Trivia / Samson and Delilah (1949)

• Actor-Inspired Element: Victor Mature recommended his old friend George Reeves for a part as the wounded messenger. He also recommended other friends from the Pasadena Community Playhouse for some of the smaller roles.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Kasey Rogers screen tested for the role of Miriam, but was deemed too young and pretty. She was then given a role as a Philistine spectator in the temple scene, with a close-up and a few lines. She's credited under the name Laura Elliot.
• California Doubling: Although Cecil B DeMille wanted location footage in Israel, the Arab-Israeli War prevented this, and so Morocco and Algeria stood in.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Hedy Lamarr considered this her favourite of her roles, and her best performance.
• God Never Said That: There was a rumour that George Reeves was turned down for the role of Samson. Victor Mature, who was good friends with him, later confirmed that he was never in consideration.
• Hostility on the Set: Cecil B DeMille and Victor Mature did not get on, mainly due to the latter being nervous around all the animals and mechanical props on the production, and he at one point shouted at him via megaphone in front of the entire cast and crew.
• On-Set Injury: Henry Wilcoxon was badly injured by a falling column when filming the temple destruction scene.
• Saved from Development Hell: The film took fifteen years to get off the ground, facing such roadblocks as Cecil B DeMille's schedule conflicting with other projects, contract issues and Paramount being reluctant to finance "a Sunday school tale". The main problem was finding a proper emotional throughline in the story, particularly regarding the titular Femme Fatale, who vanishes from the narrative once she cuts Samson's hair. On reading the novel Samson the Nazrite by Vladimir Jabotinsky, which portrays Delilah as being the sister of Samson's Philistine wife, they realised they could expand the character's role. Virtually every starlet in Hollywood at the time was considered for the role before Hedy Lamarr was chosen - based off her work in The Strange Woman, and whom the director had intended to cast as Esther in a previous Biblical film that had fallen through.
• Throw It In!: There was much debate over the Big Damn Kiss as to whether Samson should have his eyes open or shut. Victor Mature stated that no man would close his eyes when kissing Hedy Lamarr, but he compromised by having his eyes closed, opening them and then closing them to finish the shot.
• Underage Casting: Angela Lansbury was ten years younger than Hedy Lamarr, despite playing her older sister. At this point in her career, she was frequently cast as characters much older than herself.
• Wag the Director: Victor Mature refused to wrestle a lion on camera itself, so the actual scene uses a stunt double, while in closeups the actor wrestles with a lion skin.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was first greenlit in 1934, following the success of Cleopatra (1934), with Miriam Hopkins and Henry Wilcoxon in the main roles. It was postponed when Cecil B DeMille decided to work on The Crusades instead.
  • Burt Lancaster was the first choice for Samson, but his back problems meant he was unable to do it (although other sources say his liberal politics did not endear him to the conservative DeMille). Steve Reeves was the next choice, and Cecil B DeMille lobbied hard for him. The studio however wanted him to tone down his physique and he was reluctant to do so, and so the role went to Victor Mature.
  • Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth and Jean Simmons were the leading contenders for Delilah. The three were under contract to different studios (Lana for MGM; Rita for Columbia; Jean for J. Arthur Rank) who refused to loan them out. Paramount contract player Nancy Olson also gave a very good audition that the director considered "terrific", although she herself admitted that Hedy Lamarr was the better choice.
  • Phyllis Calvert was first cast in the role of Semadar, but she fell ill and had to drop out, being replaced with Angela Lansbury.
  • A planned dance sequence in the temple to happen before the climax was cut from the story when the dancers requested stunt pay in addition to choreography pay, since the females would be lifted off their feet by the males.
  • Vincent Price was almost cast as the Saran. Although the role went to George Sanders, Cecil B DeMille liked his audition enough to give him the role of Baka in The Ten Commandments (1956). Ray Milland, Michael Redgrave and John Lund were also in consideration.