I caught the last half of this movie tonight and was astounded by how great Judy garland was in this. I don;t think she ever got the accolades she deserved for her acting. This movie and A Star Is Born prove that she was as great as any non-singing actress. While she was singing the title song at the end, I couldn't help but think how terrific she would have been in Gypsy. Can you imagine Rose's Turn?
shareIf you go to the "Gypsy" boards, you'll see an entire topic on this question. According to trivia, she was considered- very briefly- in an early casting idea, with either Jane Fonda or Ann-Margret as Louise. It would've been phenomenal. In 1962 she had the right look, the right age, wit, and bitterness in her voice, and her singing was still earth-shattering. I would've even liked to have seen her "Singing" co-star Jack Klugman as Herbie!!
shareWell, you know, Klugman originated Herbie on Broadway with Merman. If she had lived just a few more years, she could have done Mama opposite Liza as Gypsy.
shareHa ! That's very funny - Liza Minellia as Gypsy Rose Lee. Ever seen the stage play or the movie? Or the real Rose Louise? Gypsy has to be played by a pretty girl. Yes, they drab her up through the whole first act and half of the second act, but when the actress says, "MAma! I'm pretty! I'm a pretty girl, Mama!" it needs to inspire a tear, not a loud guffaw.
Liza couldn't do the part. Sorry, that's just a fact. Acting is the last place on earth where your prospective employer can say, "I'm sorry, I'm not hiring you for this part because you're too
old
fat
white
ugly
etc.
"
In any other bidness than show, those remarks would be grounds for a major lawsuit. But bottom line, you have to LOOK the part to get it. (And it also helps to be able to act and sing, neither of which Liza can do, BTW. LIza is famous because her parents were famous and because her mother was uberfamous and ubertalented and left us far too soon. We give Liza the adoration that Judy deserved but that Liza doesn't. )
It would've been amazing and classic and thrilling to have Judy play Mama Rose. Wow. If only.
Ever seen Gypsy Rose Lee? A dog with dreadful buck teeth, who couldn't sing a note.
She could only have been considered "pretty" when seen from Row H in Minsky's Burlesque.
Dear Roz... thank God and all that for Auntie Mame and My Gal Friday and all... but without her we might have had Eileen Heckart's legendary Broadway performance in Picnic immortalized on screen... and Judy Garland in Gypsy. How could that have been less than the greatest musical performance in film history and the Oscar that eluded Judy?
The 1963 best actress race was so weak that Patricia Neal's admittedly brilliant but clearly Supporting performance in Hud was sneaked into the Lead category to win. Were all five nominees really more deserving than Judy in "ICGOS"? Was even one of them?
My great wish is that Judy could have played Rose and she would have been lovely opposite Natalie Wood as Gypsy. Natalie was petite and had those wonderful large dark eyes; she would have been quite believable as Judy's daughter. (Unfortunately, Liza inherited much of her father's looks rather than her mothers).
I always felt that Natalie gave Gypsy's best performance.
I agree that Natalie Wood was the best part of the '62 version. Roz was o.k., but she didn't feel like Rose to me. She's a Hell of a lot better than Bette Midler or Patti LuPone who were dreadful and hammy, but I still didn't like her in the role as much as I wanted to. Tyne Daly, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Linda Lavin, and Betty Buckley were all wonderful on stage and brought many different layers to the character.
The pacing of the film was also insanely slow and the songs didn't hold up very well without a decent singer handling them. They just didn't have the drive they're supposed to. The script also added, changed, and took out lots of stuff that worked perfectly fine on stage. What's up with Rose's narration? It's pretty useless.
Judy would have been the ultimate Rose. For my money, I'd love to see Ann Margret as Gypsy. She was just about the right age and had the right look, not mention her sultry voice tearing into Let Me Entertain You. Wow, what an amazing film that could have been. Oh, well!
I never wanted to see Garland play Mama Rose, I wanted to see her play Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd"!!!
The stage musical debuted in 1979, so if Judy had lived another ten years and gotten healthy enough to do a stage show... well, it's a fantastic role for an older alto who can act.