In this section of Nobody Else But Bette, I'm listing films that Bette Midler has turned down. Some of them she should've taken, and the rest... Well... Let's just say that she made a good decision in turning down. I'm now going to show you an example of how the information is going to be set-up... I'm using Erin Brockovich as an example:
| Film: | Erin Brockovich |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Role: | Erin Brockovich |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Julia Roberts |
| Information: | (Here I will list the information from "The Bette Midler Scrapbook".) |
It's as simple as that! You and I all know that Bette Midler wasn't probably even considered for the role of Erin Brockovich. Julia Roberts was the perfect actress to portray her, and she even as an Academy Award to prove it.
| Film: | Annie |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Role: | Miss Hannigan |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Carol Burnett |
| Information: | Ray Stark's adaptation of the long-running Broadway hit was filled with topnotch talent: Albert Finney, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, and Ann Reinking. Stark wanted Miss Midler, but settled for Carol Burnett. According to Miss M., she wasn't sure she could handle the role: "They wanted me for Miss Hannigan, the villainess you love to hate. I didn't know if I could do that; I just thought they'd hate me." |
| Film: | Foul Play |
| Year: | 1978 |
| Role: | Gloria Mundy |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Goldie Hawn |
| Information: | Goldie Hawn very capably played the role in Colin Higgins' caper comedy. (It was, by the way, Chevy Chase's first feature as a leading man.) Considering that Miss Midler said, "Yes" to Jinxed!, a similar kind of comedy, this one would have been better. Foul Play featured a Barry Manilow theme song--"Ready to Take a Chance Again". |
| Film: | The Fortune |
| Year: | 1975 |
| Role: | Freddie |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Stockard Channing |
| Information: | The most celebrated opportunity that Bette Midler let by. In retrospect, it was the right move. Stockard Channing played the role of a girl who is seduced by Warren Beatty and then kidnapped by Beatty and Jack Nicholson, in this tired and badly conceived farce. According to Miss M., she never even managed to be auditioned for the role. "I was supposed to have a meeting with Mike Nichols and I was late for it because I'd been attacked by this masseur. And he [Nichols] was mad at me: first because I was late; secondly because he had to deal with my manager at the time [Aaron Russo], who must have given him an earful; and thirdly because I was so rattled at the time I didn't even know who I was talking to. So, he never forgave me. To this day, I've never done a Mike Nichols picture." Mike Nichols may have Academy Award credits to his name, but The Fortune wasn't one of them. It was a major flop for him, and Miss Midler was better off without it. |
| Film: | King Kong |
| Year: | 1976 |
| Role: | Dwan |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Jessica Lange |
| Information: | Was it because Bette Midler mounts the paw of King Kong in The Bette Midler Show that the producers imagined her doing it for real? The role of the woman who stirs the loins of the great ape eventually went to Jessica Lange. The film was a bomb, so Miss M. was better off out of Dino DeLaurentiis's jungle epic. |
| Film: | Misery |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Role: | Annie Wilkes |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Kathy Bates |
| Information: | Bette Midler passed on the part, but was very happy for Kathy Bates, who won the role... And an Academy Award for her performance. Miss M. admitted on The Arsenio Hall Show that she was afraid to play the role of an obsessed fan who saves--then imprisons--her favorite fiction writer. "What would the fans think?," she wondered. Ironically, her For the Boys co-star, James Caan, played the victimized writer, Paul Sheldon. |
| Film: | Nashville |
| Year: | 1975 |
| Role: | Albuquerque |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Barbara Harris |
| Information: | Bette Midler was slated for the Barbara Harris role--i.e., an Albuquerque housewife who's an aspiring country-western singer--in the Robert Altman film. It was one of Altman's landmark films. She probably should've done it. |
| Film: | Rocky |
| Year: | 1976 |
| Role: | Adrian |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Talia Shire |
| Information: | Yo, Miss M.! Can you see her in the nerdy glasses and wool hat as Adrian? It seems far-fetched now, but before Talia Shire got the role, it was offered to Miss Midler. In 1980--four years after Rocky had won the Academy Award as Best Picture--Miss Midler commented: "One supporting role I should have taken, if my then-manager hadn't turned it down, was the Talia Shire role in Rocky. I'd still like to work with Sylvester Stallone. (There's something about those beefy Italians that turns me on.) But when he sent over the Rocky screenplay, my manager told me it was a nice role, a nice film, but not for me." Miss Midler is right about the role not being for her, but there's no saying it wouldn't have been reworked for Miss Midler's unique abilities. |
| Film: | Sister Act |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Role: | Deloris Van Cartier & Sister Mary Clarence |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Whoopi Goldberg |
| Information: | A Disney-concocted comedy that turned into box office gold for Whoopi Goldberg. It was actually written for Bette Midler, but for a variety of reasons--primarily, the disappointment of For the Boys--she passed. The story about a Reno lounge singer who witnesses a murder and then hides out in a convent, was one of the biggest hits of 1992; it went on to spawn a far less successful sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. It's possible that Miss Midler was inured to the formulaic Disney material at the time, but if she had recognized the long-running success of Nunsense--the off-Broadway comedy hit--she would have taken Sister Act and done wonders with it. |
| Film: | Straight Talk |
| Year: | 1992 |
| Role: | (Doctor) Shirlee Kenyon |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Dolly Parton |
| Information: | The story of a down-home girl who becomes a radio pop psychologist despite no professional expertise. Miss Midler was offered the role, as were Goldie Hawn and Julia Roberts, before Disney decided to fashion it for Dolly Parton. It was a major flop. |
| Film: | Won Ton Ton, the Dog That Saved Hollywood |
| Year: | 1976 |
| Role: | Estie Del Ruth |
| Actress Who Starred, Instead: | Madeline Kahn |
| Information: | This strained and stupid all-star comedy, was a failed satire of 1920's Hollywood. Madeline Kahn took the role that Miss Midler--wisely--turned down. |
