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Roles turned down by Marilyn Monroe:
Playwright Tennessee Williams' first choice to play the childish bride in Elia Kazan's bold film version.
Actor who got the part: Carroll Baker
Columbia wanted to borrow Monroe from Fox, but Fox's asking price was too high.
Actor who got the part: Gloria Grahame
Marilyn rejected 20th Century-Fox's silly offer to remake the Marlene Deitrich film in the role of Lola-Lola. She chose to make Billy Wilder's "Some Like it Hot" instead.
Actor who got the part: May Britt
Monroe was replaced by Audrey Hepburn for the lead role.
Actor who got the part: Audrey Hepburn
Marilyn's Actor Studio aspirations to be a "serious actress" by playing Grushenka were not respected by Hollywood.
Actor who got the part: Maria Schell
Marilyn Monroe sought the lead role of Maggie the Cat.
Actor who got the part: Elizabeth Taylor
Marilyn Monroe was considered for the lead role.
Actor who got the part: Elizabeth Taylor
Wanted badly to co-star with Marlon Brando in the small but key role as "Nefer." The studio boss instead cast his a newcomer who happened to be his then-mistress.
Actor who got the part: Bella Darvi
Turned down the leading role in the Vincente Minnelli-directed comedy in which a gangster dies and gets reincarnated as a woman.
Actor who got the part: Debbie Reynolds
Monroe wanted to play the showstopper role of "Miss Adelaide" in the movie version of the Broadway smash hit, but the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had worked with her in "All About Eve", didn't want to work again with her.
Actor who got the part: Vivian Blaine
Marilyn refused to star in Heller in Pink Tights as she believed the role was rubbish.
Actor who got the part: Sophia Loren
Monroe went on suspension at Fox for refusing to appear in this comedy.
Actor who got the part: Sheree North
In spite of the wretched time Billy Wilder had directing Marilyn in Some Like It Hot, he recognised her box office appeal, and considered her in 1960 for this film.
Actor who got the part: Shirley MacLaine
Originally, in 1956, 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights to the novel "The Killer Inside Me" as a possible starring vehicle for Monroe. Sadly, Marilyn's death left the project cancelled.
Actor who got the part: Jessica Alba
Marilyn hoped to make a TV version of Somerset Maugham's Rain, playing the prostitute Sadie Thompson, to be directed by her Actors Studio teacher Lee Strasberg.
Actor who got the part: Not Made
One of the many projects 20th Century Fox had in mind for Monroe, this film was written by William Inge, who had also written "Bus Stop."
Actor who got the part: Joanne Woodward
This musical was planned for Monroe by her home studio, 20th Century Fox.
Actor who got the part: Shirley MacLaine
Did you know that Marilyn Monroe was not the only choice for these movies? (click to learn more)
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