1. - Victor Francen, Ariane/The Loves of Ariane,   France, 1931. The   debt-ridden lover   of women and   petanque   regretted   refusing director Paul   Czinner's   Ariane - for the role, not   the high salary. Yet   he admitted   Francen was far better than he could have been.  

2. - Arnaudy, Cigalon,   France, 1935. With   the kind of artistic freedom enjoyed by Chaplin and Woody Allen, playwright and film-maker Marcel Pagnol took one look at his Cigalon - and decided to re-shoot. The sound was deplorable and the titular Poupon was all wrong. Arnaudy, his future second Topaze, was better. The film was not.

3. - Raimu, La femme de boulanger/The Baker's Wife, France, 1938. When   Maupi fell out of the baker's shop, Raimu (jealous of Pagnol's new successes with   Fernandel) shouted: "Why should I play a role written for mossieur Maupi."    He kept bad-mouthing his mentor, even suggesting it was Paul Pagnol, not Marcel, who wrote the scripts.   Result: Henri Poupon accepted - even got new teeth   for   "the role of my life." And he refused any other role when Ginette Leclerc   convinced Raimu to finally curb his temper and play her baker-husband.