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Old 02-05-2007, 08:09 PM  
Grapesoda
So Fucking Banned
 
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Montana
Posts: 46,238
check out george raft, talk about stupid . . turned down 3 giant films:

His career went into a period of decline over the next decade, and Raft achieved a place in Hollywood folklore as the actor who turned down some of the best roles in screen history, most notably High Sierra (he didn't want to die at the end) and The Maltese Falcon (he didn't want to work on a remake of the pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon (1931); both roles made Humphrey Bogart a major force in Hollywood in 1941. He was also reported to have turned down Bogart's role in Casablanca (1942), saying he didn't want to work with "some unknown Swedish broad" (although this story is probably apocryphal).

Approached by director Billy Wilder, he refused the lead role in Double Indemnity (1944), which led to the casting of Fred MacMurray in a towering classic that would have undoubtedly revived Raft's career. His lack of judgment (probably grounded in the fact that he was more or less illiterate, which made judging scripts even more problematic than usual), combined with the public's growing distaste for his apparent gangster lifestyle effectively ended his career as a leading man.
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