Darrin McGavin
Why isn't Darrin McGavin credited in the movie? He was a main character in the movie, and one of Hollywood's best character actors!!!
Look in the movie's trivia section for the reason...
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MovieChat Forums > The Natural (1984) Discussion > Darrin McGavin
From the trivia section:
While late actor Darren McGavin had a major supporting role as the bookmaker Gus Sands respectively, McGavin received no credit for his role in the film. In the recent retrospective documentary on the Special Edition DVD of "The Natural", actor Robert Prosky, who plays the Judge, claims that McGavin was cast late in the picture and would have to receive a lesser billing than the other stars. As a result, McGavin chose to go uncredited. Prosky also noted that McGavin wound up "drawing more attention to himself" as a result.
I just watched this movie again an wondered the same thing. Thanks for clearing it up. BTW, he looked spooky with that oversized iris!
shareI hadn't thought about it when I posted the trivia text on this, but what the heck does lateness in casting have to do with where he is billed?
Suppose Robert Redford broke his leg in 5 places filming this and had to be replaced with an equally famous and renowned actor of that time...would that actor have had to receive a lower billing? I thought the two major factors of billing (when not strictly alphabetical) were either or a combination of the size of the role and/or the stature of the actor/actress? I find it hard to believe that if say, Paul Newman was cast in that role as late as McGavin was that they would have told him he'd get a lesser billing than what he should have garnered.
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Darren-McGavin-not-get-billing-in-The-Natural
Actor Darren McGavin was cast late in THE NATURAL (1984) as “Gus Sands”. He went uncredited. A disagreement occurred and he chose not to be uncredited. The filmmaker Barry Levinson realized McGavin should get the billing.share
At this point McGavin said “No!”
The explanation in IMDB is something of a half-story. McGavin was hired late in the production with the intention that his role was just to be a cameo, more or less. As the project proceeded, they kept finding bigger and better ways to fit him in. As a result they were forced to renegotiate his contract, including billing, which would have caused a delay in filming. Rather than hold up production, Darren McGavin voluntarily gave up his billing so filming could proceed.
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