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Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
This isn't local, but I love these kinds of stories. It's a long list of actors whose names you know that were considered for roles you also know. But they didn't get them.
-Maculay Culkin as Leonard in "The Big Bang Theory?"
-Chris Pratt as the lead in "Chuck?"
-Matthew Broderick instead of Michael J. Fox in "Family Ties?"
-And William H. Macy as Brian the Dog in "Family Guy?"
They were all considered for those parts and there's a lot more shows and names in the article which you can see here.
- ckg927
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
This is a regular feature in the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader books(the ones that come out every year; 36 years and counting). And it doesn't JUST cover TV shows; movies are also in the list.
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
My favourites (not mentioned in the article) is Johnny Carson considered for the role of Rob Petrie in the Dick van Dyke Show (which obviously would have had a different name!) and Mickey Rooney as Archie Bunker in "All In The Family." Hard to imagine anyone but Carroll O'Connor in the part that helped change television.
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Thread Starter- newsguy1
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
Richard Dawson was briefly considered to be the main actor in Hogan's Heroes.
Dawson actually insisted upon it because he felt that it should be a clever British lad who should be running the scams. But the producers decided Newkirk should be a secondary character and they also had Dawson modify his accent because it was more northern English, and not as understandable, so he made it more of a London cockney accent.
Oh, and as far as movies go, there are many famous almost-starred stories.
Tom Selleck was the original choice for Indiana Jones.
Ronald Reagan and George Raft were originally preferred to be Rick in Casablanca with Bogie being a distant pick.
Steve McQueen was the top pick to be Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now and Robert DeNiro as Colonel Kurtz.
Last edited by newsguy1 (May 6, 2024 3:54 pm)
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
Eric Stoltz was fired to make way for MJ Fox in Back to the Future.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
According to MeTV, David Cassidy was reportedly the first choice to play Dr. Johnny Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati, but he eventually turned the part down. The role went to Howard Hesseman after he was invited to audition for the role of Herb Tarlek, but refused to read for any part except Johnny.
Another interesting tidbit: the show might've ended up being WKRP in Pittsburgh, according to IMDB.com, but the then-current mayor refused to offer his permission to the producers to use the city for the series. Although in what was probably considered a little dig at the mayor's refusal, in the pilot episode Dr. Johnny Fever talks to Andy about his bouncing around from station to station after being fired in L.A., and says "I never thought I'd end up at WKRP in Pitts-....Cincinnati??"
PJ
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
What always amazed me is that there's a WKRC in Cincinnati and yet they were able to use those fake call letters anyway.
And now there really is a WKRP. But it's not in Cincinnati. I suppose it was inevitable someone would jump on those call letters given how famous and iconic they became. It's a lower power, non-commercial FM on 101.9 located in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Here's part of how they describe themselves on their website:
"The station is owned and operated by Oak City Media, Inc, a...charitable non-profit corporation.
Our call sign is an homage to "WKRP in Cincinnati," a popular television sitcom which aired on the CBS television network from 1978-82 that inspired a generation of people to enter the broadcasting industry."
They call themselves "The Mighty Fine 101.9" and I have to say I'm kind of disappointed they feature such eclectic programming with more music and a lot less Nesman. 
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Thread Starter- Chrisphen
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Re: Missed It By THAT Much: The Roles These Famous Actors Missed Out On
Radiowiz wrote:
Eric Stoltz was fired to make way for MJ Fox in Back to the Future.
This one was fascinating. The casting change wasn't made early into the production - principal photography was almost complete. Most of the reaction shots (not featuring Marty McFly) were done against Stoltz as Marty.