MovieChat Forums > The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) Discussion > Why Christopher Plummer?

Why Christopher Plummer?

posted 14 years ago by max-silver
6 replies | jump to latest

Why did they hire Christopher Plummer instead of David Niven to play the Phantom?

Was Niven unavailable? Was he uninterested?

[–] megArnold 13 years ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072081/trivia

Niven was unavailable.

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Hmmm?

[–] max-silver 13 years ago

Ah. That makes sense. A shame Niven was unavailable, but Plummer did just as good a performance as Niven might have.

[–] andremarshna2003 12 years ago

The Casting director would come up a long list of star names for second lead like that. Plummer had played some Europe toffs since the sixties so any good casting person would know it was within his range.

[–] max-silver 12 years ago

Given Niven's age and all the exertion Plummer had to do throughout the film, it also may have been too much for David Niven.

[–] TheMagiciansWorkshop 11 years ago

I can't picture Niven making out with Catherine Schell. Niven was better than Plummer. Plummer was good but he didn't have the class vibe Niven had as Charles.

[–] Fletcherj119 11 years ago

I always though they should've used Robert Wagner - at the end of the first movie Charles tells George that he may inherit the business.