Incredibly, I saw this for the first time this weekend. Although I enjoyed the movie very much, I could not help but wonder if Olivia De Havilland was playing a poor man's Marlene Dietrich. De Havilland is a beautiful woman, but as a blonde...not so much.
I wonder if Dietrich was approached for her part but turned it down?
The story reminded me of a John O'Hara story. I could imagine the whole thing happening in Pennsylvania with the small town easily being Gibbsville.
I can't imagine Dietrich playing a long-suffering wife, even to a hunk like Mitchum. Olivia De Havilland is much more convincing as a faithful to the point of martyrdom wife. I know Dietrich would play a "good wife" two years later in "Witness for the Prosecution", but don't forget how she dealt, utlimately, with Tyrone Power.
shareThere are a million casting what if's and could have beens in Hollywood history, all fascinating.
Around this time, Joan Crawford was approached to play Karen Holmes, Burt Lancaster's love interest in "From Here To Eternity". The story goes that her costume budget, per her demands, was unacceptable to the producers, so the part went to Deborah Kerr. I always felt that Kerr was a strange casting choice. Who knows how the movie would have been with Crawford in the role. I am sure she kicked herself afterward.
I agree that De Havilland is better in the long suffering wife/mother/sister roles. Her hairstyle just seemed like a jarring attempt to update her look for the fifties. Shelley Winters could have played the part, but she was close to being typecast in that role ("A Place In The Sun", "Night of the Hunter", "Executive Suite", etc...).
I hear you, dustinbythe-1. I think they made her a blonde to underscore her playing a Swede.
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