MovieChat Forums > Topaz (1969) Discussion > Topaz Dream Cast

Topaz Dream Cast

posted 15 years ago by christomacin
3 replies | jump to latest

Some of the original cast were fine, some were less so.

Yves Montand...Andre Devereaux (Frederick Stafford just wasn't big enough to fill the role)
Catherine Deneuve...Nicole Devereaux (would have made here character much more memorable)
Rita Moreno...Juanita de Cordoba (Diana Dors was hot but I never really believed she was a Latina)
John Vernon...Rico Parra (Vernon can't be improved upon)
William Sylvester...Michael Nordstrom (needed to be a more blue-blooded Langley type)
Claude Jade...Michele Picard (not worth changing one way or the other)
Roscoe Lee Browne...Philippe Dubois (Browne can't be improved upon)
Michel Piccoli...Jacques Granville (perfectly adequate, no need to change)
Philippe Noiret...Henri Jarre (perfectly adequate, no need to change)

Music...Jerry Goldsmith (or preferrable Bernard Herrmann)

[–] ecarle 15 years ago

I wasn't sure who William Sylvester was til I looked him up...2001! He would have been rather interesting, yes.

All in all, some good changes, but you're right: some of the casting was just fine: Roscoe Lee Browne and John Vernon most of all.

[–] Moscoso1967 13 years ago

Just wanna point out that British actress Diana Dors wasn't in Topas - that was Karin Dor - a German actress!!!

[–] ecarle 13 years ago

Yes, Karin Dor.

A beautiful actress who caught Hitchcock's attention as the villainess in the recent bond movie "You Only Live Twice."

She was German, and had red hair in "Twice." For Hitchcock, she's Latin with raven black hair -- and hardly a Hitchcock blonde.

Hitchcock's memory has suffered many years from whatever he did to sexually suggest something to Tippi Hedren on the set of Marnie.

Hitchcock biographer Pat McGilligan gives us a slightly similar story about Hitchocck and Karin Dor.

Dor was doing some publicity photos with Hitchcock nearby. Given the Castro theme of "Topaz," Hitchcock suggested that Dor put a cigar in her mouth "suggestively." She refused.

The arguing got a little unpleasant, and then the photographer, finished for the day with Dor, asked Hitchcock to step in for a photo with Dor.

Hitchocck said "I don't want to take a photo with her," and stalked off.

Funny thing about Hitchcock. All that wealth, all that power...but he couldn't even get a minor actress to pose with a cigar in her mouth.