When Rex Harrison came to Hollywood
in 1945 to make a movie, he was 37 years old, had already been on the stage in
England for 22 years and had been making films there since 1930. Orson Welles
later claimed it was on his recommendation that Harrison was given his first
American role, a part that Welles himself turned down, that of the King in the
1946 production of Anna and the King of
Siam. Welles told his friend, director Henry Jaglom, over one of their now
famous lunches, “I suggested him. Rex made pictures that only played in
England, teacup comedies and things. No one in Hollywood knew who he was.”
Welles had refused the role, he said, because he didn’t want to work with Irene
Dunne, who had already been cast as Anna. And so, Rex Harrison made his
American film debut.
