WAGSTAFF

At some point in the early '60s Billy Wilder decided to adapt the play L'ora della fantasia by Anna Bonacci (previously filmed in Italy in 1952 as Wife for A Night) for the Hollywood screen. He'd recently had a smash hit with Some Like It Hot, also an Americanized version of a Eurofarce.

Wilder's original casting choices were Frank Sinatra as the libidinous singer, Marilyn Monroe as the pretend-wife, and Jack Lemmon as the self-cuckolding husband.

Monroe tragically died, and Wilder then offered the role to Jayne Mansfield. The latter's underappreciated comic abilities made her probably the ideal choice. But Mansfield became pregnant (with the future actress Mariska Hargitay) and Wilder either could not or would not reschedule production around her condition. He eventually cast Kim Novak, who is adequate.

I don't know why Sinatra wasn't in it. At one point he was to have played the Curtis role in Some Like It Hot, but Wilder (his off screen friend) allegedly felt Sinatra ("Ole One-Take") might cause difficulties on the set. Perhaps that was Wilder's reasoning on the new project.

In any event Sinatra's absence meant that his Rat Pack buddy Dean Martin would inherit the greatest role of his career.

The most mysterious absence is Jack Lemmon. Wilder's favorite actor, he claimed that he had a conflicting commitment. Which seems odd, as Lemmon had only one film released in 1964 (The mediocre Good Neighbor Sam) and you'd think he'd drop everything to work with Wilder (equally curious, while Lemmon isn't in it, his real life wife Felicia Farr is).

At this point Wilder went outside his casting comfort zone -- all the way to England, He gave the role of the husband to Peter Sellers, former BBC radio comic and master mimic who in the last five years had become Britain's most successful film comedian. Sellers was currently riding high with the triumph of his life, Dr. Strangelove. He'd been offered Hollywood roles before, but held out for the best possible project. Kiss Me, Stupid (as Wilder had titled the new film) seemed to be what he had been waiting for.

Unfortunately Sellers and Wilder did not get along. Stanley Kubrick had allowed Sellers to improvise on Strangelove; indeed some of the film's most memorable moments were his on-set additions.

Wilder did not cotton to improvisation. He even stationed co-writer Iz Diamond on the set to make sure the actors included every last comma in their dialogue.

Peter Sellers worked on the film for about five weeks when he suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Wilder hated working with Sellers ("I  don't believe Peter Sellers had a heart attack -- because in order to have a heart attack, you have to have a heart") and jumped at the chance to replace him.

For a few days it was rumored in the trades that Tony Randall would replace Sellers. There were others in Hollywood at the time that might have been considered -- Tony Curtis, Dick Van Dyke (or my own half-serious suggestion: Jerry Lewis?!?) -- but Wilder unfortunately chose Ray Walston. He's too old, and he just isn't a lead. As co-star Cliff Osmond himself said regarding the Sellers footage, "Walston was okay, but Sellers was a genius".

It's too bad. Kiss Me, Stupid has two great performances by Dean Martin and Cliff Osmond (who else but Wilder would have cast this behemoth in a comedy?) and is very nearly a great film. Supposedly the Sellers footage no longer exists -- but who knows? Maybe someday we'll get to see it. Stranger things have happened.

Peter Sellers as Orville Spooner in Kiss Me, Stupid:

With Cliff Osmond:

Trying to talk things out with Billy Wilder:

With Felicia Farr as Mrs. Spooner:

Jack Lemmon visits wife Felicia Farr on the set as Peter Sellers looks on:

Sellers between shots with then-wife Britt Ekland: