- Frank Latimore, 13 Rue Madeleine, 1946. Ya cain’t always get wot ya wanna… Not even if you were Darryl Zanuck. For his US Amy Intelligence thriller, the head Fox wanted the Alan Laddish (but taller) Stevens as Lassiter, William Eythe, Glenn Langan, John Payne for O’Connell, plus Rex Harrison or Randolph Scott, as spy boss Bob Sharkey. And lost ’em all!
- Tyrone Power, Nightmare Alley, 1947. Stevens was as ambitious as the character, carny man turning con-man Stan Carlise. But Power was finally home from WWII and wanted tougher stuff than his old swashbuckling days. And this one had it all – listed by New York Sun critic Gary Giddins in 2005 as: “degradation, adultery, alcoholism, murder, larceny, spiritualism, high-stakes cons, and child abuse, set against the Depression scrim of anarchy, racism, desperation, and top-down corruption.” Not a lot of laughs, then.
Birth year: 1916Death year: 1994Other name: Casting Calls: 2