possible choices to play Cousin Miriam

Hepburn didn't return his call, reportedly, the closest she would come to "horror" was SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER. (Plus, Spencer was sick, so Kate rarely worked during the early-'60s).

I always think: Miriam Hopkins. Yet another fabulous Scorpio Rising bitch Bette hated, like Joan.

--

The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.

Stanwyck was approached for Jewel Mayhew and declined. She said later that she was never asked to play Miriam but, even if she had, she would have spoken with Crawford first because they were great friends. Neither Stanwyck nor Hepburn were much interested in appearing in "horror" films anyway. Stanwyck did make 'The Night Walker' with William Castle but was adamant that it wasn't in the same vein as the films being made by Davis and Crawford at that time.

Vivien Leigh's quote regarding the Miriam offer is one of my favorite things ever: "I can just about stand looking at Joan Crawford's face at 6 o'clock in the morning, but not Bette Davis'."

Sweet merciful crap!

It's just tea! *sips* Needs more gin.

Miriam was supposed to be a poor relation so no one as refined and elegant as Greer Garson could have been cast. Olivia De Havilland of course also had a lady rep but she was also a bit of a "plain jane" even with her prettiness as several of her movies played on notably of course with The Snake Pit and The Heiress but also In This our Life with Bette. Katharine Hepburn had money and breeding all over her and when she was cast as "white trash" like Spitfire the results were a disaster (there are many who feel she is too high-bred even for The Rainmaker which won her an Oscar nom).

Audrey Hepburn was way too young to be cast as Bette's cousin growing up with her besides what goes for Greer Garson also goes for her. Lana Turner and Maureen O'Hara were also a shade too young for the part and I don't think either of them could have pulled it off even if they were age appropiate. Irene Dunne and Loretta Young would have never considered it (wasn't Loretta asked to play it at one point?) given their conversative Catholicism and the rawer shades of Miriam's character and though they were both quite good actresses (Ms. Dunne often wonderful) I don't think they would have been that satisfactory in it had they been cast. Myrna Loy is charming but really only a superior film actress in light comedy, her dramatic work is underwhelming. Ann Sheridan I feel was only a passable actress and she had a kind of tough quality that I think would have wrecked the "surprise" of Miriam's character much like Crawford would have.

Barbara Stanwyck did comment at the time she would only have accepted Crawford's role with Crawford' approval but she apparently was not asked to fill in for her by the producers. I think she would have been good but only Vivien Leigh I feel could have been as perfect as Olivia - she would have been even better I feel, too bad she turned it down.

The second best choice after Vivien would have been Jane Wyman who would have actually been perfect in every way, she could play "poor little things" and as we later learned via her 80's hit show Falcon Crest could play a great bitch.

Seems like a number of the actresses who appeared in 1960s horror films felt it necessary to make excuses or apologies. They didn't need to - it was Hollywood who owed an apology to THEM.

"Forget it, Jake. It's the internet."

Miriam Hopkins. Very fine actress, came close to major stardom in the 30s, remained in films off and on into the early 60s. She had worked with Bette Davis a couple of times at least, and Bette hated her. Plus side: Hopkins was a true born Southern gal from Georgia; classically trained, she could play an Englishwoman as well as an American. She sadly lost her beauty early. If you want to see Miriam Hopkins do horror watch the Outer Limits episode Don't Open Till Doomsday, in a Bette Davis-ish part, and she knocked it out of the ballpark in that one. Oddly her character's predicament in that story was similar to Charlotte's, and was way wackier than Bette. Miss Hopkins, herself beautiful, was a few years older than Davis. I can't see her beating out Olivia as Miriam, but in her own more bravura fashion she might have done interesting work in the film. It was well in her range, and her range was broad. She was a far more skillful and versatile player than Joan Crawford