- Moira Shearer, Peeping Tom, 1960. In swift succession, director Michael Powell lost Laurence Harvey to Hollywood and The Second Victim to Broadway. When casting around his favourites (Peter Brook’s wife, Natahsa Parry, included) – he felt the French Noëlle Adam (Mrs Sydney Chaplin) was “too big a risk,” Julie Andrews (the future Mrs Blake Edwards) “too famous” and Joan Plowright (the future Mrs Laurence Olivier) “too sympathetic.” He then selected the star he’d made in The Red Shoes, 1947, despite having called Moira “too glamorous.” Natasha (she had one of the greatest UK actress voices) was preparing to be two sisters in Powell’s (unmade) Loving Eye, when her husband “suddenly got jealous and whisked her away.” Ditto during the planning of this chiller – “Powell’s downfall.”
Birth year: 1930Death year: 2015Other name: Casting Calls: 0