- Joan Leslie, Sergeant York, 1941. Just as the 1914-18 war hero only ever wanted Gary Cooper to play him, Alvin C York insisted on“ooomph girls” playing his wife.
- Betty Field, Kings Row, 1941. Ida Lupino (and Olivia de Havilland rejected the neurotic Cassandra that Bette Davis craved. (She suggested Field for the part). Peters, Laraine Day, Katharine Hepburn, Marsha Hunt, Priscilla Lane, Joan Leslie, Adele Longmire, Gene Tierney were also seen for “the town they talk of in whispers,” full of murder, sadism, depravity And worse that had to be axed from Henry Bellamann’s 1940 novel: sex (premarital), sex (gay), incest, suicide… Peyton Place 16 years before Peyton Place!
- Donna Reed, Gentle Annie, 1944. Starting in October 1942, shooting was shuttered after four weeks when director Woody Van Dyke fell ill. Two years on, with Andrew Marton helming, the original cast went thataway and Reed took over as Mary Lingen, taken in by an outlaw family and much fancied by James Craig as US Marshall Richland – previously Robert Taylor and Peters. A year later, New Year’s Day 1945, Susan was paralysed in a hunting accident. She had a short-lived comeback in her wheelchair in films and a TV series, when wed to actor-turned-director Richard Quine, 1943-1948.
- June Allyson, Music For Millions, 1944. All change for the MGMusical. Peters, Donna Reed and finally Allyson, took over Barbara from Lana Turner… and Hugh Hebert replaced Morgan as Uncle Ferdinand. Peters became the first wife of future director Richard Quine when acting together in Tish, 1941,during n their MGM contract days.
Birth year: 1921Death year: 1952Other name: Casting Calls: 4