I have a friend who’s feeling a little down and I’d like to cheer her up after having not made the cut for an audition.
Are there any well known stories of famous people who were turned down at some audition just to make it big later? Like, the Beatles were famously rejected, were they not?
Harvey Keitel auditioned for the Actors Studio and eight years in a row before being accepted. Now he’s on its board.
The Beatles were rejected by Decca records after submitting to a recording test, yes.
I imagine every great actor has been turn down for numerous roles, but I can’t think of a standout example.
The most famous story involves Fred Astaire. Supposedly, the studio exec who evaluated his first screen test wrote, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Skinny. Balding. Dances a little.”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953197,00.html
“Can’t sing, can’t act. Can dance a little.”
Fred Astaire’s RKO screen test results. (allegedly.)
Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds were buddies back when they started out in Hollywood. The two had attended an audition together and the casting director had sent them both packing, telling Clint that he was ugly and Burt that he couldn’t act. Once outside, Clint turned to Burt and said “well, at least I can act.” Burt shot back, “yeah, but I can learn to act. You’ll always be ugly.”
I remember reading that a few people who tried out for the Monkees and got rejected became big later.
I have read that Stephen Stills was one of these.
Paul Williams auditioned for the original Mickey Mouse Club and was rejected. He later became a bigger force than any of them with the possible exception of Annette.
As was Charlie Manson.
In addition to not hiring the Beatles, Decca records fired Buddy Holley. Their A&R man called Holley “the biggest no-talent I ever worked with.”
The Grand Ole Opry firesd Elvis Presley after one performance.
Not a performer, but a script: MGM turned down Gone With the Wind.
Actually, the issue with Clint was his big ol’ Adam’s Apple.
No, HelloNinja. It was an urban legend. Manson was in prison from 1961 to 1967. The Monkees auditions were in 1965, so he couldn’t possibly have attended.
Not an actor, but Judd Apatow’s resume is littered with canceled shows and failed movies.
Not really. David Selznick was reluctant at first due to the high price (the highest to that point for an unknown author), but liked the book and eventually purchased the movie rights a few weeks after it was published. AFAIK, MGM never had a chance to bid on it. Selznick later partnered with MGM because he needed to use their star, Clark Gable.
There were several drafts of the scripts that were eventually rejected and the final shooting script wasn’t completed until shooting had begun.
Not an actor, but author Lawrence J. Peter had The Peter Principle rejected by a very large number of publishers until he had an appearance on a TV talk show where the talked about it. After that, the publishers lined up to publish it and it was a massive best seller.
I also should mention this, which might help:
A friend of mine, an aspiring writer, had a sister who was trying to break into theater in New York. Her sister once told her that she could never be a writer because she couldn’t handle the rejection.
My friend pointed out that actors get rejected all the time, but her sister said essentially, that the rejections are far less a comment on your ability. You may fail an audition because you have black hair and the producers want a blonde, or because you’re taller than they’d like or because they find your accent is not quite right – all factors that you have no control over. With acting, the rejection quite simply can be that, though you’re great at what you do, you weren’t the physical type the producers were looking for.
Or, more basically, in show biz, there are a LOT of talented people competing for a limited number of gigs.
ANY decent role in a play or movie is going to attract dozens or hundreds of talented people who are capable of playing the part well. If you’re not an established star, the odds will almost always be against you. NOT because you aren’t good, just because you’re not UNIQUELY good.
VERY rarely is a casting director going to tell an applicant, “Quit show biz, now. You suck. You have no future.” More likely, he’s going to say, “Not bad, but you’re not exactly what we need.” Or “That was fine, but we’ve seen someone we like a little better.” If you’re a performer, you’re likely to hear those words a LOT.
Being rejected, for ANY job in ANY career field, hurts. And rejection is bound to happen more often if you’re in a highly competitive field like show biz. If you know you’re talented, the only question is, how long are you willing to do menial jobs and live in relative poverty until you get your big break (which, of course, may NEVER come)?
So, while it might offer the OP’s friend some small comfort to point out that the Beatles’ audition tapes were rejected by several record companies, the main things the OP’s friend has to ask herself are:
Am I really good at what I do? Am I genuinely talented? If you’re not sure, stop here.
Am I tough enough to endure repeated rejection? Because that comes with the territory, I’m afraid.
On my Season 1 DVDs of “NewsRadio”, in the commentary on the pilot episode they talk about how the guy they hired to play the electrician/technician really wasn’t a good fit with the rest of the cast and they decided to let him go at the last minute. They hired some other guy for the part for the pilot and then Joe Rogan got the regular gig when the series was picked up.
The actor that didn’t make the cut was Ray Romano, who later hit it big with “Everybody Loves Raymond”.
Lisa Kudrow was originally hired to play Roz on “Frasier”, but didn’t have good chemistry with Kelsey Grammar, so they ditched her for Peri Gilpin. Dunno if there is still footage of her, but there are still photos of Kudrow in the radio station sound booth.
With the possible exception of the very biggest stars, I don’t think it’s uncommon for actors to get rejected even after they’re successful. I recently read an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker about her upcoming movie with Hugh Grant, and she said that she’d auditioned or screen tested for a number of prior Hugh Grant movies but had never gotten the part.