Who was the actor fired from Terms of Endearment and replaced by John Lithgow?

I do not. Tell us. (with a source)

Was it James Coco?

I want to know why Mary Kay Place dubbed the voice for that woman in the car with drunk Jack Nicholson.

Jessica Lange

r3 I just watched the commentary track on the DVD

that is where I found out about Lithgow coming in for three days while filming Footloose after the editor in LA called Brooks on location saying they had a problem and the other actor wasn't working.

As to Mary Kaye Place, Brooks said they hired a local Texas beauty but then the acting wasn't good so he had his friend Mary Kaye Place come in and do it.

But who was the other actor that Lithgow replaced?

Debra probably farted on the other actor.

BTW Brooks also says Winger accepted the role after two actresses past.

Looking online I guess one was Sissy Spacek and whoelse? (some cites say Jodie Foster.)

Jennifer Jones owned the material and wanted to play the lead but they managed (tricked?) to get the rights from her -- and gave it to Shirley. Sissy and Shirley would've matched up well for sure and much of it was set in Houston so Sissy's accent would've been fine (Shirley had one too but they dropped it at the 11th hour).

(Jodie was cold as ice during that period. Doubt Paramount would've risked her in that lead role at the time. She had to fight to get "The Accused" too, I think -- AND "Silence..." and that was after an Oscar).

I would have perfect as Aurora, Emma or Sam the Nebraskan banker. Fuck you, James L. Brooks!

I can't figure out who other choices for the Winger role would be. Who were other 20 something actresses at the time who had boxoffice clout?

So, who WAS the actor fired from Terms of Endearment and replaced by John Lithgow?

Timothee Chalamet

Miyoshi Umeki was considered.

They wanted Kim Basinger -- but not for Emma. For Patsy, her best friend. Which would've been better, one has to admit, that unknown they used was a stiff and never worked again. Imagine the fireworks as is and then add Basinger into the mix. Woulda been fun (for Jack, anyway).

Two actresses "past" ?

some "cites" say ... ?

What has happened to education in America? Oh, wait, Trump is president so we know the answer.

r17 = Flap Horton

Joey Luft

r16 Brooks says Winger didn't get along with the Patsy. (but then she didn't get along with anyone.)

Lucy, but Gary talked her out of it...

Patsy got the last laugh. She may have dropped out of show biz but Winger is now stuck on a NETFLIX sitcom -- with a LAUGH TRACK, no less. It's appalling to see her there. And far more sad than retirement.

Patsy is dead so...

not according to imdb. Alive and well and living in Austin, TX.

Oops. Sorry, Patsy!

R12 Streep, Sally Fields, Glenn Close, Cher?, Sigourney Weaver,

It was Wilford Brimley, OP.

For some reason George Dzundra sticks in my head as the person it was.

Lucy was going to do the Aurora role, and Lucie Arnaz was going to play the daughter, but Gary talked both of them out of it,

Imagine, Jennifer Jones might've had a Best Actress Oscar from both 1943 and 1983.

[quote] Streep, Sally Fields, Glenn Close, Cher?, Sigourney Weaver,

I'd guess Sally Field from r26's list. Sigourney was too glamorous back then. Cher and Close had only just broken through in films (and Close always played older.)

I guess Meryl gets first past at everything but not sure if she did back then. She was a bit too urban for the dowdy Emma.

[quote]R16 They wanted Kim Basinger -- but not for Emma. For Patsy, her best friend. Which would've been better, one has to admit, that unknown they used was a stiff and never worked again.

It's a totally boring part, anyway. Basinger probably had a stack of scripts ten feet tall full of boring parts to consider at the time, and was like, "Oh, god. [italic]Another[/italic] one??"

[quote]R30 Imagine, Jennifer Jones might've had a Best Actress Oscar from both 1943 and 1983.

No, because she'd have been as stilted in it as she was in most of her movies.

If Jennifer Jones had to work with Debra Nutcase she really would've gone through with a suicide.

OMG! I'm terrible for wanting to see the outtakes from THAT possibility....! Uspecially since Jones would surely be an hour+ late to the set every day from makeup, then get neurotically nervous about the lighting and camera angles, etc!!

The actress that played Janice, the woman flap was cheating on Emma with was the one who committed suicide.

R36 Oh my goodness! I never knew that. One online source says that actress, Kate Charleson, was an alcoholic lesbian who began to use heroin (!!) She eventually hung herself.

