It’s pretty well known that Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz was originally played by Buddy “Jed Clampett” Ebsen, but he had to give up the role because he was allergic to the aluminum-powder makeup. It went to Roy Bolger instead.
But for a twist of fate, we might have had Ronald Reagan instead of Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca.
Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies could well have been played by Bea “Cousin Pearl” Benaderet instead of Irene Ryan.
In 1965, Lyle Waggoner was tested for the role of Batman, which of course went to Adam West.
Instead of Shelley Long and Ted Danson, Julia Duffy and Fred Dryer might have been the leads in Cheers!
And of course, William Shatner ended up as Captain of the USS *Enterprise *because Jeffrey Hunter eventually decided he didn’t want to do a TV series.
I recall reading once that a number of actresses auditioned for the role of Rhoda on MTM, but Valerie Harper blew them all away. Have their names ever been made known?
The Godfather had all sorts of various people for various roles. Names like Rod Steiger, Laurence Olivier, Richard Conte (he ended up as Barzini) and even Danny Thomas (his studio was very wealthy with shows like Andy Griffith and Dick van Dyke) as Vito. Took some doing to get Marlon Brando cast.
The search for Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind” was huge. They played it up with a publicity campaign with Paulette Goddard the leading candidate. But they were not sure if she really was legally married to Charlie Chaplin and David Selznick felt he was trying to convince himself that Goddard was Scarlett. His brother Myron represented Vivien Leigh and on the eve of filming she passed the screen tests.
Lucille Ball was most comfortable working with friends and relatives so when she and Desi Arnaz started “I Love Lucy”, she wanted Fred and Ethel Mertz to be played by Gale Gordon and Bea Bendaret. They were on the radio show “My Favorite Husband” with Lucille. But Gordon was involved with “Our Miss Brooks” and Bendaret with “The George Burns Gracie Allen Show” so William Frawley convinced Desi he was a good risk and Desi found Vivian Vance acting in a play.
In David Niven’s excellent memoir, Bring on the Empty Horses, he says that he was originally considered for the role of Charlie Allnut in The African Queen, a role ultimately played by Humphrey Bogart. Bogart told him that he “woulda stunk up the screen in that part”, a judgement in which Niven concurred.
IIRC, Hugh Jackman only got cast as Wolverine because Dougray Scott thought he’d be free in time to start filming. See, production on the Tom Cruise movie that Scott was doing started running long — a script delay here, an injury there, and then a guy quits; you know how it is — and, well, the rest is history.
Jon Pertwee’s son Sean was considered for the Eleventh Doctor.
Orion Pictures had talked to Anthony Perkins for the role of Uncle Fester but Perkins wanted to play Hannibal Lecter instead and Addams Family became a Paramount project.
Sophia Loren turned down Barbarella.
Burt Lancaster was supposed to play Samson to Hedy Lamarr’s Delilah but back problems kept him out. DeMille then wanted Steve Reeves but ultimately decided Reeves didn’t have the right build.
Inspector Clouseau could have been Peter Ustinov if not for a contract dispute.
The list of people who were considered to play Kevin McCallister’s parents is also a bit extensive and Joe Pesci’s character was originally written with Robert De Niro in mind.
Courteney Cox was originally asked to play Rachel on Friends. She requested to read for Monica instead and the producers loved her take on the part.
Repordedly, Ellen DeGeneres turned down the role of Phoebe.
In Rain Man, Bill Murray was originally going to play the Dustin Hoffman role, and Dustin Hoffman was going to play the Tom Cruise role.
I think that might have been as good as, or better than, the version that was filmed.
Bill Murray was also apparently one of the possible choices to play Han Solo. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say the role “almost” went to him, but that would have been bizarre. Christopher Walken was apparently considered too, which would be equally bizarre. Other choices included Burt Reynolds (I can kinda see it), Nick Nolte (can kinda see it) and Al Pacino (I’m imagining him in Dog Day Afternoon mode and I can’t imagine he could have pulled off the cool-under-pressure style.)
There’s more to that story. Instead of playing Clouseau in the first Pink Panther movie, Ustinov signed on to play what proved to be an Oscar-winning role in Topkapi. He was a last-minute replacement for the original actor, Peter Sellers.
There were MANY problems with the movie version of “Bonfire of the Vanities,” but casting changes were part of it.
The judge was based on a crusty life Bronx judge named Burton Roberts, and Roberts nearly got the role! Finally, the part went to Alan Arkin. But the movie had inspired protests among people who thought he story was racist. Since there were no positive black characters, the role was given to Morgan Freeman.
A lot of guys were in the running for the role of Superman before it wound up getting the iconic treatment from Christopher Reeve: the story goes that Sylvester Stallone and John Travolta and Burt Reynolds got turned down – and that Warren Beatty simply turned them down, just like how James Caan simply turned them down, and how Clint Eastwood simply turned them down, and I figure none of that counts.
By contrast, Robert Redford apparently said he’d do it for more money.