1. – June Ritchie, A Kind of Loving, 1962. Missing her first John Schlesinger classic.
2. – Julie Christie, Billy Liar, 1963. And her second… proved the making of a superstar. Brit director John Schlesinger saw Julie in Town Magazine – “That’s Lizzie!” – and recalled seeing her drama school’s Diary of Anne Frank. “She had promise and I tracked her down. She’d been on holiday in Spain… all bronzed and glamorous. She read with Tom Courtenay and we gave her a second test but I thought she was just too good to be true. Too much of a beautiful, earthy young creature for the part… of a nice, ordinary North Country girl, an earth mother figure. So, I hired Topsy. She’d played it on stage. Well, Topsy fell sick and I took another look at Julie’s test and decided to see her again. I didn’t realise until the rushes what an extraordianry quality she projects.” She was paid $3,000 for just eleven minutes in the film, including her (literal) walk to stardom. “A beautiful walk to lovely music,” recalled Schlesinger. After a brief TV series, United!, 1965, Topsy was never heard of again.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 0