Singin' in The Rain - Cast

Cast

• Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood. Although his performance in the song "Singin' in the Rain" is now considered iconic, Kelly was not the first choice for the role—Howard Keel was originally cast. However, Keel was replaced by Kelly as the screenwriters evolved the character from a "Western actor" to a "song-and-dance vaudeville" performer.
• Donald O'Connor as Cosmo Brown. The role was based on, and initially written for, Oscar Levant.
• Debbie Reynolds as Kathy Selden. Early on in production, Judy Garland (shortly before her contract termination from MGM), Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell, Leslie Caron, and June Allyson were among the names thrown around for the role of the "ingenue." However, director Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly insisted that Debbie Reynolds always was first in their mind for the role. Although the film revolves around the idea that Kathy has to dub over for Lina's voice, in the scene where Kathy is dubbing a line of Lina's dialogue ("Our love will last 'til the stars turn cold"), Jean Hagen's normal voice is used. Reynolds herself was dubbed in "Would You?" and "You are My Lucky Star" by an uncredited Betty Noyes.
• Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont. Judy Holliday was strongly considered for the role of Lina, until she suggested Hagen, who had been her understudy in the Broadway production of Born Yesterday. Fresh off her role in The Asphalt Jungle, Hagen read for the part for producer Arthur Freed and did a dead-on impression of Holliday's Billie Dawn character, which won her the role. Her character was based on the silent picture star Norma Talmadge who bombed during the transition to talkies.
• Millard Mitchell as R.F. Simpson. The initials of the fictional head of Monumental Pictures are a reference to producer Freed. R.F. also uses one of Freed's favorite expressions when he says that he "cannot quite visualize it" and has to see it on film first, referring to the Broadway ballet sequence, a joke, since the audience has just seen it.
• Cyd Charisse as Gene Kelly's dance partner in the "Broadway Melody" ballet.
• Douglas Fowley as Roscoe Dexter, the director of Don and Lina's films.
• Rita Moreno as Zelda Zanders, the "Zip Girl" and Lina's informant friend. Considered to be based on Clara Bow (The It Girl).
• King Donovan (uncredited) as Rod, head of the publicity department at Monumental Pictures.
• Judy Landon (uncredited) as Olga Mara, a silent screen vamp who attends the premiere of The Royal Rascal. She is considered to be based on Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson.
• Madge Blake (uncredited) as Dora Bailey, a radio show host. Considered to be based on Louella Parsons.
• Kathleen Freeman (uncredited) as Phoebe Dinsmore, Lina's diction coach
• Bobby Watson (uncredited) as diction coach during "Moses Supposes" number
• Jimmy Thompson (uncredited) as the singer of "Beautiful Girl"
• Mae Clarke (uncredited) as the hairdresser who puts the finishing touches on Lina Lamont's hairdo.