith was that important to her.   (Lisa’s Facts Of Life co-star Nancy McKeon was seen for Monica. As if thdefre could be…..).  

  4. Melinda Clarke, Heaven Help Us, TV, 1994.  Lost again. This time, the female lead (opposite John Schn3ider, Ricardo Montalban)  in one of the few Aaron Spelling series that bombed.

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  4