What if The Lord of the Rings films were made in the '60s?

[Slimybug]

This is a fun thing to think about, even if it was rather impossible for them to be produced then.

Of course, David Lean, Mr. Epic (The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) would be director. Here would be some of my casting choices. Of course, getting ALL these actors would be the most ridiculous casting ever, making for the most ludicrously all-star cast in history, and itself be too expensive, but allow me to fantasize!

Frodo - Tom Courtenay
Sam - Michael Caine
Merry - Roddy McDowell
Aragorn - Omar Sharif
Gandalf - Ralph Richardson
Legolas - Peter O'Toole
Gimli - Rod Steiger

Theoden - Laurence Olivier
Eomer - Sean Connery
Eowyn - Julie Christie
Elrond - Rex Harrison
Arwen - Audrey Hepburn
galadriel - Ursula Andress
Saruman - Alec Guiness

what do you guys think? Would love to get more cast selections!

 

[Eljorahir]

Smeagol?:

 

[Olorgando]

Smeagol?:
View attachment 30025

Peter Lorre as Sméagol is iffy, he passed away in March 1964 at age 59.

Made me wonder about the ages of the people suggested in @Slimybug 's list:

Frodo - Tom Courtenay - born 1937
Sam - Michael Caine - born 1933
Merry - Roddy McDowell - born 1928
Aragorn - Omar Sharif - born 1932
Gandalf - Ralph Richardson - born 1902
Legolas - Peter O'Toole - born 1932
Gimli - Rod Steiger - born 1925

Theoden - Laurence Olivier - born 1907
Eomer - Sean Connery - born 1930
Eowyn - Julie Christie - born 1940
Elrond - Rex Harrison - born 1908
Arwen - Audrey Hepburn - born 1929
Galadriel - Ursula Andress - born 1936
Saruman - Alec Guiness - born 1914

I would question Tom Courtenay for Frodo, as he is the second youngest on the list, and the youngest of the Shire Hobbits (no Pippin?).
That was PJ's take on Frodo, for whatever nutty reason, and totally contrary to the book, even if Frodo had aged little between 3001 and 3018 Third Age.
Also, Omar Sharif as Aragorn is four years younger than Roddy McDowell as Merry, which seems to be a bad age fit.
And Arwen is 7 years older than her grandma???

 

[Starbrow]

It's all about the make-up.

 

[Eljorahir]

Peter Lorre as Sméagol is iffy, he passed away in March 1964 at age 59.

Yes, but what about his appearance and his voice?

 

[Olorgando]

Yes, but what about his appearance and his voice?

Voice would be OK, but Lorre's stature was rather more that of a well-fed Hobbit, not the emaciated Gollum.
Unless you mean him only as Sméagol, what Andy Serkis did at the beginning of RotK, showing how he came by the One Ring and then turned into Gollum.

 

[Halasían]

How about Barbara Eden or Sharon Tate as Galadriel...
Diana Rigg as Arwen...
Charlton Heston as Aragorn...

 

[Olorgando]

Richard Burton (b. 1925) as Denethor
Robert Morley (b. 1908) as Barliman Butterbur.

For Galadriel I'd pick Katherine Hepburn (b. 1907). She'd have been in her mid-50's in the early 1960's, but as @Starbrow pointed out, there's makeup.

 

[Vorondil]

Legolas - Peter O'Toole

 

[Deimos]

You can bet Ray Harryhausen would have been tapped for the animation.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Just do muppets LOTR with Aragorn as the human actor 😬

 

[Berzelmayr]

Smeagol/Gollum: Klaus Kinski (born 1926)

 

[Berzelmayr]

Theoden - Laurence Olivier
Eomer - Sean Connery
Eowyn - Julie Christie
Elrond - Rex Harrison
Arwen - Audrey Hepburn
galadriel - Ursula Andress
Saruman - Alec Guiness

I'd swap Laurence Olivier with Alec Guinness

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

I wouldn't mind Peter Lorre as Smeagol. He was great as a disturbed, slimy character in Arsenic and Old Lace.

 

[Slimybug]

For Galadriel I'd pick Katherine Hepburn (b. 1907). She'd have been in her mid-50's in the early 1960's, but as @Starbrow pointed out, there's makeup.

That's a great pick and I almost used that one, but the age factor did throw me.

Lorre and Kinski are great picks for Gollum. Of course, whoever gets the role, the other could always play Wormtongue.

 

[Eljorahir]

Eli Wallach as The Squint-eyed Southerner

 

[Radaghast]

This is a fun thing to think about, even if it was rather impossible for them to be produced then.

Of course, David Lean, Mr. Epic (The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) would be director. Here would be some of my casting choices. Of course, getting ALL these actors would be the most ridiculous casting ever, making for the most ludicrously all-star cast in history, and itself be too expensive, but allow me to fantasize!

Frodo - Tom Courtenay
Sam - Michael Caine
Merry - Roddy McDowell
Aragorn - Omar Sharif
Gandalf - Ralph Richardson
Legolas - Peter O'Toole
Gimli - Rod Steiger

Theoden - Laurence Olivier
Eomer - Sean Connery
Eowyn - Julie Christie
Elrond - Rex Harrison
Arwen - Audrey Hepburn
galadriel - Ursula Andress
Saruman - Alec Guiness

what do you guys think? Would love to get more cast selections!

I would cast McDowall as either Frodo or Sam, whom he voiced in The Return of the King by Rankin and Bass (incidentally, McDowall was the only English-born actor in the voice cast).

Re: Andress as Galadrie, as it happens, I saw her a couple of days ago in the western Red Sun (meh). She doesn't strike me as a dignified or kindly enough to play Galadriel. Her face strikes me as having a villainous (and pouty) cast to it.

Maybe Maureen O'Hara?

 

[Radaghast]

I wouldn't mind Peter Lorre as Smeagol. He was great as a disturbed, slimy character in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Lorre would be the perfect Gollum.

 

[Radaghast]

Smeagol/Gollum: Klaus Kinski (born 1926)

View attachment 30034

Would also be a good Wormtongue.

 

[Olorgando]

Smeagol/Gollum: Klaus Kinski (born 1926)

View attachment 30034

Lorre and Kinski are great picks for Gollum. Of course, whoever gets the role, the other could always play Wormtongue.

Would also be a good Wormtongue.

Klaus Kinski is definitely Wormtongue in my book. He had more than a little of Wormtongue to himself in real life. He was too cracked to play Gollum (who does have occasional glimpses of a good side). 😈