Actors that turned down roles that made another actor famous

[needscoffee]

John Travolta backed out of American Gigolo after several days of filming. It ended up going to Richard Gere instead, making a star out of him. (I’ve seen an early preview movie poster with Travolta instead of Gere on it.)

Other movies Travolta declined which then went to Gere are Days of Heaven, Officer and a Gentleman, and Chicago.

[Gatopescado]

@cochrane

Mickey Rooney was Norman Lear’s first choice to play Archie Bunker in All in the Family .

Oh My God That Would Have SUCKED!

[Odesio]

@kenobi_65

To the point that she had actually shot shot one or two days’ worth of scenes before departing the show. My recollection from that time is that Bujold hadn’t done much television work (at least, not episodic television in which she had a recurring, lead role), and was unpleasantly surprised at what the production schedule was like.

I’ve seem some of Bujold’s outtakes from the show. She did not seem into it at all and it was quite clear she didn’t want to be there.