- Raymond Burr, His Kind of Woman, 1951.
Everyone working at RKO has a Howard Hughes story. Director Richard Fleischer had many. This is about the best. The super-fussy HH asked him to fix the ending of the thriller directed by Joh Farrow. “Now, Dick, I want it perfect. I don’t care how long it takes.” When he was finished, HH loved it. “It’s far better than I ever hoped it could be. [Pause] But…” He didn’t like the guy playing Ferraro, the chief villain. Nor did RF, but he had the role in the Farrow footage, so RF was obliged to used him. “But he is practically in every scene. We’d have to re-do almost everything.” “That’s right!” said HH. “But what about the scenes in Farrow’s part?” “Re-do those, too… and let’s get the best heavy in town.” That turned out to be Wilke – “a face mean enough to give a Cossack pause,” said RF. About abut three-quarters through all the necessary re-shoots, Raymond Burr arrived on the set. Why ? “I’m replacing Bob Wilke.” “Who told you that?” “Mr Hughes.” RF called producer Robert Fellows. “I thought Wilke was doing a great job.” “So did Howard. but he saw Raymond Burr in some movie the other night…” They started over. Soon enough, Vincent Price held a party to celebrate a full year on the movie. Robert Mitchum celebrated in his fashion. He got drunk and wrecked the set. The film flopped, losing $850,000 exactly the cost of all the re-shoots.
Birth year: 1914Death year: 1989Other name: Casting Calls: 1