Invasion of the Body Snatchers imagined the horrors of waking up to find a loved one is not who they used to be anymore. The pod-tastic film is a science fiction classic which still holds up to this day!
1. Big names were floated for the leads.
After Richard Kiley turned down the lead, actors like Joseph Cotten, Charlton Heston, Robert Ryan, and Brian Keith were discussed. Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Gig Young, and John Forsythe were also considered, but producers thought they would be too expensive and didn't pursue casting them. For the female lead, the studio considered Donna Reed, Anne Bancroft, Barbara Hale, and Vera Miles.
2. Dana Wynter considered it her first real film.
Producer Walter Wanger wanted Wynter, an English actress, for the lead after bumping into her at the William Morris Agency in New York. Dana had just signed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. Thankfully, the studio allowed her to delay the start of the contract so she could appear in Body Snatchers. Wanger thought Wynter was like a brunette Grace Kelly with the zest of Ava Gardner. He thought she was his best "discovery" since Hedy Lamarr.
3. McCarthy owes his acting career to an Invasion co-star.
Kevin McCarthy's career began thanks in part to Larry Gates, who played the doctor. Gates had a professor friend that was holding auditions for Henry IV and needed someone to help read scenes. Gates dared McCarthy to do it, and he suddenly found himself being cast in a small role. Later, he even had the chance to fill in for a larger part. Gates encouraged McCarthy to pursue acting afterward, and the rest is history.
4. Dana Wynter got pranked by the director.
At the time, director Don Seigel was dating a woman who lived nearby Wynter’s home. One night, he decided to leave a present for his leading lady: a pod. Wynter said, “I nearly broke my neck. When you open your front door to go to your car, you don’t expect to find something large on your doorstep."
5. The leads got along in real life too!
Dana said about her co-star, “Kevin’s full of enthusiasm. You feel that he’s decent through and through and through and through.” McCarthy felt the same about her, and he actually had somewhat of a crush. However, both were already married, so the romance remained exclusively on-screen.
6. It takes a lot to become a pod-person.
In order to create their pod-selves, the actors were completely covered in plaster of Paris, except for their nose and mouth. Their only means of breathing was through a straw. By some accounts, the temperature inside reached 120 degrees. The result was a feeling similar to being inside a sarcophagus, which was hard for Carolyn Jones who was claustrophobic.
7. Wynter was also pranked in the plaster.
When Wynter was covered in plaster to create her pod-person, the crew tapped on the tub and said, "Dana, listen we won't be long. We're just off for lunch." Thankfully, they were just joking though!
