Director of The French Connection and The Exorcist reveals Frank Sinatra almost played cop in 1971 crime thriller Dirty Harry
- Director William Friedkin, 80, said during recent interview that he and his producer spent six months preparing for Sinatra to play Harry Callahan
- Sinatra is said to have dropped out due to a broken wrist he suffered earlier
- Friedkin left the project and went on to direct the 1971 Academy-Award winning crime drama, The French Connection
- Dirty Harry was made by director Don Siegel with Clint Eastwood cast in the title role
An Academy-award winning director has revealed that Frank Sinatra almost played police detective Harry Callahan in the 1971 thriller Dirty Harry.
William Friedkin, 80, who directed films including The French Connection and The Exorcist, said he and his producer had spent six months preparing for Sinatra to play the role of the cop before the singer pulled out due to an injury.
During a podcast interview for Here's the Thing hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, Friedkin told of how after Sinatra dropped out, the project was dead.
William Friedkin (pictured in 2013), 80, who directed films including The French Connection and The Exorcist revealed that Frank Sinatra (pictured right in a scene from the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate) almost played police detective Harry Callahan in the 1971 thriller Dirty Harry
Eastwood pictured above in a scene from Dirty Harry. The film is about a hero cop who is assigned to track down a crazed psychopath who is menacing the city and calls himself 'the Scorpio Killer'
Friedkin said he and his producer had spent six months preparing for Sinatra (pictured in the Manchurian Candidate) to play the role of the cop before the singer pulled out due to an injury
Friedkin went on to direct the 1971 Academy-Award winning crime drama, The French Connection, according to Yahoo! Movies.
Dirty Harry - which is about a hero cop who is assigned to track down a crazed psychopath who is menacing the city and calls himself 'the Scorpio Killer' - was eventually made by director Don Siegel with Clint Eastwood cast in the title role.
'My producer, a guy named Phil D'Antoni, he and I were going to do Dirty Harry with Frank Sinatra,' Friedkin said during the interview.
Dirty Harry was directed by Don Siegel with Eastwood (pictured left in a scene from the crime drama left and in June 2015 during the Spike TV Guys Choice Awards) cast in the title role as Callahan
Eastwood went on to star as Callahan in four sequels including Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool (Eastwood and actor Liam Neeson pictured in a scene from The Dead Pool)
'And we had prepared that for about six months and then Sinatra pulled out. And the project was dead [so] we left and did The French Connection.'
Sinatra reportedly backed out of the film due to a broken wrist he suffered during The Manchurian Candidate eight years before which meant he could not hold the Magnum pistol comfortably.
Dirty Harry became one of the defining roles for Eastwood's career and 85-year-old went on to star as Callahan in four sequels including Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool.
Meanwhile Sinatra, who was best known as a singer, was featured in the award-winning 1953 romance From Here to Eternity, the 1955 drama The Man With the Golden Arm and the 1962 thriller The Manchurian Candidate.
He passed away on May 14, 1998.
Sinatra (pictured in 1969), who passed away in 1998, was best known as a singer, but was also featured in the award-winning 1953 romance From Here to Eternity, the 1955 drama The Man With the Golden Arm and the 1962 thriller The Manchurian Candidate
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