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Why did Myrna Loy play Billie Burke in this movie??

posted 15 years ago by stanleybix-1
5 replies | jump to latest

Billie Burke was still around and quite lovely!! She could have easily been made up to look like her beautiful younger self!!

[–] Buterflye81 15 years ago

I'm guessing because Loy was extremely popular in the 1930s. She and William Powell had filmed The Thin Man two years earlier and were about to make the sequel. They actually made several films together the same year as TGZ. Maybe the director/ producers felt that the pairing would appeal to audiences more.

-Plus Myrna Loy rocks!!

[–] netshopper-2 14 years ago

Billie Burke was closely involved in the production of the film, particularly the portrayal of Ziegfeld. I assume she did not want to be in as an actress. She was still quite young looking when she played Glinda three years later in The Wizard of Oz.

[–] joystar5879 14 years ago

I think that Billie Burke personally chose Myrna Loy for the picture.

[–] guy_in_west_houston 13 years ago

I always thought Billie's and Myrna's voice were very similar. That's what I love about "old" movies, the women were exceedingly beautiful and had such sexy voices.

[–] WhoDo-YouDo 13 years ago

Yes, I think that Myrna's voice has a lot to do with her being cast as Miss Burke, when Billie is still radiant and youthful and very capable of drawing fans into the box office.

According to IMDb's Trivia (for this film), Billie Burke is originally cast by Universal, along with several others, such as Judy Garland. But when Universal runs over budget, it sells the project (already in production) to MGM, where William Powell and Myrna Loy co-star in quite a few projects.

Therefore, only William, Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger continue with the film, and MGM's Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan and Myrna are added to its stellar cast.

Two years earlier (in 1934), Miss Burke plays the mother of Frances Dee's character in Finishing School. The lovely Frances has just married major star Joel McCrea, so she has a young adult daughter in this picture, which, of course would be five years prior to her very youthful showing in TWoO. Ginger Rogers, Bruce Cabot and Beulah Bondi also co-star in Finishing School, along with the very young Anne Shirley (billed as Dawn O'Day).

Myrna does a splendid job of things as Billie here, and it would also be very nice to see the outstanding Miss Burke as herself, but William Powell obviously has the youth advantage as Florenz Ziegfeld, so the wonderful Myrna fits in very nicely as his second.