Didn't Orson Welles play 'The Shadow' on the radio? Why not a live-action version then? Now I'm trying to think of other actors from the 30s-40s who could play pulp heroes Doc Savage and The Avenger. How about 'Buster' Crabbe for Doc Savage?
Yes, he did. Though I’m not sure if, with his round face, he’d have been a good physical match for Lamont Cranston. Crabbe, while probably best known for playing Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, also played Tarzan. A later Tarzan actor, Ron Ely, also played Doc. I could absolutely see Buster playing yet another pulp icon. Edit - while checking Ron’s IMDb page to make sure I was right about Doc Savage, I found out also that he also played an older alternate earth Superman in an episode of the 1990s Superboy tv show. Every day’s a school day.
X-Men in the '80s, only casting choice I can think of at the moment as he's my goto for the character: Professor Xavier: Albert Finney When I saw him as Daddy Warbucks in Annie, I couldn't get him out of my head, and still can't.
70s X-Men Wolverine- Robert Blake Storm- Pam Grier Colossus-Arnold Schwarzenegger Nightcrawler- ? Cyclops-Timothy Bottoms Phoenix- Farah Fawcett Banshee-Peter O'Toole
How about Olympic gymnast Curt Thomas for Nightcrawler? Good choices, but I personally would swap out Pam Grier for Leslie Uggams.
I was driving around this afternoon and for some reason Joel Grey popped into my head for '70s Nightcrawler and Pamela Franklin for Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix.
Seems too tough, at least for Storm's original characterization. Teresa Graves would be better at portraying that inner calm she had.
I seem to recall Storm have a bit off a temper early on. Not Wolverine angry, but she could get a bit stormy when provoked.
Van Johnson's Minstrel was put in at the last minute, Frank Gorshin wouldn't return as the Riddler during the 2nd season and the story was originally conceived as a Riddler caper. They did the same with an episode featuring the Puzzler and cast John Astin as the Riddler eventually before Gorshin was persuaded to return once more in the third & final season. I would have liked to see what Mickey Rooney would have done with the Penguin as he was originally cast, but had to drop out due to scheduling problems, not that Burgess Meredith is anything but the definitive Penguin but still, physically at least Rooney would have needed only the outfit and a fake nose and he'd have looked like he'd stepped from the pages of the comic. I'd have loved to have seen Crabbe play Flash Gordon in a big budget full-colour Flash Gordon feature-film as opposed to the black & white cliffhanger serials - though I do have a soft spot for them.
Guest-starring Maurice Evans at his most girly. Alan Napier (Alfred) described him as looking like "an old aunty." His only turn as the RIddler turned out so badly that it was what inspired Frank Gorshin to come back. John Astin is a great actor, but he had no idea what to do with the character, and essentially played Gomez Addams as a criminal. I've seen it, and my memory jibes with that of Joel Eisner, the author of The Official Batman Batbook. Very disappointing.
I'd say the problem was just the opposite -- that Astin was trying to mimic Gorshin's intense, menacing performance and just couldn't do it as well as Gorshin. If he had played to his own quirky strengths instead, made the role his own, then he would've done a better job.