With 212 Illustrations in Color and Black and White

Imagine Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan as Rick and lisa in Casablanca. Or Claudette Colbert as Margo Channing in All About Eve. Or Marlon Brando as the King of Siam in The King and I.
Such casting choices—all real possibilities at one time seem unthinkable now because of the magnificent performances of those who ultimately played the roles.
That is not to say that the actors who were chosen were more gifted than their potential rivals. Errol Flynn, who was so spectacular as the leader of the Merrie Men in The Adventures of Robin Hood, was certainly not a better actor than James Cagney, the original choice for the part. Nor was Vivien Leigh more accomplished than Katharine Hepburn, a one-time contender for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. But Flynn and Leigh were better suited to Robin and Scarlett, just as Cagney and Hepburn were particularly well cast as Tom Powers and Tracy Lord respectively in The Public Enemy and The Philadelphia Story.
Instances of inspired casting—from the silent era to the blockbusters of today—are the subject of this handsome, picture-packed volume, Memorable Movie Roles and the Actors Who Played Them. In total, 100 cases are considered, including roles that made careers, roles that inspired Oscar-winning performances, and roles that typecast actors forever. Included too are instances in which two memorable performances emerged from a single film. In some such cases, as in the pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk, the results even inspired the re-teaming of the actors in other vehicles.
Of course, the process begins with the creation of the role itself. What causes a handful of characters to linger in the memory long after most others are forgotten? As readers of Memorable Movie Roles will discover, the reasons vary.
In some cases—T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, Gen. George S. Patton in Patton, and Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter—the inspiration comes from real-life individuals. In other instances, the scantily-clad jungle hero of Tarzan the Ape Man, James Bond in Dr. No, and Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, we are drawn to those who perform incredible feats of derring-do. In still other instances, Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, Norma Rae in Norma Rae, and Marty Poletti in Marty, we identify with plain, average folks striving to endure or even better themselves. Sometimes, as with Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, characters inspire us with their nobility; sometimes, as with Enrico Bandello in Little Caesar, characters repell us with their ruthlessness; and sometimes, as with Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday, they simply make us laugh. Perhaps the best are those like Randall P. McMurphy in One Blew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, whom we meet as quirky, human beings with both foibles and admirable qualities.
What an actor brings to a role, any role, is immeasurable. How he or she chooses to talk, to move, and to behave gives a character life. But in a truly memorable role the actor often provides something extra. The wholesome warmth and spontaneity that Julia Roberts radiated in Pretty Woman certainly enlivened what was a less than credible character on paper, while the brash confidence and world weary air of Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon made an already interesting, believable creation even more so. Some actors,

John Wayne and Steve McQueen, for instance, play roles within a limited range, but when an Ethan Edwards in The Searchers or a Frank Bullitt in Bullitt comes along, they know what to do with it. Other actors, Meryl Streep among them, disappear into their roles, tailoring as closely as possible each mannerism and vocal inflection to the character’s personality. Streep’s Oscar-winning performance in Sophie's Choice is certainly a testament to this approach.
As author Kent Jones tells us, an actor who is cast in a memorable role may not always seem to be the ideal choice on the surface. Dustin Hoffman, for instance, was not the tall, WASP Ivy Leaguer of Charles Webb’s novel, The Graduate, nor did Montgomery Clift have the physical presence of James Jones’ boxer in From Here To Eternity. But the sensitivity that Hoffman and Clift brought to Benjamin Braddock and Robert E. Lee Prewitt respectively, more than compensated for the physical dimensions they lacked.
Finding a memorable movie role is not easy. Sometimes a highly skilled actor can wait a lifetime and never quite come across one. In other instances—Judy Garland with Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Audrey Hepburn with Princess Anne in Roman Holiday—the plum falls at the outset of a career. What one does with such an opportunity can have long-lasting consequences. Popeye Doyle in The French Connection allowed Gene Hackman to break out of the pack and become a leading man, but Bela Lugosi was never able to escape the shadow that Dracula cast over his career.
These, and many other issues, are the focus of Memorable Movie Roles. Accompanied by 212 photographs in color and black and white from the renowned Kobal Collection, this volume looks—as few books ever have—at one particular aspect of movie-making. And the result is sure to provide both the casual reader and the dedicated film buff with a host of insights into, and little known facts about the business of screen acting.
As Jones says in his introduction to this volume, “Perhaps falling in love and recognizing a memorable movie role are one and the same. Because on those occasions when all the fragile elements that make up the miracle of film meet the equally fragile elements of film-watching and the result ignites to form an alchemical compound, like James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib, it really is love.”