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Five Iconic Film Roles That Famous Actors Foolishly Turned Down
What might have been…
Tales of actors who turned down major film roles are a staple of Hollywood lore. The claim that Ronald Reagan was the first choice for the role of Rick in Casablanca before it eventually went to Humphrey Bogart has persisted for decades; unfortunately for those who love the “what if?” game, it’s just not true (see Snopes thoroughly debunk it here). There are, however, a plethora of cases where the actor you know from an iconic role was not the first choice.
I was reminded of this yesterday after the passing of screen legend James Caan. A Mental Floss story from 2015 listed seven roles that Caan turned down during his career, including Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (the role went to Gene Hackman), R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (the role went to Jack Nicholson), and reportedly the part of Han Solo in Star Wars that went to Harrison Ford, though this has never been confirmed. As great as Caan was, it’s impossible to imagine anyone but Hackman, Nicholson, and Ford in these roles today.
It’s equally difficult to picture the five actors below playing the characters that were made famous by the actor who ultimately got the part, even considering the legendary status of the stars who turned them down.
