Casting
Farley Granger recounts that he was at Gene Kelly's house for a party. Ray had also been invited and just sat and stared at Granger. Granger asked guest Ethel Merman about Ray's behavior, who replied that Ray was in the middle of casting his first movie and had taken a professional interest in Granger. Houseman arranged to have Granger test for RKO, which went very well; Ray was determined that he had found his Bowie and then asked Granger if there was an actress whom he felt comfortable with. Granger replied with Cathy O'Donnell, who was also brought in to make a test.
Both Granger and O'Donnell were under contract to Samuel Goldwyn and had limited acting experience behind them—Granger had been in two films before being drafted for World War II while O'Donnell had just made the classic The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) but Ray was fiercely loyal and fought for both of them. Granger later said that " and John Houseman were among the few people who fought for me in my career. They said no, we will not make the film without him. When Nick believed in you, he was very loyal." In his autobiography, Granger lists They Live by Night as one of his two or three favorite films.
Many of the supporting cast and minor characters were played by personal friends of Houseman and Ray, although RKO contract player Robert Mitchum expressed interest in playing Chicamaw, saying that like Ray he knew all about the Depression-era South and had once been in a chain gang. Mitchum went so far as to shave his head and dye it black for the role (in the original novel Chicamaw is an Indian), but because Mitchum was a rising star and had recently received an Oscar nomination, the role of a bank robber was deemed unfit for him. He and Ray did end up working together on projects, including The Lusty Men. The role of Chicamaw went to Howard Da Silva, who had made an impression in Marc Blitzstein's musical The Cradle Will Rock (1937), produced by Houseman.
Many minor roles were played by actors and friends of Ray's from his time in the New York theater, including Marie Bryant from Beggar's Holiday (the nightclub singer), Curt Conway (the man in the tuxedo at the night club), and Will Lee (the jeweler).
Actor Byron Foulger appears uncredited as the owner of the cabin where the couple try to hide out.
Read more about this topic: They Live By Night
Famous quotes containing the word casting:
“For the gods, though slow to see, see well, whenever a man casting aside worship turns folly.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)
“All we know
Is that we are a little early, that
Today has that special, lapidary
Todayness that the sunlight reproduces
Faithfully in casting twig-shadows on blithe
Sidewalks. No previous day would have been like this.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgement shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision.”
—Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)