Cloris Leachman Too Old for "Young Frankenstein"?

Cloris Leachman Too Old for "Young Frankenstein"?
I say no. When Cloris Leachman auditioned for the role of Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks' Broadway version of his 1974 film "Young Frankenstein," she gave what Broadway insiders referred to as a "wonderful audition." However Brooks and other producers eventually decided that the physical strain of performing in a Broadway musical eight times a week would be too strenuous for the 81-year-old actress who originally reprised the film role over thirty years ago, according to Page Six:

Brooks told Archerd, "We're afraid the show might stop her - it could kill her . . . We don't want her to die on stage." Actually, that's how most actors would like to expire.

One insider told us Leachman got the bad news via a letter. "She was told the producers wanted the stage version to differ from the film version," the source reports. "She was very disappointed."


Dude, the woman did this last year, which should already be argument enough in her favor. And by God, if she wants to die by acting her ass off on a stage in Broadway, then get the heck out of her way, I say. It's like refusing to let a cowboy die with his boots on. Blasphemy.
Published 6/14/07 by


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