It baffles me why Susan Hayward wasn't chosen to play Anna. The film version was produced by Fox and its biggest female star in the 1950s was Susan. She would have been perfect as Anna; she would have had more chemistry with Yul Brynner and looked more beautiful wearing the stunning period costumes. After all, Susan Hayward was a true star. A star is a star is a star!
shareDeborah Kerr was the perfect Anna. Fox made the right choice.
shareZanuck originally wanted Maureen O'Hara to play Anna. She has a lovely voice and would not have needed dubbing (Kerr was dubbed by Marni Nixon, though Deborah's voice is mixed with Miss Nixon's in certain parts of the songs). Rodgers and Hammerstein nixed O'Hara saying 'We don't want a pirate queen as Anna!', forgetting her sensitive performances in films like HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY and SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. Kerr was excellent and worthy of her Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win, but I think O'Hara would have been very good as well and brought different things to the role. She later did a Broadway musical with a few parallels in its storyline to THE KING AND I. It was not a success.
P.S. I admire Susan Hayward, who proved she could sing in I'LL CRY TOMORROW and was a fine dramatic actress. I think she'd have been all wrong as the delicate yet strong-willed British governess.
Hayward, much as I love her, was bit to snarly and determined to be a convincing Anna. Also, a bit too obviously sexy.
shareI agree with Maureen O'Hara as Mrs. Anna. She played a similar character in the flop Broadway musical "Christine" of which a cast album exists. But Deborah Kerr was excellent in the film, and I like her equally just as much as O'Hara. As far as Susan Hayward is concerned, she's one of my all-time favorites, but as somebody else pointed out, far too hard, even though she could display vulnerability on occasion in romantic circumstances. She did "Mame" in Las Vegas, and critics praised her zest but questioned her affection for the character of little Patrick. She comes off as far too cynical to be around young children for long periods of time, while O'Hara (who was tough but very motherly) and Kerr had lady-like qualities while suffering no nonsense.
"Great theater makes you smile. Outstanding theater may make you weep."
I am totally opposed to dubbing in musicals. Maureen would have been better.
shareKerr was prettier than Hayward, more charming, more feminine, better cast as someone a very masculine man might fall in love with. Plus, she was actually British!
Although I do like the idea of Maureen O'Hara, but she might have been too tall to dance with Yul Brynner.