- Richard Beymer, West Side Story, 1961. Singers and non-singers, Robert Wise saw ’em all!
- Charles Grodin, Catch 22, 1969. There was a moment when Charles Grodin was being moved from young Captain Andy Aardvark to old Colonal Cathcart – but the old-man make-up tests sucked. Grodin moved back and Chamberlain was no longer required as his replacement. “I would’ve loved working with Mike Nichols. But if I’d done that, I would not have been available for Hamlet [at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, UK, 1968] which accomplished more for me, career-wise, than Catch-22 would have.”
- Harry Hamlin, Clash of the Titans, 1980. Roger Ebert likened it to a Greek mythological retread of Star Wars. Also in the frame for Skywalker – er, Perseus – were, Chamberlain, Malcolm McDowell, Michael York, even an unknown body-builder called Arnold Schwarzenegger. So destiny for Hamlin. Ursula Andress played Aphrodite. Soon after shooting ended, she gave birth to their son, Dimitri.
- Rock Hudson, Dynasty, TV, 1984-1985. Rock signed on as Daniel Reece, when Chamberlain (another gay star) refused. And this proved to be Hudson’s final role, he died from AIDS on October 2, 1985.
- Kris Kristofferson, Amerika, TV, 1987. Up for the hero (an ex-Presidential candidate) Devin Milford in an alternate 1997, when the US has been conquered, bloodlessly, by Russia… Time magazine called a jarring mix of Norman Rockwell and Red Nightmare. The mini-series cost a very capitalistic $40m.In the real ’87, the Kremlin threatened to shut down the ABC News office in Moscow if the seven-chapter mini-series (full of slave-camps) was aired. It was and they didn’t.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 5