The Wild Geese - Casting

Casting

Although Lloyd had both Richard Burton and Roger Moore in mind for their respective roles from a relatively early stage, other casting decisions were more difficult. As the mercenaries were mostly composed of military veterans (some of whom had fought under Faulkner's command before), it was necessary to cast a number of older actors and extras into these physically demanding roles. A number of veterans and actual mercenary soldiers appeared in the film.

Irish actor Stephen Boyd, a close friend of Lloyd's, was originally set to star as Sandy Young, the Sergeant Major who trains the mercenaries before their mission. However, Boyd died shortly before filming commenced and Jack Watson was chosen as a late replacement. He had previously played a similar role in McLaglen's 1968 film The Devil's Brigade.

Lloyd had offered the part of the banker Matherson to his friend Joseph Cotten. However, scheduling difficulties meant that he also had to be replaced, this time by Stewart Granger. This was Granger's first film part since 1967.

Burt Lancaster originally hoped to play the part of 'Rafer Janders' who in Carney's book was an American living in London. However, Lancaster wanted the part substantially altered and enlarged. The producers declined and in his place chose Richard Harris. Lloyd initially had reservations about casting Harris because of his wild reputation and hard drinking but reluctantly agreed to cast him as long as both Harris and Burton agreed to stop drinking for this film, having them survive on nothing but soft drinks for the duration.

Hardy Krüger was not the first actor considered for the role of 'Pieter Coetzee'. Lloyd originally thought of Peter van Eyck and even Curd Jürgens, but felt that "Hardy seemed to fit." Krüger was also impressed by the script scenes played with Limbani.

Lloyd hesitated before offering the role of 'Witty' (the homosexual medic) to his longtime friend Kenneth Griffith. When finally approached, Griffith said "Some of my dearest friends in the world are homosexuals!" and accepted the part.

Percy Herbert, who played the role of 'Keith', was a veteran of World War II, in which he had been wounded in the defence of Singapore, then captured by the Imperial Japanese Army and interned in a POW camp.

Alan Ladd's son David Ladd and Stanley Baker's son Glyn Baker also had roles in the film.

Ian Yule, who played 'Tosh Donaldson', had been a real mercenary in Africa in the 1960s and '70s. He was cast locally in South Africa. He then brought his former commanding officer, Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare, who had led the actual Wild Geese mercenary troops in the Congo Crisis of the 1960s, to be the technical advisor for the film. Yule also acted as a technical advisor for the film.

John Kani played 'Jesse Blake' a mercenary who had previously served with Faulkner and was struggling to live before the chance to work with Faulkner again. Palitoy based the Figure 'Tom Stone' (part of the Action Man team) on 'Jesse Blake' after looking at the Pre-Production photos and Posters of the film. Subsequently some modifications to the figure were made. Kani made his first debut role in the film after years of acting and stage performances with Winston Ntshona. Ntshona was 'Limbani' in the film and continued to make many more films with Kani after The Wild Geese.

Rosalind Lloyd, who played 'Heather', is Euan Lloyd's daughter. Her mother, actress Jane Hylton, played 'Mrs. Young'.