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Marianne Faithfull |
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- Vanessa Redgrave, Camelot, 1966. Julie Andrews followed her Broadway success in My Fair Lady with Lerner and Loewe’s next musical about King Arthur and Guenevere. She naturally looked forward to filming both. Except (a) head brother Jack Warner stupidly chose the non-singing Audrey Hepburn in MFL and (b) Julie had no wish to put up with Richard Harris again after Hawaii, which is when he started his big push for what had been (the now too pricey) Richard Burton’s throne. The full Warner list for (a British queen, remember) ranged from sublime Brits (Julie Christie, Petula Clark, Marianne Faithfull, Elizabeth Taylor, Jan Waters) to the ridiculous Ann-Margret, Polly Bergen, Cher, Audrey Hepburn and Liza Minnelli. Plus Mitzi Gaynor and Shirley Jones, nine and 12 years after their all-American South Pacific and Oklahoma! triumphs.
- Joanna Pettet, The Night of the Generals, 1968. She did not enter screen history by being Ulrike von Seydlitz-Gabler in the sole WWII film with an Egyptian (Omar Sharif) as a Wehrmacht officer... but by being the first actor to use The F Word - in I’ll Never Forget What’s’sname, 1967, five years before John Schuck did the same in M*A*S*H.
- Gillian Hills, Inadmissable Evidence, 1968. Playwright John Osborne wanted Marianne and won her in his next stage play. Evidence star Nicol Williamson selected her for Ophelia in his Hamlet, 1969.
- Anita Pallenberg, Performance, 1968.
“I didn’t want my career to be connected to Mick Jagger,” said Marianne about her lover. “The script I found completely terrifying. I was a fool, I should’ve accepted. Then again, maybe not. I had enough on my back and, maybe, Performance might have pushed me over the edge. I was trying to protect myself. Somebody has to.” Keith Richards’ (and Brian Jones’ ex) German lover took over - and Richards was so upset about their love scenes that he refused to play on Mick’s “Memo From Turner” song. (Ry Cooder substituted). Keith may have been right. Rumours insisted that Mick and Anita really had sex on-camera; certainly the labs processing the film destroyed much of their “obscene” footage. Rest of the film was not released until 1970. No use asking Anita about the truth… “I was stoned for most of the shoot.”
- Ewa Aulin, Candy, 1969
- Francesca Annis, Macbeth, 1970. "I'm very emotional and emotion always fucks up ambition. The audition was too early, I couldn't find any barbiturates, couldn't remember my lines... [Director Roman] Polanski was so kind, kept saying: What have you taken? What have you taken?"
- Diane Craig, Ned Kelly, 1970. She really did not want her career connected to Mick Jagger - she ended up in hospital after nearly ODing. Her Irish-born replacement moved down-under in 1960 and was still in Aussie movies and series in 2005.
- Gillian Hills, Demons of the Mind, 1971. Hammer Films’ horrors were running out of steam. So, said insurance companies, was Marianne. After her adventures down-under, insurance companies wouldn’t touch her except with a hideously expensive barge pole. The Blow Up and Clockwork Orange girl took over as Elisabeth. She only made two more films. Marianne missed nothing. After being shelved for a year, Demons opened on a double bill with the even trashier Horror On Snape Island. Owch!
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