Roles Vivian Vance Should've Played

Ricky Ricardo

She should've played Uncle Charlie (or Aunt Charlene) on My Three Sons.

She would've made a great mother to Rhoda.

She would've been excellent as Edith Bunker

And I could easily see her play Florida or Mrs Naugatuck

You flatter me!

I always thought that they could have cast her as a weird aunt on Bewitched. Agnes Moorhead was excellent as Endora, but I could see Vivian being Endora's "bitchy" sister.

Shirley Booth's character in Come Back, Little Sheba.

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS.

The grandmother to Hal Sparks' character on Queer as Folk and mother of Sharon Gless and the the gay uncle.

Nomi in Showgirls

Col. Nathan R. Jessep, Jack Nicholson's role in" A Few Good Men." But you all can't handle the truth, can you!

The Stockard Channing part in Grease

Wicked Witch of the West

Medea

She was up for the part of Vera Charles in the movie of Auntie Mame. Would love to have seen her do that.

Maria Von Trapp.

Holly Golightly.

Troop Beverly Hills.

The mother in Carrie.

She would have been the definitive Krystal Carrington. Joan Collins would have crapped her pants having to go up against our Viv.

The Sandra Bullock role in Speed. The heat between Vivian and Keanu Reeves would have been epic!

DL fav Alex Forrest

She should have played Sophie in Sophie's Choice.

Mrs. Iselin

Cristal Connors

Livia Soprano

Samantha Jones

Aileen Wuornos

Blanche

Rose

Dorothy

Sophia

Sarah Jane in IMITATION OF LIFE.

Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot

Florida Evans

Alice Pearce was great as Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched. But when she died, Sandra Gould made the character a complete bitch. Vivian would have made a wonderful replacement.

Precious' mother.

Eve Harrington

Evita!

She shoulda been Mel instead of that nasty ol' Vic Tayback!

Mame

Mrs Robinson

Regan MacNeil.

Mama Rose in Gypsy. Seriously. She had the comic skills, the belt, and understudied Merman in Anything Goes back in the day.

Vivian auditioning for the role of Oda Mae Brown in Ghost.

“Sam Wheat!”

Scarlett O'Hara

Helen Lawson

Divine in Pink Flamingos

Shug Avery

Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago.

Bess Truman.

Lacey Underall In "Caddyshack"

Esther Blodgett.

Tattoo on Fantasy Island.

The Black Swan

She has the range.

Dawn Davenport Francine Fishpaw

A panelist on WHATS MY LINE or TO TELL THE TRUTH.

Stella and Hattie in Follies. Mrs. Lovett.

Heidi.

Maria von Trapp

Baby Jane.

Blanche DuBois, of course.

[quote]The Stockard Channing part in Grease

I originally offered her the part but then decided to go with an older actress

Shirley Partridge of the Partridge Family.

Alexis Carrington. Her 'You'll never get control of this company!" would have sent chills down the spine.

Lilie on The Munsters

Katherine Hepburn in Tea at Five.

Alex Forrest, Joan Castleman, Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, Cruella de Ville, Albert Nobbs, Patty Hughes. And apparently Viv couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, so definitely Norma Desmond.

Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote

Mrs. Lovett

She was going to play Wildcat Jackson in "Wildcat" on Broadway, but Gary talked her out of it.

[quote]Cruella de Ville

Oh, dear.

It's DeVil, as in DEVIL -- get it?

Dawson in "Dawson's 50-Load Weekend"

Jackie Browne

Betty Broderick

The second wife of Tom Bradford, rather than Abby.

Reno Sweeney....

Laverne and Shirley's landlady on Laverne and Shirley

Large Marge

She and Lucy could've been really special in [italic]August: Osage County.[/italic]

She and Lucy could've done a stage version of Whatever Happend To Baby Jane. I can see Lucy flicking her cigarette ashes at Viv in the wheelchair.

Butcha are, Viv, ya are!

Will Lucy also throw lukewarm coffee on Viv, r72?

This Vivian Vance shit is played out. It's done - find something else you find amusing. Cuz this ain't it.

32 posters disagree with you, r75

Vivan could've replaced Susan St James in the retitled "McMillan and Mother."

Or Kate & Allie & Viv

Jesus the Christ

Hello, Dolly! She was must more right for the part than Babs.

Frank Nitti in "The Untouchables"

Thelma Harper

She would've been great as the thing Ann Sothern always stood behind.

Viv should have played Linda Lovelace's role in "Deep Throat."

Birdie in The Little Foxes.

Divine in Pink Flamingos

Vivian was on Rhoda briefly and was positioned to become a regular neighbor.

Unfortunately her health (mental or physical) prevented her from signing on.

Gia

The mother in a comedic version of The Exorcist.

Anne Frank.

Christie Love

Mama Mae Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie

I can see her as a substitute for Baretta's parrot.

Viv should have played Elizabeth Taylor's role of glamorous movie star Frances Andros in "The VIPS"

RoboCop

Matango, The Fungus of Terror

I could be wrong, but I don’t think some of you are taking this seriously.

—R92

Ursula

The Godfather

Hot Lips Houlihan.

