Actresses Who Could Have Played Karen

[ringves]

Many visitors to this forum will recall the 1989 tv-movie about the Carpenters. The actress who played Karen was named Cynthia Gibb.

Most fans I know were disappointed with the casting, so I was wondering which actresses could have been selected.

I just saw the film "Days of Heaven" starring Richard Gere and Brooke Adams from 1978. The film is beautiful to watch and Carpenters fans will probably notice the strong resemblance between Brooke Adams and Karen.

Does anyone know if Brooke Adams was considered for the tv-movie? (By the late 1980's, however, she may have been too old for the part.)

Who else do fans think could have been cast?

 

[CraigGA]

I thought that Cynthia Gibb did a decent job and overall, the casting was good. I bet that it was a difficult movie to make.

Craig

 

[Roland Chayer]

I have a thread dedicated to Brooke Adams on my forum. http://rolandchayer.com/TheVanKarenLife/index.php?showtopic=346

Karen & Brooke are like twin sisters to me. Here's a capture of mine from the 1978 "Days Of Heaven" movie (DVD)..., I will do more sometimes...

By the way, Brooke is one year younger than what Karen would've been... So to me, she would've have been easily the best choice for the Karen caracter.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Brooke is a year older than Karen woud have been...the biggest problem with her doing a movie role like Karen Carpenter is that she looks so much like her that she could have been typecast. Producers and directors could start thinkjing of her as, "that girl who played Karen Carpenter" ...and it might be hard to find meaningful roles as a result. Also, it was easier for Cynthia Gibb to play Karen in her earlier years, and that was a very important part of the story.

BTW, Richard has very little good to say about the movie, and regretted his role in bringing it to the screen, calling the vast majority of it "fictitious". Don't know what he my have thought of Cynthia's performance.


Dan

 

[davidgra]

Funny, I was thinking about this very subject a couple of weeks ago -- I was watching "Veronica Mars" and I thought that Kristen Bell (with dark hair) would make a good Karen.

Back in the '70s I always used to think that Barbara Feldon ("Get Smart") looked a lot like Karen...

David

 

[Roland Chayer]

Brooke is a year older than Karen woud have been...

Yes, ' my mistake..., I've compared Karen to Cheryl Ladd, another favorite of mine.

 

[Roland Chayer]

Here's another DVD capture of mine from the "Days Of Heaven" movie...

Brooke Adams

 

[goodjeans]

I was lucky to have met Karen in person and get to speak with her a couple of times. I think that she was even more attractive in person. Her eyes were like Bambi's and there was a softness that the camera didn't seem to be able to capture sometimes imho.

 

[Roland Chayer]

I was lucky to have met Karen in person and get to speak with her a couple of times. I think that she was even more attractive in person. Her eyes were like Bambi's and there was a softness that the camera didn't seem to be able to capture sometimes imho.

I've never met Karen in person, but I can imagine what it would be like to be in the same room with her... I would totally melt..., ' no doubt.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Sondra Bullock

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Sondra Bullock

Dan

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Sondra Bullock

Dan

Really Dan? I thought it a good choice- they pick Karens that were not as attractive as she was. I met her briefly in person and she was striking-inside and out.

The Herb Alpert in the movie was really an insult. Bad casting.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Sandy would be a stretch, or maybe a stoop...she's 5'8", and Karen was about 5'3"...seriously, I don't see much of a resemblance. Brooke Adams could be Karen's twin sister, and that's probably why she didn't pursue the role, if it was offered to her.

As for Josh Cruze playing Herb Alpert; there was a lot of flak about a Hispanic playing Herb...many people thought that Herb HAD to be Hispanic because he plays mariachi music, right? It's been a long time since I saw the movie, but I thought his portrayal was right-on. The fact that Josh Cruze is Hispanic probably didn't have anything to do with his being cast...there were times when, especially in profile, that he had Herb's mannerisms down perfectly. He looked like Herb, to me...as much as any actor could. Herb's father was a Russian Jew, and his mother was a Mediterannean Jew, and many of them have European features, among them, Spanish...There were a lot of stories going around when the TJB was first popular that Herb was a Latino, true...

Dan

 

[Harry]

I'm with Dan and thought that Josh Cruze did a fabulous job portraying Herb. In fact, I thought all of the actors were quite good in that movie, each doing a creditable job in portraying their characters. Naturally, some of the facts were jumbled, but this is to be expected in any Hollywood production.

Harry

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Courtney Cox?

 

[Dave]

"Karen's Story"--NOW PLAYING IN CINEMA-SCOPE! How exactly did this Thread become sooooooooo Widescreen?!



Dave

 

[ullalume]

I always thought Karen Allen from Raiders of the Lost Ark, would be great. Feisty, quality actress, who looked alot like her, I always thought.

Later

Neil

 

[Harry]

"Karen's Story"--NOW PLAYING IN CINEMA-SCOPE! How exactly did this Thread become sooooooooo Widescreen?!

Moderators note:

Two things cause the Forum software to widen threads. One is an oversized picture, the second is a long, unbroken string of characters that it thinks is one word. That's why the ellipsis-using (...) person caused other threads to widen.

If you post pictures, try to keep them them to no bigger than 800x600 pixels in size, and that you don't string characters together as if it were one word. Occasionally, a long link will do that too, and for now, let that be the exception if you have to do that. There's a place on the internet called TinyURL.com that'll shorten long links, or you can use the URL tags that the Forum software allows you to condense a URL down to a single word.

Harry

 

[Rudy]

Occasionally, a long link will do that too, and for now, let that be the exception if you have to do that. There's a place on the internet called TinyURL.com that'll shorten long links, or you can use the URL tags that the Forum software allows you to condense a URL down to a single word.

Or better yet, there's an expanded version of the URL tag that will let you put a title to it, which is what we do with our Amazon tags. Check this out:

My Link

The text that shows up, "My Link", will be underlined and hot-linked.

 

[Mark-T]

Re Courteney Cox
On the full length "Ill Be There For You" video with the Rembrandts, there is a segment where she is on the drums and looks amazingly like Karen during the "Passage" timeframe. Normally, however, I think Courteney doesn't look like Karen at all.

 

[piloso49]

I give another vote for brooke adams, I just saw her in a movie last night, and they really do look very alike, like twins.

 

[Jeff]

Karen Allen has always been Karenesque to me. Cynthia Gibb was not a good match and her portrayal was too sugary. Having met Karen I can honestly say that there really isn't an actress who could define her physical beauty. A lovely person and I knew right off the bat that she was a very old soul. So if an actress must be named it's KA. Yet I've yet to see and/or meet a true replicate of the original.

Jeff

 

[andywithaz]

Brooke Adams!

Gosh, I miss this site!