Hi Tim...I've often wondered if Susan was friends with any other leading ladies of her day (Lana Turner, Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, etc.) I don't just mean mingling in social settings, but actually close relationships. It's been said often that she was aloof, & a loner etc. & we've all heard that she & Bette Davis did not get on well when they made "Where Love Has Gone" together. Also, do you remember your mom admiring anyone else's film work? (THANKS!! Your mom still fascinates me, even after all these years).

That's something that's dogged me ever since I saw "Snows of Kilamanjaro" and I lost sleep wondering how anyone can mistake Susan and Ava--susan Hayward and Suzy Parker, maybe, or Susan Hayward and Rita hayworth.


Still I would love to have been on the set of "Snows" to see how well "reserved" Susan got along with fun-loving Ava (Ava's wonderful autobiography reads like you're there having a beer with her--some chapters read like she's had several). The would have complemented each other in an "Odd Couple" sort of way.

Too bad there weren't many female "buddy" pictures in the vein of Steel Magnolias or Thelma and Louise, back in the Golden Years. Susan would have made a heck of a "Louise" (Susan Sarandon's part).

Yes Cathy I agree - even when Greg Peck first spots Susan from the rear view, there is only a minimal resemblance and when she turns around - no resemblance at all.

I wonder how it would have played if Susan had the role of Cynthia Green and Ava entered the movie later in Susan's role.?

Minor note to this movie - did you know that Hildegard Neff who played the icy Teutonic socialite who tore up Ava's letter causing Greg Peck to march out of the cocktail party - and her life - died last year.?

And yes - Susan would have been a gutsy companion in a female buddy movie. Because her screen persona appealed to both men and women, she could play such a part without alienating either fan base, I would think.
Kerry

I always thought it was poor casting in "Snows"....Ava's and Susan's roles should have been reversed. Susan and Gregory Peck had good chemistry (David and Bathsheba). Their relationship would have been believable.

One of Susan's strong points was that she was indeed
liked by both men and women. Men looked upon her as strong and beautiful. Women didn't seem to mind that she was beautiful. They liked the persona of "strong"
and "been there, done that"...which she projected on the screen.

I agree with Ginger on the poor casting bit and have always wondered 'how' that casting came about, since
Peck and Susan were both at Fox...but Ava was not!
She would have still been under contract to MGM.

Eventhough Susan's role was not as big as Ava's, it was Susan who got billing over her. Susan had just made a pile of money for 20th and the buzz was still going over her performance in "With a Song in my Heart"...Otherwise, top billing in the females should have gone to Ava Gardner.

Errol

Ava was a last minute reaplacement for another actress--forgot who.

Steven,

My mother did not have ANY close relationships with leading women of her day. She was close to Jeff Chandler because they had know each other from high school. My mom was a loner and an isolator - comes with the disease of alcoholism. Aloof? Not really, she was scared to death of people and that FEAR was manifested as arrogance or seeming aloofness.

Tim Barker

Thanks Tim for your response. I appreciate the fact that you answered my question. It's wonderful reading your posts regarding your mom!

Here is a nice picture of Jeff Chandler & Doris Day, from 1956: http://www.dorisday.net/DorisDaypics_files/Jeff_Chandler_and_Doris_Day_1956/jpg