Movie Roles Recast Due to Tragic Circumstances

Interesting, likable, and believable characters are important for any film. Without them, the narrative would fall apart and there would be little to hold together the story or provide figures that the audience can connect with. But even the most compelling characters are nothing if they don’t have a brilliant actor to portray them. When an actor does the job right, they can become synonymous with the role they play and lead to movie characters fans never want to see recast.

However, there are times when an actor does need to be replaced. Sometimes this will be a matter of creative differences or an argument over pay, leading to the original actor leaving and filmmakers seeking a replacement to allow the character to continue. Yet, there are also some pretty tragic reasons why movie roles have had to be recast. Actors may have died during production, suffered from a serious illness, or been subjected to a situation that meant they simply couldn’t continue.

From iconic Golden Age sidekicks and beloved animated characters to movie mentors known the world over, the following film roles were all recast for tragic reasons.

The third and final entry in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” trilogy, “The Godfather Part III” came with huge expectations. Arriving in cinemas 16 years after its predecessor, the movie saw much of the original cast return, including Al Pacino as Michael Corleone and Diane Keaton as Kay Adams-Corleone. “The Godfather Part III” also features Michael Corleone’s children as adults, who previously only appeared as young children. Franc D’Ambrosio played Anthony Corleone while Sofia Coppola took on the part of Mary Corleone. What you may not know is that Mary was originally set to be portrayed by Winona Ryder.

Ryder flew out to the shooting location in Italy straight after wrapping the film “Mermaids,” but she was visibly tired when she turned up, which worried several members of the production. She was supposed to shoot the following day, but her then-boyfriend Johnny Depp (who had traveled with her) called in and let Francis Ford Coppola know that she wasn’t feeling well. Producers sent doctors to see Ryder and she was diagnosed with nervous exhaustion, meaning she couldn’t continue in that part. The director chose to cast his daughter in the role instead, causing some controversy due to her lack of experience.

For many people, Jim Varney is best remembered for the role of Ernest P. Worrell. While the gap in quality between the best and worst Ernest movies is significant, the character has remained popular. Varney played another lovable character from a famous franchise, although in this case, it’s an animated one: The actor provided the voice of the friendly and loyal Slinky Dog in both “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.”

When it came time for the character to return in “Toy Story 3,” Blake Clark was cast in the role to provide the signature Southern accent of the toy dachshund. The film came out over a decade after the release of “Toy Story 2,” and in the intervening years, Varney had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He died from the disease in February 2000 at the age of 50. Clark was chosen to replace Varney in the franchise, a job he found hard considering he had been friends with Varney and had known him for many years.

She appeared in several projects before her breakout role, but Judy Garland was still just 17 when “The Wizard of Oz” came out. She missed most of her childhood and was “forced into crash diets and drugs from the pressure of her mother,” according to Far Out magazine. Her career as a child actor reportedly played into the addictive issues that plagued her as an adult. Struggling to find work and dealing with substance abuse problems, Garland’s career was at a real low point by the 1960s.

A lucky break seemingly came along when she was cast as Helen Lawson in 1967’s “Valley of the Dolls.” She looked great in wardrobe tests and hopes were high, but she was fired from the role after struggling to show up on time for filming, not performing as expected, and failing to show any improvement in regard to her alcoholism. Her part was recast and went to Susan Hayward.

Co-star Patty Duke (who played a character clearly based on Garland in the film) later spoke about how she felt Garland had been mistreated by director Mark Robson and studio execs. Speaking at the Castro Theater, Duke claimed Garland had only been hired for publicity purposes and clearly wasn’t in the right state of mind for the role. “I worshipped her,” Duke added. “She made me laugh every time she looked at me.”

Recasting significant characters in the Robert Zemeckis sci-fi franchise “Back to the Future” was nothing new by the time Elisabeth Shue replaced Claudia Wells in the sequel. After all, Eric Stoltz was dropped as protagonist Marty McFly in “Back to the Future,” with Michael J. Fox taking his place. In that first film, Wells portrayed Jennifer Parker, Marty’s girlfriend. Even Wells herself was a replacement, landing the part after the original actor Melora Hardin was judged to be too tall to appear next to Fox as his love interest. Jennifer was a minor role in the 1985 film but took on a greater part in the 1989 sequel.

The second film actually saw a number of casting changes, with Jeffrey Weissman replacing Crispin Glover as George McFly along with Shue now playing Jennifer. There’s a truly tragic reason behind Shue replacing Wells in “Back to the Future Part II.” Her mother, who also acted as her agent, had cancer and Wells found it too difficult to continue filming while she was so ill. “My mother had fourth stage lymphoma,” Wells told HuffPost. “I had so much happening personally that deep down, I never considered reprising my role and deep in my soul, I knew [leaving the business] was the right choice for me.”

The success of “The Matrix” meant that sequels were a certainty. Both “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” expanded the fictional universe, introducing viewers to new characters. Among them was Zee, the sister of Dozer and Tank, two figures who played important roles in the first movie. She is also the partner of Link, the Nebuchadnezzar’s new pilot. The original plan was to have singer and actor Aaliyah play the part of Zee, but tragedy intervened: The 22-year-old rising star was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas.

“The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” were filmed back to back. Aaliyah had actually completed some scenes for the first sequel, but she went to the Bahamas to film a music video before she could finish her work as Zee. She and eight others were killed when the plane went down on the return journey. An investigation found that the plane was overloaded and that the pilot had alcohol and cocaine in his system.

A number of potential replacements for Aaliyah were seemingly in contention before the role was given to Nona Gaye, the daughter of singer Marvin Gaye. It was reportedly a tough decision for Gaye, because she was friends with Aaliyah and therefore had reservations about taking over the part. In the end, she did a great job and was nominated for a NAACP award for her performance in “The Matrix Revolutions.”