Kelsey Grammer was on Conan O’Brien’s talk show the other night and he told him a remarkable story about his first audition.
Back in 1975, the 20-year-old got kicked out of Julliard, but voice teacher, Edith Skinner, saw something special in him, Therefore, she got him in touch with an agent.
Grammer went over to meet Mort Schwartz, who then sent him out to meet with some guy named Lucas who was doing a movie about outer space. He took the address and walked over to meet this Lucas guy. That was when the director said he was doing a “fairytale in space” about two men who rescue a princess. Lucas felt he might be too old for the younger guy and just a tad bit too young to star as the older guy. Although, maybe he could get away with playing a John Wayne type character. Finally, Lucas told him he would think about it. Well, I guess he never gave him another thought because that was the last time the actor ever heard from him.
Two years later, Grammer goes to the movies to see something called Star Wars and he realized what an opportunity he missed out on. Granted, nearly a decade later he got his big break and he spent the next two decades playing Fraser Crane. I guess you can say it worked out OK for him.
Plus, he has a great first audition story because how many people can say they auditioned to play Han Solo?
BTW While I don’t think that Grammer would have made the best Han Solo, I think that Harrison Ford would have been awesome Fraser Crane. What do you think if the roles were reversed?
