Hedy Lamarr III: CASABLANCA, Private Life
Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr in Algiers
Hedy Lamarr – Q&A with Author Patrick Agan: Part II
Is it true that Hedy Lamarr refused the lead roles in Casablanca, Gaslight, and Saratoga Trunk? If so, do you know what her reaction was after those three films became huge hits for Ingrid Bergman?
Let’s get one thing straight off the bat. Hedy Lamarr never turned down Casablanca.
L. B. had her solidly booked for several movies, two of which, I think, defined both her talent and her image. True, [producer] Hal Wallis wanted her for it, but Mayer said no as he had Tortilla Flat, Crossroads, and White Cargo already lined up.
Why should L. B. have loaned her over to [Warner Bros. in] the [San Fernando] Valley for what at the time was just a run-of-the-mill wartime romance? Hollywood was a very small town and the studio system was even smaller and thus more important. Loaning Hedy at that point wasn’t a good idea for anybody.
Hedy was always a magnet for gossip, which over the years has had her looking down her aristocratic nose at the script of Casablanca and waving it in a negative direction. Considering there was no firm script when the film was announced that would have been quite a feat. And Hedy and George Raft? An unlikely pairing, but it might have been interesting. It’s a stupid story, but it’s been out there for years, even in her obituaries!
Hedy‘s work at MGM was better anyway. In Tortilla Flat, she broke new ground as the fiery Dolores and got a Box Office Blue Ribbon for it. True, Crossroads wasn’t much, but her playing Tondelayo in White Cargo was something else. It was a major departure from Metro’s family-friendly films, but it paid off handsomely for L. B. and for Hedy. It may not have been Oscar-worthy, but it sure was a cure for the wartime blues.
Gaslight was another story. It was Metro’s plan to reunite Hedy with [her Algiers co-star] Charles Boyer, but things were quite different from when they had made Algiers. Now Hedy was a big star and she wanted to be treated as such, which didn’t include second billing at her home studio. Boyer was adamantly against that, so the reunion never happened. Bergman said, “Who cares about billing? I just want to work with Boyer,” and took over the part. Hedy never mentioned any regrets over it.
As for Saratoga Trunk, that was a movie she did want to make but, as we know, it didn’t happen even though [Lamarr said] “I had my heart set on it from the moment I read the book.” According to Hedda Hopper, Jack Warner wanted to sign Hedy to a contract, as hers at MGM was ending. He had been very pleased with the box office for The Conspirators [right photo, which Lamarr had made on loan-out to Warners in 1944] and maybe he wanted another [former] MGM star a la Joan Crawford on his roster.
Hedy was increasingly leery of the studio contract system by that time, and turned him down. Warner didn’t like no for an answer so when it came to casting Saratoga Trunk, he seemed to studiously avoid offering it to Hedy. Instead, he offered it to Bette Davis, no, Vivien Leigh, no, and, finally Bergman, who said yes. Hedy was sad about it, but told Louella Parsons that she was charmed that Bergman had taken such pains to look like her in the movie. Ouch. A pity, as Hedy would have been terrific in the part of the Creole adventuress.
Hedy Lamarr in Samson and Delilah
Georg Misch’s documentary Calling Hedy Lamarr depicts the actress as a woman without strong maternal feelings. During your research, did you find any information about that side of Lamarr’s personality?
Hedy always spoke very lovingly about her children Denise and Anthony Loder [their father was actor John Loder]. At the time I met her, she was no longer a money-making star and often hinted that they were somewhat resentful of the fact that the money train wasn’t stopping at her house anymore. Nonetheless, she was always talking about them; Tony had a cold, Denise’s daughter was adorable, etc.
You have to remember that Hedy was an only child who was privately brought up and acquired a strikingly independent personality at an early age. She learned self-reliance as a survivor skill and that, coupled with a canny intelligence, made for a determined young lady. The first chance she got, she bolted toward a public existence, as, at an early age, she knew what she wanted did not include an early marriage and children. She made her opportunity to become an actress and acted on it.
Her parents weren’t happy about her becoming an actress, but she won them over by sheer determination. When Hedy spoke of her mother, Gertrude, which wasn’t often, she painted her as being a rather cold and aloof woman, and felt personally cheated of a major maternal role model. Nonetheless, she worked hard to get Gertrude out of Europe and treated her lavishly when she arrived in Hollywood during World War II.
Frankly, I think Hedy thought of children as “instant people” — little adults to a great degree — and expected them to not only be intelligent but to also make intelligent decisions. When her adopted son chose to leave her house to live with one of his teachers and her husband, she let him, but then he had to live with his choice. She said he’d become jealous of Tony and Denise, and she felt he’d be happier with his decision. By the way, she set up a trust fund for him at that time, and did not just let him float away as has been suggested.
Hedy was always mentioning Tony and Denise with pride and was especially taken with her granddaughter Wendy Colton. If anything, she felt sad that she could no longer indulge them in the movie star luxuries she’d showered on them as children, and maybe felt a little guilty that she hadn’t prepared them better to handle a world when [those perks] would stop.
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Tags: Casablanca, Charles Boyer, Classic Movies, Gaslight, Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, Interviews, Patrick Agan, Saratoga Trunk, The Conspirators
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