After they shot the Happy Days episode A Date With Fonzie which introduced audiences to Laverne and Shirley, ABC immediately approached Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall about starring in their own spin-off series. Penny said yes, and Cindy said no. Cindy had just starred in American Graffiti and the Conversation, both big hits in the early 70s, and was busy auditioning for movies like Star Wars and still had dreams of being a movie star. So ABC casting executive Michael Eisner recast the Shirley part with an actress named Liberty Williams, no relation to Cindy. Liberty Williams was an ABC extra and stock player at this point, known primarily for doing voice over work playing Jayna, one of the Wonder Twins, on ABCs Saturday morning cartoon hit The Superfriends. Liberty Williams and Penny Marshall filmed a couple scenes together as the new Laverne and Shirley, and this was presented to the ABC executives who gave it the go ahead, ready to film the new series with Liberty in the lead, not Cindy. The new pairing was good, but not great. Who knows if given time Liberty Williams could have grown into the role and the pairing could have become something special, but it seemed to lack the chemistry that Cindy and Penny, who were friends in real life, had. ABC began to prepare the girls for the new series, but Garry Marshall pled with Cindy one last time to take the role, and finally she relented, and the rest is history. Except in an ABC vault somewhere there's the screen test in it showing Liberty Williams as Shirley, never seen by the general public. Michael Eisner talks about all of this on an Emmy TV Legends interview which can be seen on YouTube.
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05-03-2025 alle ore 08:53
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