Her sister Leslie plays Monica Quartermaine on GENERAL HOSPITAL.

You're my touchstone, Emma.

R23 you're confusing her with Debra's other cheap looking blonde friend from An Officer and a Gentleman (and Lydia Hearst lookalike) Lisa Blount. She died some years ago - I forget of what.

Patsy at r40:

I don't need your love or support at this tragic time @patsyclarktermsofendearment. Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven't already.) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I'm writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our movie in order to restore your 'nice girl' persona.

It was George Dzundza.

I really liked Lisa Hart Carroll’s low key performance as Patsy. More importantly I believed she and Winger as lifelong friends. I cannot picture Kim and Debra having that kind of chemistry but who knows? Hated Miranda Richardson and her over-the-top performance/accent in the sorry sequel.

Someone's gonna have to post a link to that George Dzundza claim or else it's going to get chalked up to trolling, like 2/3 of the replies on here.

I can't find any link r45. That is who I remember it being. Since someone else said it too I guess we have at least two sources.

Strange on the DVD Commentary they discuss the girl who played Janice. Brooks asks says she was a local hire where they were filming. The other woman on the track says that the actress then moved to LA to become a professional actress. Brooks jokes "we ruined another life!" Odd that she was already dead when the DVD commentary was recorded. You'd think someone would have known and cut that part out.

I get the feeling there was a lot more to Patsy in the original script (book?) motivating lines like "Shape up, Patsy" that make no sense as is. Once Basinger (whose hair certainly would've matched up with Winger's) passed and the role was miscast, I think a lot of scenes/moments got cut along the way.

Shirl writes about all of them on the phone with Basinger begging her to come onboard and Basinger crying that she was being ganged up on and wanted to take the bigger role in a Burt Reynolds movie -- that bombed.

P.S., Also so weird, all these years I had it in my head that Janice was played by Lucinda Jenney, a nice 80s staple of films like "Thelma and Louise" and "Peggy Sue Got Married". Obviously I was wrong. Thanks for the info on Charleson. They still look alike to me though.

‘Janice? What a stupid name. God, Flap...your taste!!!’

[quote] I get the feeling there was a lot more to Patsy in the original script (book?) motivating lines like "Shape up, Patsy" that make no sense as is.

I think she was featured in at least 4 of McMurtry’s novels, including ‘’Moving On’ which chronologically precedes ‘Terms’. Patsy is the central protagonist in it and, if I recall correctly the story takes place before she marries into wealth. It was slow moving but I enjoyed it primarily because I had just seen the film and loved the characters. ‘Terms’ the novel is a highly enjoyable read.

Patsy is a major character in the book. She also turns up in "All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers" which is sort of a breeding ground for McMurtry characters, since Flap and Emma show up in it as well. The main character of that one is Danny Deck, who is later revived in "Some Can Whistle" which I think Patsy shows up in as well.

Patsy is also the main character of "Moving On" which might be my favorite "modern day" McMurtry. It's a long one, but well worth it. Patsy's also pretty prominent, of course, in "Evening Star" the "Terms of Endearment" in which McMurty makes is usual mistake of making characters you wished nothing for the best for into horrible people you can't stand (see also "Last Picture Show" into "Texasville" but saved by "Duane's Depressed."

[quote] "Evening Star" the "Terms of Endearment" in which McMurty makes is usual mistake of making characters you wished nothing for the best for into horrible people you can't stand (see also "Last Picture Show" into "Texasville"

Agree 100%!!!!

I hadn’t heard of ‘Duane’s Depressed’ - I need to look that one up. Thanks!

"Duane's Depressed" is very good, but also very, very melancholy and sad.

Just be prepared.

I wonder if there'd been any thought to Jeff Bridges being in a movie version of Duane's Depressed. Not really a commercial title, I guess. And the movie of Texasville was terrible.

The saving grace of the movie "Texasville" is Annie Potts. A great performance in a rotten movie.

Potts completely outshone Shepherd, and years later started in a play based on her Texasville costar. Not a flattering portrayal either.

I lived in Lincoln, NE while they were filming "Terms of Endearment" and there was a casting call up at our college's theater for stand ins including one for George Dzundza. I've also read about it since then but I can't find a link anywhere.

It might have been in some piece about Lithgow...he wrote about the experience of getting cast at the last minute for...Premiere? Film Comment? Some cinema mag of the era.