songbird2 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Ever wonder how decisions were made when it came to casting alleged brothers and sisters? Was it looking anything alike? Not necessarily, especially when you had folks under contract in the old days. Here's a few close relatives who appear to have been left on the doorstep. George Sanders & Yul Brynner in Solomon & Sheba. It must've been an equally unlikely duo before Tyrone Power died. Barbara Lawrence & Linda Darnell in A Letter to Three Wives. At least Babs looks like Connie Gilchrist, who plays her ma. Any others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feaito Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Wasn't Angela Lansbury cast as Hedy Lamarr's sister in "Samson and Delilah"? That's an odd choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Probably the best example of this is Royal Wedding, in which Fred Astaire and Jane Powell played brother and sister. Even assuming that the 52-year-old Astaire was playing about age 45, and that Jane Powell, then 22, was playing a 25-year-old, I feel for their poor mama. Doesn't keep me from enjoying the movie, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdb1 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Can we add a vote for parents & children? When I was watching "Fear Strikes Out" a few weeks ago, I couldn't take my eyes off of the respective noses of Karl Malden and Tony Perkins. That discrepancy certainly strained the bonds of credibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidEnglish Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 How about unlikely mother and son? In North By Northwest (1959), Jessie Royce Landis played Cary Grant's mother, despite the fact she was either 10 months younger or seven years older than Grant (she may have lied about her age). DavidE http://www.classicfilmpreview.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken123 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Victor McLaglen as Maureen O' Hara's brother in "The Quit Man"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken123 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 That's "THE QUIET MAN"!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CineSage_jr Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 No, the prize has to go to Spencer Tracy (56, but he looked 76), and Robert Wagner (24, but looked about 20) who played brothers in THE MOUNTAIN (1956). Just imagine the poor woman who had to give birth to that pair 32 years apart! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdb1 Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 There's also the case of actors with differing accents cast as siblings. If one is British, it's usually explained away by saying they've lived in Boston, or that they had one British parent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benwhowell Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 What about Angela Lansbury playing the mother of Elvis Presley in "Blue Hawaii?" But that's a whole 'nother thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandorainmay Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 As long as we're including moms, dads and kiddos in this thread, what was the thinking behind casting a very good actress, Mildred Dunnock, as the Mother of a very lush Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8? Don't kill me for Millie-bashing---I enjoy seeing Mildred anytime, but it was as though a raisin gave birth to an overripe pomegranate in that movie. Who was her father supposed to have been? A visiting Apollo on his way back to Olympus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdb1 Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 > As long as we're including moms, dads and kiddos in > this thread, what was the thinking behind casting a > very good actress, Mildred Dunnock, as the Mother of > a very lush Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8? > Don't kill me for Millie-bashing---I enjoy seeing > Mildred anytime, but it was as though a raisin gave > birth to an overripe pomegranate in that movie. Who > was her father supposed to have been? A visiting > Apollo on his way back to Olympus? Well, Moira, personally, I don't think anything can top Lauren Bacall as Barbra Streisand's mother in "The Mirror Has Two [Whatever - Faces/Sides?]." She (Babs) wishes. Not a classic film, but it certainly fits the "Are You Kidding?" mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken123 Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Angela Lansbury being the mother of Laurence Harvey in "Manchurian Candidate"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandorainmay Posted July 27, 2006 Share Posted July 27, 2006 Jdb1, and what about Mimi Rogers as Babs' sister in The Mirror Has Two Faces? What was Streisand--a changeling? I often wish that La Streisand would stick to her God- given talent, and just sing--but that's a whole other thread. Ken, it seems pretty unfair to make Angela Lansbury play Elvis' and Harvey's ma, especially when she was really quite young at the time. Ah, the indignities that actors go through just to get a great part(The Manchurian Candidate) or a good paycheck(Blue Hawaii). Of course, Angela wasn't much like Elizabeth Taylor as her alleged sis in National Velvet either, was she? Lansbury and Butch Jenkins as siblings, though--Bingo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory1965 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I have a hard time accepting Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple as sisters in The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer - a 23 year age gap there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOOMANYNOTES Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I defy anyone to top this one! Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in "Twins" - 1988! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinemabuff64 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I agree with you about MIMI ROGERS as Bab's sister.That was a noticeable miscast and that movie bothered me altogether.Meryl streep would have been a more convincing sister,but maybe the role was too small for someone of her caliber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinemabuff64 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 What a great contributionTMN!! Got me rolling on the floor!! Arnold Schwarzenegger is unlikely with ANYBODY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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