Now, I get skeptical when I see posts about how one actor was offered or considered for an iconic role, but someone else was chosen. Take for example, Bill Murray being up for Tim Burton’s 1989 BATMAN. Murray’s name was batted around for the part, but so were other major actors like Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Dennis Quaid (even Charlie Sheen). But Murray wasn’t offered the part, and claims he hadn’t heard about it until decades later.
“You know I’ve heard that story too,” Murray told David Letterman in 2014. “Really, I have. And God, I would have been an awesome Batman.”
But there are more valid stories of could-have-beens, like Tom Selleck (also considered for BATMAN), as Indiana Jones as he did screen tests, but had to turn it down because of commitments to Magnum P.I.
This brings us to Harrison Ford being up for the role of Mike Stivic, better known as “Meathead” in the smash hit ‘70s TV show, All in the Family. There is validity to this story as he was actually offered the part, but is reported to have passed on it due to his disliking of the racism of its lead character, Archie Bunker. This is despite that Meathead was the ultra-liberal arguing against Archie’s pigheaded opinions.
Ford’s viewpoint about the show is cited in nearly every report of the casting of the program, and I recently watched a mini-documentary about All in the Family that relayed the same factoid. However, there is no quote (that I can find) from Ford on the matter.
Anyone who has seen him on talk shows know the he is curmudgeon who doesn’t like to talk about his past, even when it comes to his iconic characters like Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Deckard in BLADE RUNNER, so a much smaller role (albeit an iconic character in its own right) would understandably not be asked about by Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, etc.
All in the Family’s creator, Norman Lear, reportedly wanted Ford for Meathead, while he passed over Richard Dreyfuss, who actually sought the part (just a few years later, both Dreyfuss and Ford appeared in AMERICAN GRAFFITI). But the actor who got the role, Rob Reiner, was perfect for Meathead, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else paying the character. Reiner went on a successful career as a film director after his eight seasons on the popular CBS show, and did little acting. Reiner’s part as filmmaker Marty DiBerrgi, in his directorial debut, THIS IS SPINAL TAP, was his biggest role, and probably his best known character after Meathead.
It's also hard to picture Ford being married to Sally Struthers as Meathead’s wife, Gloria, but if he was cast, Lear probably would have cast someone else as Gloria as other actresses were up for the part as well. Mickey Rooney was also in consideration for Archie, but that’s another blog post.
As Ford was a charismatic, and attractive actor, if he had gotten the role of Meathead, he most likely would’ve gone from that to a successful career in the biz, but he might’ve missed out on his breakthrough in STAR WARS. Struthers had problems with being cast in a movie during the run of All in the Family, due to her contract, so Ford probably would’ve faced the same circumstance if he had been offered Han Solo. Of course, he may not have even been up for STAR WARS if he was well known as Meathead.
There we have it, a major could-have-been that’s amusing to think about. Notably Ford and Reiner have never worked together. They came close in talks for a thriller entitled YOU BELONG TO ME in 2012, but the project never came to be.
More later…
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