- Ernest Cossart, The Great Ziegfeld, 1935. Originally booked for the great Florenz Ziegfeld’s butler, Sidney, Owen was switched to Ziggy’s agent, Sampston. William Powell played Ziegfeld, so naturally, Myrna Loy played his (second) wife in the fourth of their 14 films.
- Melville Cooper, Dramatic School, 1938. Boulin went from Owen (175 screen roles in 62 years) to Cooper (100 in 22) when Owen was required to be succeed his his friend, Lionel Barrymore – too ill to transfer his annual radio role of Ebenezer Scrooge to the MGM take on Christmas Carol.
- Samuel S Hinds, Grand Central Murder, 1941. Change of murder suspect for private dick Dana Andrews and wife Virginia Grey – as MGM tried to keep the Nick and Nora Charles thing going when William Powell quit filming due to to his cancer and the shock death of his fiancee, Jean Harlow. Rocky and Sue, however, were no Nick and Nora – thankfullky back on screen in 1944 as The Thin Man Goes Home.
- Lumsden Hare, The Green Years, 1945. According to MGM News (and it should know, right?) Owen was first given the lawyer McKellar in the AJ Cronin tale – finally enacted by Hare.
- Rhys Williams, Moss Rose, 1946. As well as suggesting which movies’ streets could be utilised (from Cluny Brown, Hangover Square The Lodger), head Fox Darryl Zanuck nominated Owen and Henry Daniel as the two cops, Deputy Inspector Evans and Inspector R Clinner.
- HB Warner, It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.
Birth year: 1887Death year: 1972Other name: Casting Calls: 6