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Enter: Loder
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126 10 Enter: Loder Hedy was becoming as well known for the roles she did not play as for those she did. If her most famous missed opportunity was the role of Ilsa in Casablanca, other films she reputedly rejected included Gaslight (1944) (ironically, she starred in Experiment Perilous, a film often compared to Gaslight) and Saratoga Trunk (1945). She apparently turned down Laura when Preminger sent her the script: “I think it was a lousy script, and still do. If only he had sent me the music!”1 How much leeway Hedy had over such decisions is debatable. Claiming to have turned down a role was part of the stardom package, actually doing so was less commonplace and such decisions were usually made by studio heads. George Cukor, for instance , said that when he came to Gaslight, Hedy was not mentioned as a casting possibility.2 However, it is fair to assume that Hedy, who was clearly regarded as troublesome by most who worked with her, made her preferences clear. Other circumstances also intervened in casting decisions during these years. When Niven Busch pitched his story Duel in the Sun (1946) to RKO, he aimed to provide an opportunity for his wife, Teresa Wright, to break from her “good girl” roles. RKO was instantly interested in the project but wanted Hedy and John Wayne in the leads. Hedy too was keen but became pregnant and had to withdraw; then Teresa found she was pregnant. In this instance, the role was memorably filled by Jennifer Jones, in a career-altering performance. On Christmas Day 1942, Hedy met John Loder at the Hollywood Canteen. Loder was an easygoing Englishman from an impeccable military background, who inherited his dark good looks from his Sicilian grandfather. Educated at Eton, he received his military training at Sandhurst and served with distinction in World War I. In April 1916 he joined his father, who was in command of the British troops in Dublin, in time Enter: Loder 127 to witness the Easter Uprising and stood by his side as the Irish revolutionary leader, Padraic Pearse, surrendered to him. As his father’s aide-decamp , he took Pearse to Kilmainham Gaol to execute him. When they reached the gates, the rebel leader had not finished writing his last message to his family, so Loder (still known by his real name, John Lowe), instructed the driver to keep driving. When Pearse had finished, he turned to Loder and said, “That indeed was kind of you. I would like to give you a small token of my gratitude.” He then took off his Australianstyle hat, removed the Sinn Fein badge, and handed it to the young officer.3 After the war, Loder resigned his commission and left the army; it had been, after all, the war to end all wars, and he saw little future in military service. Instead, he entered the pickle business with a German friend. For a short period, they made a fortune bottling and settling “Harris & Williams Pickles,” but the devaluation of the German mark forced them to liquidate and Loder turned to another minor interest, acting. A happy encounter with the flamboyant Hungarian producer Alexander Korda put him on the road to a life of modest fame, largely gained from playing romantic British leads. Loder’s looks fitted the debonair image of the day and he was cast in a succession of films, including Hitchcock’s Sabotage (1936) and John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley (1941). Loder was inevitably drawn to Hollywood, where he easily fit in with the set of expatriates known as the English Colony. But his circle of friends stretched beyond his fellow countrymen; on arriving in Los Angeles, he began an affair with Marion Davies, which he claimed took place under the nose of William Randolph Hearst at San Simeon, the millionaire publisher’s baroque mansion. Loder’s friend, director John Farrow, warned him off this activity, reminding the young Englishman of the fate of one of Davies’s other lovers, the celebrated silent-film director Thomas Ince. Ince disappeared overboard while on the Hearst yacht and was never seen again. Loder simply relocated his assignations with Marion, or so he claimed, to her sister’s house. By 1941, he had been joined by his wife, the French actress Micheline Cheirel, and their daughter, Danielle. In 1942, Loder made his mark on Hollywood in the role of Elliott Livingstone opposite Bette Davis in Now, Voyager, playing, as...