Career
By the time she was cast, Varsi already had an agent and had been searching for film roles for a long while, without any luck. She made rounds at several studios, but according to the actress, they all thought she was suitable for character parts only. She was even dropped by her agent in 1956, because he saw no future in her career.
Even before Peyton Place was released, Adler cast Varsi opposite Don Murray in the western From Hell to Texas (1958). She appeared in the films Ten North Frederick (1958) and Compulsion (1959). While filming Ten North Frederick, Varsi suffered a nervous breakdown, collapsed and was hospitalized. She later said: "I'm still trying to find myself. It's still hard for me to separate illusion from reality... I don't know whether acting is the form of creativity best for me."
Varsi rejected the role of Meg in the comedy film Holiday for Lovers in January 1959. On March 18, 1959, she suddenly left Hollywood, abandoning her contract. She commented on this by saying: "I'm running away from destruction." She refused to reveal her motives for leaving the industry, explaining it concerned other people as well. However, a week after leaving she stated: "Hollywood is too impressed with superficial cheapness." Nevertheless, her contract with Fox did not expire until 1965. Her sudden walkout was for a long time rumoured to be a publicity stunt to promote the sequel to Peyton Place, Return to Peyton Place (1961), to which Varsi was a long time attached.
By walking out of her contract, Varsi's participation or consideration to several films were cancelled, including a starring role in The Best of Everything (1959). After leaving Hollywood, Varsi played in several small plays in San Francisco. At some point thereafter, she made her way to New York long enough to successfully audition for the Actors Studio, which she would attend at least briefly in 1965. As a result of being released from her contract, Varsi returned to film acting in the late 1960s, but by this time she was no longer being offered major film roles. She called the films she made in this period "cheap films of little merit". She furthermore said that although producers were curious, they would not hire her. Her later films include Johnny Got His Gun in 1971, a film which Varsi described as her favorite, and a 1972 ABC-TV "Movie of the Week", titled The People. Of Johnny Got His Gun, the actress said: "This is the kind of thing I always wanted to do. It comes very late to me. It's been a long time to wait." She was nervous to play the role, saying: "I felt too inadequate to do . It's so intense, the responsibility."
Read more about this topic: Diane Varsi
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