Ramjet — 17 years ago(December 04, 2008 07:12 PM)

I worked for RKO Pictures from its beginning in 1978 (a resurrected RKO Radio Pictures) until it was sold and disassembled in 1987. The CEO of RKO had seen Ms. Quennessen in French Postcards, Conan and Summer Lovers and was as impressed with her as all the rest of us. Maybe it really was her eyes.
We were casting a film called Half Moon Street and thought Ms. Quennessen might be just perfect for the role eventually played by Sigourney Weaver. The President of RKO sent her agent a letter asking if we might discuss if she would be interested and whether we might be able to send her a script (which we were ready to translate into French). He didn't respond.
We sent him a second letter, both in French (RKO's CEO spoke French; not perfectly, so we used a translator to clean up his grammar when necessary), detailing exactly what might be involved, in terms of time and travel (the film was shot in London, so it wouldn't be quite the same as flying to Los Angeles).
He didn't respond. We called and left messages. He never called back.
We gave up and eventually we cast Sigourney Weaver. The film was not a great success. I keep thinking that it could have been, with Ms. Quennessen in the lead. Would that have changed anything else in her life? We'll never know.