# Iconic roles that almost went to other actors

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-roles-that-almost-went-to-other-actors/808949>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 16, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-roles-that-almost-went-to-other-actors/808949 "2018-02-16T20:03:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-roles-that-almost-went-to-other-actors/808949/101 "2018-03-18T03:58:39Z")

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> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> At that: Christopher Reeve turned down _American Gigolo_ (which gave Richard Gere his leading-man big break) and _Body Heat_ (which did likewise for William Hurt).

American Gigolo was originally cast with John Travolta, who ended up bowing out due to his girlfriend’s losing battle with cancer. (Early film posters for the movie actually have him in the role.) So that’s how Richard Gere got his breakout role.

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**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-roles-that-almost-went-to-other-actors/808949/102 "2018-03-18T07:25:51Z")

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> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> American Gigolo was originally cast with John Travolta, who ended up bowing out due to his girlfriend’s losing battle with cancer. (Early film posters for the movie actually have him in the role.) So that’s how Richard Gere got his breakout role.

I thought it also had to do with the fact Travolta flopped so badly with \*\*Moment by Moment \*\*that Hollywood conventional wisdom pegged him as a flash-in-the-pan whose 15 minutes had just expired so he was dumped in favor of Gere.

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**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-roles-that-almost-went-to-other-actors/808949/103 "2018-03-18T11:31:44Z")

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> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> I can imagine Mark Hamill.

I can imagine Martin Short. Nobody but nobody plays a manic man-child like “Clifford.” People can say whatever they want to say about that movie but I think his performance was nothing “short” of genius. It was bizarre and insane and surreal and I haven’t ever seen anything like it before or since.

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**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-roles-that-almost-went-to-other-actors/808949/104 "2018-03-18T11:44:35Z")

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> [@Jacquernagy](#):
>
> I can imagine Martin Short. Nobody but nobody plays a manic man-child like “Clifford.”

For what it’s worth, though, I wasn’t just mentioning Hamill because I happened to think he’d be an interesting choice for the role; it’s that Hamill had already played the role on Broadway when he auditioned for the movie.

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