WOULD Harrison Ford's career have been different had he taken the role
of Meathead on "All in the Family?"
Ford turned down the classic part of Archie Bunker's son-in-law,
Michael "Meathead" Stivic, which ended up becoming Rob Reiner's
breakout role.
And Rosie O'Donnell almost landed in our living room on a daily basis
as Jerry Seinfeld's female best friend, Elaine Benes, on "Seinfeld,"
the character Julia Louis-Dreyfus nailed.
A new book, "Mickey Rooney as Archie Bunker and Other TV Casting
Almosts" by Eila Mell, reveals hundreds of weird casting would-have-
beens.
"I interviewed tons of casting directors and discovered all these
castings that didn't happen either because some turned down the role,
or some didn't get it. Some were just totally wrong for the part and
just auditioned," Mell told Page Six.
* The legendary Rooney was offered the Archie Bunker part but turned
it down because he didn't want to play a bigot.
* Whitney Houston turned down the role of Denise Huxtable on "The
Cosby Show" because she wanted to have a singing career. Lisa Bonet
took the part.
* Rachel Dratch played Jenna Maroney in the pilot for "30 Rock," but
producers pulled the part from her and gave it to ***pot Jane
Krakowski.
* Casting directors thought "The Office" cutie Jenna Fischer wasn't
***y enough to play Sydney Bristow on "Alias," so they handed the role
to Jennifer Garner.
* Leonardo DiCaprio almost landed on "Baywatch" as David Hasselhoff's
son.
* Courteney Cox's Monica Geller on "Friends" was nearly played by
Nancy McKeon, who had finished "The Facts of Life" years earlier.
Mell has another book out all about movies, titled "Casting Might Have
Beens."
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