MovieChat Forums > East of Eden (1955) Discussion > Why Julie Harris?

Why Julie Harris?

posted 11 years ago by Pogo_76
9 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie again and it always bothered me a bit but last time I watched it, it bothered me the most. As an actress she's great but as the female lead she just looks way to bland and old(old for the age she's playing) compared to Dean. I even thought that Lois Smith who plays the girl in the bar would have been a better match. There are screen tests with Dean and Smith that have more chemistry than Harris and Dean.

There were probably loads of actresses at the time who would have been better for the part. I think Julie Harris' acting is brilliant but you wouldn't cast the superb actress Meryl Streep in the part of a 30 year old anymore just because she is a brilliant actress.
Why did they cast Harris?

[–] thepixinator 11 years ago

I think she has that innocent, earnest look that makes her character a good contrast to Dean's, and the "obvious" match for his brother. She's a good actress, and she plays her character's internal conflicts well. I'm kind of glad they didn't pick an overtly sexy actress like Liz Taylor and turn the film into a tempestuous steamer.

A life lived in fear is a life half-lived

... Strictly Ballroom

[–] activista 11 years ago

@luitinto

Too old? She, Dean, and the guy who played her boyfriend were the youngest people in the whole movie,just about! Honestly, I thought she looked way younger than 30, and not the least bland--if anything, she was actually a different cut from the usual '50's actress mold---in fact, a lot of the people in the movie didn't fit the usual '50's mold, come to think of it---they actually looked/acted like actual people and not pristine clean '50's stereotypes for a change. She brought a genuine freshness and liveliness to the role, and to me, she fit the role just fine. So I'm like,why not Julie Harris? Plus, Harris was a Michigander like myself, so I might be a little biased toward her performance anyway due to that.

[–] ellie246 11 years ago

People say Julie wasn't that attractive, well she certainly could be but for some reason, they didn't make the best of her in this film. Watch I Am A Camera, she looked lovely in that.

For me, her chemistry with Dean was fantastic & a million times better than with Natalie Wood in Rebel, who I think in reverse that Dean looked too old for his part. And as I've said a thousand times before & Kazan has said, she bought out the best of him in his performance. The ferris wheel scene was & still is one of the most electrically charged I've seen.

[–] vinidici 11 years ago

I would have preferred Eva Marie Saint, who was actually a year older than Miss Harris but looked younger. However, Miss Harris did acquit herself well enough. It's just hard for me to get over how much older she looks in this than the late teens girl she was portraying. Miss Saint had worked for Kazan the previous year in ON THE WATERFRONT and I've wondered more than once why Kazan didn't cast her as Abra.

Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] vinidici 11 years ago

You've always seemed a little obsessed with age correctness-casting, Ed. Teen protagonists have often been portrayed onscreen by older actors; Dean wasn't the first and by far from last to play someone who's several years younger than himself.

Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!

[–] ellie246 11 years ago

Marie Saint might have worked. I really can't think of another actress at that time that would have worked, can anyone else? Liz Taylor was too pretty & womanly. Now Lee Remick, (another one of my favourites), would have been great but she hadn't been discovered then had she?

Louis Smith, (the bargirl), probably would have been physically the best match but personally her voice was tooo annoying, I'd have gone mad watching.

I think Kazan chose Julie although Jack Warner didn't want her either. I'm glad Kazan did, as I said, Dean's performance wouldn't have been as good IMO.

Poor Julie though, she really must have had to struggle to get film parts. That's why plainer actresses are to be admired even more IMO, especially during that time !!!

[–] novastar_6 11 years ago

I thought it was a perfect casting. Julie Harris, if you've ever seen her in The Member of the Wedding, she's the first real misunderstood/mistreated adolescent girl, trying to find answers for the meaning in her life. And James Dean, who played Jim Stark, the quintessential misunderstood/mistreated teenager who was also lost and looking for answers that were none to be found by his family. For this they were perfect for one another.

[–] vinidici 11 years ago

I don't think Miss Harris was the first "misunderstood / mistreated adolescent girl, trying to find answers," etc., but she is certainly among the most talented actresses to have so portrayed.

Here's one that predates MEMBER OF THE WEDDING" by a good 5 years:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039892/?ref_=fn_al_tt_ 1

Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!