Kathy in WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Sybil

R97

I agree with you that people aren't taking this thread seriously.

Vivian Vance does NOT have the talent to play me. The part demands a range of sensitivity that is beyond her abilities.

Angie Dickinson's role in Dressed to Kill.

Gladiator!

A YOUNG VV might have been a wonderful Annie Oakley. But I can't see her as Rose or Dolly or Mame. She might have been great but it's hard to see that since she did such a great job as second banana.

So what, R106? You want poor old Viv to play Agnes Gooch every damned day of her life?

Though she would have been a great Gooch in LUCY/MAME

She could have been cast in Maude instead of Rue McClanahan.

Pauline the Maid in "No! No! Nanette!"

Ahhndrea on 90210, but she was way too young for the part.

Bree in KLUTE.

Gloria Wandrous in BUTTERFIELD 8.

She was offered many of the roles mentioned, but John Dodds talked her out of all of them.

Wife of Phil Ober

Pussy Galore

Myra Breckinridge

Anita in West Side Story

STELLA!

Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.

Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

All the main roles in Eyes Wide Shut.

Viv is a strong singer and I think she'd make a great Rafiki in The Lion King.

James Bond

ALL OF THEM

Harry in Harry and the Hendersons

Mary Magdalene.

BEN HUR!

Ultraman

Mr. Goodbar

She would've been awesome as Lou Grant

Anastasia Steele

Linda Lovelace's part in DEEP THROAT.

Well, obviously she should have played Prissy in Gone With The Wind. If anyone was predestined to be the wise cracking second banana, it was Viv.

She was born to it.

Cassie in A Chorus Line.

Rose DeWitt Bukater.

Either one of the bedridden grandmothers in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

Private Benjamin

Miranda Priestly

Webmaster of DataLounge

Arkadina in The Seagull, with Lucy as Nina. "I'm an actress! I'm a seagull. WAAAAA!"

Linda Rogo in [italic]The Poseidon Adventure[/italic]

Viv should have played Rosa Moline in Beyond the Forest. She would have made something of "What a dump!"

She walks into the kitchen, sets down her groceries and says, "What a dump!" Viv is discontent.

Alex Forrest in FATAL ATTRACTION.

Cleopatra Jones.

Viv would have made a great Cobra Woman.

Heidi

Othello, the Moor of Venice

Viv would have been great in Hello Dolly. Was she ever offered it as a Broadway replacement or did Lucy have such a hold over her that it was just easier to play Lucy's sidekick?

Did Viv do much stage work after her breakdown?

Vivian Vance is Zardoz.

[quote]Did Viv do much stage work after her breakdown?

Alas, her last stage role was as Zoltan Karpathy in the Phoenix Little Theatre's production of My Fair Lady.

Her performance as Hecuba at the NY Shakespeare Festival was deeply moving.

Lucy Ricardo

[quote]Did Viv do much stage work after her breakdown?

Her breakdown happened in Chicago while she was appearing in a lead in "The Voice of the Turtle." She had gone into it on Broadway in the part of Olive, and then took the first national company to Chicago. She had her breakdown on stage. She stayed out for a week, and then had to leave completely.

She tried to rejoin the show briefly in San Francisco, and then quit for good.

When Desi saw her at the LaJolla Playhouse, she was appearing once again in "The Voice of the Turtle." The old "get back on the horse that threw you" routine. Throughout her TV career she would spend her hiatus doing stock. She was supposed to come back to Broadway in Woody Allen's "Don't Drink the Water" in 1967, but was fired out of town and replaced by Kay Medford. She finally came back to Broadway in "Your Daughter, My Son," which ran for a couple of months in 1969. Throughout the 1970s, she was a staple at summer stock theatres.

She would have been great as Norman's mother in "Norman, Is That You?"

Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

PTA sucker-punching lady

Kimberly Shaw on Melrose

Jerilee from The Lonely Lady.

Just imagine the garden hose scene.

She would have been great as Scarlett's plain older sister, Miss Sue Ellen.

If she'd been given Lucille Ball's role in STAGE DOOR, that might have changed the history of television.

[quote]If she'd been given Lucille Ball's role in STAGE DOOR, that might have changed the history of television.

Or maybe the role would have been acted better. Lucy stank in that movie.

Lucy was marvelous in Stage Door. So young, vulnerable and wide eyed. Hard to reconcile that with the gargoyle in Life With Lucy.

It's really sad that "Life With Lucy" is her final legacy. Who was the idiot that thought putting Lucille Ball in a hardware store would be a good idea? Maybe if Viv had still been alive she could have kept it from stinking, but it was a rotten series idea.

Final legacy implies people remember it. Most don't.

[quote]It's really sad that "Life With Lucy" is her final legacy.

She had to try and makeup for that absolutely ridiculous tv movie "Stone Pillow" where she played a homeless woman as if she were Harpo Marx. Watch her face in the opening scene as she washes herself with a hose. It's totally Lucy Ricardo.

The show shouldn't have been called "Stone Pillow" it should have been called "Ricky Dies and Little Ricky abandons his crackpot mother, marries Tony Dow and lives in a fabulous West Village Apartment."

Carmen in CARMEN JONES.

Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty.