Post by dividavi on May 12, 2019 19:57:07 GMT
The real Superman, at least to my mind, was George Reeves. Sure there have been actors playing the role but they're substitutes, people pretending to be something they're not, somebody other than George Reeves. George died in June 1959 and John Hamilton (Perry White) had already died in October 1958. I have read that there was talk about a sequel to Adventures of Superman featuring Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen with Superman as an accessory character seen through old footage, and only rarely. Larson refused to consider any such scheme. Noel Neill was tired of playing Lois Lane and so a TV/Movie Superman would be held in abeyance for decades.
What the owners of Superman should have done was to wait a decent interval, give audiences time to adjust and reintroduce Superman a few years later, say 1963, with different actors. Here's how I would cast it.
Superman/Clark Kent: There are two possibilities - Robert Culp and Skip Homeier. Both were fine actors, both were born in 1930 and both were 6'1" tall. But Skip was better so I'd choose him to play the lead role.
For Lois Lane, I'd cast Nancy Kovack:
For Jimmy Olsen, there's nobody else in my mind except Ken Osmond who played Eddy Haskell on Leave it to Beaver
Eddy Haskell photo
And oh yes, there would still be Perry White, but not necessarily that name. Who? Stay tuned. So I wracked my brain trying to come up with a suitable candidate for the role of Perry White, Editor of The Daily Planet. The actor would have to portray a man who is hard-driven, brusque, somewhat irascible but basically lovable. Perry would be constantly frustrated by cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Ken Osmond) whose personality would be of the Eddy Haskell slimy variety and not the wry chuckle of Jack Larson. Some men I considered were Edward Andrews, Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) and Roger Carmel (Star-Trek, Harry Mudd). But Richard Basehart was too short and too old, Roger Carmel too young and Edward Andrews too cheerful. Then it occurred to me: change Perry White to a female editor, someone with stature. We could name her Yvonne Bittersdorf. Virginia Gregg would be the only suitable actress for the role.
What the owners of Superman should have done was to wait a decent interval, give audiences time to adjust and reintroduce Superman a few years later, say 1963, with different actors. Here's how I would cast it.
Superman/Clark Kent: There are two possibilities - Robert Culp and Skip Homeier. Both were fine actors, both were born in 1930 and both were 6'1" tall. But Skip was better so I'd choose him to play the lead role.
For Lois Lane, I'd cast Nancy Kovack:
For Jimmy Olsen, there's nobody else in my mind except Ken Osmond who played Eddy Haskell on Leave it to Beaver
Eddy Haskell photo
And oh yes, there would still be Perry White, but not necessarily that name. Who? Stay tuned. So I wracked my brain trying to come up with a suitable candidate for the role of Perry White, Editor of The Daily Planet. The actor would have to portray a man who is hard-driven, brusque, somewhat irascible but basically lovable. Perry would be constantly frustrated by cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Ken Osmond) whose personality would be of the Eddy Haskell slimy variety and not the wry chuckle of Jack Larson. Some men I considered were Edward Andrews, Richard Basehart (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) and Roger Carmel (Star-Trek, Harry Mudd). But Richard Basehart was too short and too old, Roger Carmel too young and Edward Andrews too cheerful. Then it occurred to me: change Perry White to a female editor, someone with stature. We could name her Yvonne Bittersdorf. Virginia Gregg would be the only suitable actress for the role.