Judy Garland Almost Didn’t Play Dorothy
Judy Garland did a wonderful job portraying Dorothy. Although the audience loved watching her on-screen, she wasn’t the studio’s first choice. Executives really thought that Shirley Temple would be perfect for the part of Dorothy because she was a better age and already a huge star. Unfortunately, producers thought that Shirley temple might not have a good enough singing voice to play Dorothy.
Photo by MGM/Kobal/Shutterstock
At the time of the movie, Temple was in a contract with 20th Century Fox, not MGM studios. MGM was going to trade Clark Gable and Jean Harlow for Shirley Temple. Unfortunately, the idea was quickly shot down when Harlow suddenly passed away at 26 years old. Reportedly, her untimely death was due to toxic hair dye that caused her kidneys to fail.