Casting
For the first time in years, Hitchcock was forced to compromise in his casting choices.
Initially, he wanted Eva Marie Saint, the blonde star of North by Northwest, for the female lead.
Hitchcock also spoke in 1965 to Cary Grant about appearing in the film, only to learn that Grant intended to make one more film (Walk, Don’t Run) before retirement.
Hitchcock had wanted English actress Samantha Eggar (The Collector) for the lead role, but Universal execs insisted on more famous stars.
Paul Newman and Julie Andrews were imposed on Hitchcock by Lew Wasserman, the powerful studio executive.
The director always felt that the stars were ill-suited to their roles, not to mention the fact that their salaries of $750,000 eac took a big part of the film’s $5 million budget.
At the time, Andrews was Hollywood’s biggest star after the back-to-back successes of Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965).
As she was much in demand, Andrews was available for short period of time, and consequently, the production was rushed, though Hitchcock was not yet satisfied with the script.
Hitchcock tried to overcome the problem of the leads by surrounding them with colorful secondary actors.
Lila Kedrova, fresh from winning Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Zorba the Greek, was chosen as the eccentric and flamboyantly dressed Countess Kuczynska who helps Armstrong and Sherman in their escape in return for their sponsoring her to go to America.
Tamara Toumanova plays the haughty prima ballerina whose limelight Armstrong steals when he arrives in East Berlin.
Ludwig Donath is the crotchety professor Lindt, eager down to business.
Wolfgang Kieling is cast as the sinister Hermann Gromek, the gum-chewing personal guide the East German authorities provide to shadow Armstrong’s moves.
