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Hugh Griffith (1912-1980) |
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- Lionel Jeffries, Camelot, 1966. For the film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical about the eternal triangle of King Arthur, his wife Guenevere and the randy French knight Lancelot, Griffith was the first asked to play King Pellinore. The second was Jeffries, just 40 when portraying the elderly majesty. Jeffries, it seems, was never asked to be the knight called… Sir Lionel.
- Richard Attenborough, Doctor Dolittle, 1967. Both Griffith and Peter Bull were in the mix for circus owner Albert Blossom - and turned down for the same reason. Booze. Attenborough was another Blossom that year, as Shirley MacLaine’s husband in The Bliss of Mrs Blossom.
- Hugh Burden, The House in Nightmare Park, 1973. ...and even a daffy Frankie Howerd comedy. With Ray Milland!
- Robert Shaw, The Sting, 1973. Not happy with Richard Boone or Stephen Boyd as the stung, the three producers gave George Roy Hill a list of acceptable Brits: Griffith, Olivier - and Shaw, who was secretly shown the script by Paul Newman while shooting in Britain. LA wanted “greatness.” Shaw gave "really the most intellectual performance I've ever done." Oh really?
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