r63, Sophia Loren was offered the role of Alexis when it was projected to be a short-term guest role. She turned it down and producers bandied about many other names. Rumours are Elizabeth Taylor was one of the names, but I don't think she was ever offered the role officially. Auditions were held and Jessica Walter was the top contender for the role when Candy Spelling suggested to her husband Joan Collins, who had just guest starred on either The Love Boat or Fantasy Island. Loren, however, was their first choice, and her name became a part of the Alexis legend when Collins thanked Loren for turning the role down during her acceptance speech at The People's Choice Award.
r64, incidentally, Lollabrigida accepted the role of Francesca Gioberti after - you guessed it - Sophia Loren turned it down. However, unlike DYNASTY, Loren was all but ready to join the cast of FALCON CREST in a role that was to rival that of - ironically - Alexis Carrington. In fact, in a PEOPLE interview during the summer of that year stated in a Loren piece that she was joining the show. It was all set to happen. She was promised an expensive budget for a glamourous wardrobe and a meaty storyline to do battle with Queen Bee Angela Channing. But at the very last minute, negotiations fell through and Loren backed out. Her cinematic rival Gina Lollabrigida was offered the role instead, and what was going to be a longer story arc was rewritten, as was the character of Francesca Gioberti, who was more earthy and genuine at heart than the original conception of the character.
Falcon Crest scored a coup with snagging Kim Novak for a season-long arc that took the show to a whole new height of campiness. That was a blast to watch. It even had Robert Stack running around as a mob boss.
Falcon Crest succeeded in grabbing alot of big names over its years: Lana Turner, Leslie Caron, Ursula Andress, Eddie Albert, Eve Arden, even Buck Henry of all people! After the success of Lana Turner's guest spots, CBS saw the appeal of Hollywood vets had on viewers, so they never stopped trying to grab for the gold. They offered Richard Burton a couple of million bucks to appear in a five-minute scene, but he turned them down. Lauren Bacall and Mia Farrow were tapped to play a mother-daughter role one year, but they turned it down. Raquel Welch was asked to join the show, and she offered her daughter Tahnee instead!
DALLAS never succeeded in getting a big Hollywood guest star. They did offer Bette Davis a role that would have been Pam's rich Aunt (her mother's sister) but Davis turned it down. They did get Alexis Smith, who guest starred during a period in the nighttime dramas when it was a trend to grab big names for guest spots. Incidentlly, when Barbara Bel Geddes left the show the first time, Larry hagman wanted his mother Mary Martin to take the role; CBS asked Dorothy Malone to take over. They ended up with Donna Reed, which was a dismal failure.
KNOTS LANDING ended up grabbing one of the best Glamour Queen guest spots when Ava Gardner did a series of episodes as a wonderfully crafted character. I wasn't a KNOTS fan, but Gardner did do what I feel was a wonderful job because it didn't smack of stunt casting (which it was). Her character actually propelled an already existing storyline that had been running for years.
It really was great fun to watch all these shows trying to exploit audience nostalgia to grab ratings. You never knew who was going to show up next.
