7 Actors Who Were Replaced After Filming Had Already Started

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Recasting a lead before cameras roll is routine. Recasting one after scenes are already in the can is a different problem, because it can mean reshoots, delays and a lot of money.

The seven cases below span nearly nine decades of film history. The reasons vary: health scares, creative doubts, scandal and legal fallout.

Buddy Ebsen, The Wizard of Oz

Buddy Ebsen, The Wizard of Oz (Image Credits: Pexels)
Buddy Ebsen, The Wizard of Oz (Image Credits: Pexels)

Buddy Ebsen was first cast as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, and production started in late 1938. The aluminum dust in his makeup got into his lungs, and he ended up hospitalized with breathing trouble.

Jack Haley took over the role. The studio changed the makeup to an aluminum paste, and Haley had a milder but still unpleasant reaction to it. Ebsen’s voice and some early footage were reportedly replaced, so the film we watch today is essentially Haley’s Tin Man.

Slim Pickens, Dr. Strangelove

Slim Pickens, Dr. Strangelove (Image Credits: Wikimedia)
Slim Pickens, Dr. Strangelove (Image Credits: Wikimedia)

Peter Sellers was set to play several roles in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, including Major T.J. “King” Kong, the bomber pilot. He struggled with the Texan accent, and he then injured his ankle, which made the cramped cockpit set unworkable.

Kubrick brought in Slim Pickens, a veteran of Westerns who had the accent naturally. His scene riding the bomb has become one of the film’s best known images. Sellers still played three other characters in the finished movie.

Harvey Keitel, Apocalypse Now

Harvey Keitel, Apocalypse Now (Image Credits: Flickr)

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Author : Matthias Binder

Publish date : 2026-10-01 07:25:00

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