Top Billing?
Why did Glenn Ford get top billing over Eleanor Parker? She's obviously the star, and the movie is about her character.
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Because that was what his contract at MGM stipulated. He made BLACKBOARD
JUNGLE that same year and that was a huge hit. Parker did receive an Oscar
nomination, however, for MELODY, and I'm sure that was compensation. Ford
never was nominated.
- - SoundTrak
In this radio interview Eleanor Parker gave just last year (2009) she says she had top billing but gave it away when Glenn Ford demanded it. She says at the time she really wanted it, and she regrets now having given it up:
http://media.usm.maine.edu/~wmpg/archivefiles/Dinman/Interrupted%20Mel ody.mp3