ALL: They Almost Became

[SFK]

I can see the Terry Lester/Mark Pinter thing.

[DRW50]

A few from Dark Shadows:

If Kathryn Leigh Scott had not left Dark Shadows, they would have cast her as Samantha Collins

If Roger Davis had not left, they would have cast him as Desmond Collins

If Don Briscoe had not left, they would have cast him as Randall Drew

[safe]

Ryan's Hope

Pauline Flanagan was an early Maeve candidate when first casting the show

Bernard Barrow originally auditioned for Seneca

Tom McGreevy auditioned to be a Frank recast. They liked him and created the role of Tom Desmond just for him.

Kathleen Tolan auditioned for Siobhan and was cast as a Mary replacement instead. KT was brought in by Helen Gallagher. They had done a play together and Helen thought she'd make a good Siobhan.

John Sanderford originally auditioned for Dakota.

[DRW50]

That's all fascinating. Thank goodness Kathleen Tolan wasn't cast as Siobhan! Her Mary was bad enough.

Pauline Flanagan played Annie, right? She was wonderful, I wish they'd used her more often.

[Doyen]

OLTL -

Audrey Landers (ex-Charlotte Hesser) auditioned to play Tina after Andrea Evans left in 1990, but lost the role to Karen Witter.

Sarah Buxton auditioned to play Tina in 2001 when the show lured back Fiona Hutchinson to play Gabrielle, but nothing came of it.

Brian Frons himself teased in an interview that the brass had tossed around the idea of Cynthia Preston playing Tina after she left GH.

Krista Tesreau was initially considered for Blair or Tina, they went with the latter and gave the former to Kassie DePaiva.

Bree Williamson auditioned to play Jennifer Rappaport, but lost to Jessica Morris.

Trevor St. John auditioned to play Kevin, but lost to Dan Gauthier.

Michael Easton was offered the role of Todd after Roger Howarth left, but declined.

Robin Strasser was considered for a recast of Cathy Craig after Jennifer Harmon left.

Marc Menard and Dax Griffin both auditioned for the role Joey Buchanan.

Dax Griffin and Michael Bergen auditioned for the role of Nash Brennan, but lost to Forbes March.

Troy Kurtis (ex-Nico Castaneda, GL) auditioned for the role of Cristian Vega, but lost to David Fumero.

Eamonn Walker (Kareem Said, Oz) auditioned for the role of RJ Gannon, but lost to Timothy Stickney.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Doyen

[SFK]

Marc Menard as Joey? No no no no no, that's worse than Bruce Michael Hall.

Krista as Blair, wow, that they'd even consider that given her closer physical resemblance to a Tina.

Trevor St. John has always reminded me of another Kevin, Jack Armstrong, so I could see that.

[DRW50]

Eamonn could have been a tremendous actor on a soap (Oz was basically a soap and his theatrical gorgeousness helped power that show for years), although I'm glad Tim got that role. Too bad he wasn't cast in another role. I didn't even know he ever tried out for soaps.

Anyone else think Bree would have been a better Jen than she is as Jessica? She's OK as Jessica but I think that she would have fit Jen better, the main problem with Jen for years was a dull actress. I think she also would have worked well as mother/daughter with Cat Hickland.

Audrey and Sarah both would have been decent Tinas, not fantastic, but decent. I'd like to have seen Audrey in a bitchier and less vapid role; there was some stuff after Carlo died and Charlotte kept lobbing verbal grenades at Alex in a very smirky Tina-esque manner.

[Daphne]

I had to read that one twice

[Daphne]

I think I read that when Bree auditioned for Jen, Erin Torpey was playing Jessica and the producers thought Bree and Erin looked too much alike. But I wonder if ET wasn't on the show, if Bree would have gotten it. I just never saw the appeal in Jessica Morris. She was pretty but she lacked charisma.

[SFK]

Me too, like the first three times I saw it.

[SFK]

I agree, I was never taken by Jen. I thought she was kind of blah and annoying. Her death brought about JPL's perhaps finest acting moment on the show though.

[DRW50]

I never have seen the resemblance between Erin and Bree.

[lovely_m]

It's in the eyes.

[SFK]

Beyond the coloring and their at times similar hairstyles, it's something about the roundness of the eyes and their heads, hard for me to put a finger on. Whatever it is, I sensed it the moment I saw Bree for the first time yet not at all with Erin's temp Maggie Andersson. I dunno.

[Doyen]

Also read in Ellen Holly's book that Morgan Freeman and Clevon Little auditioned to play Carla's love interest, Dr. Jack Scott. She really wanted Morgan Freeman for the role, but the show went with Arthur Burghardt who—according to her—was a real dick.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Doyen