Frank Sinatra walked off the film version of “Carousel’’ because his then-wife, Ava Gardner, threatened to have an affair with screen legend Clark Gable, actress Shirley Jones claims.
Appearing at the opening night of the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood Thursday night, Jones recounted the well-known story of Sinatra bailing on the first day of production in Maine in 1955 — supposedly because he was told some scenes might have to be shot twice because the movie was being filmed in two different widescreen processes.
“Frank was very enthusiastic about playing Billy Bigelow, which he called the greatest musical role for a man,’’ Jones told TCM host Robert Osborne during an interview. “And he had prerecorded all of the songs to be used in the picture. But when he arrived on location in a limousine and saw two cameras, he said, ‘I’m not being paid to make two movies,’ and got back in the limousine and left.’’
Jones said she was always mystified by that explanation because everyone in the cast knew in advance about the two cameras.
“For years I asked Frank about what happened on ‘Carousel’ and he would say, ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ ’’ Jones said.
Sinatra was quickly replaced by singer Gordon MacRae, who had appeared opposite Jones in her screen debut, “Oklahoma!”
A spectacular new restoration of “Oklahoma!’’ premiered Thursday night at the TCM Classic Film Festival and will be released on Blu-ray on May 6 as part of a “Rodgers and Hammerstein Collection’’ that also includes a restoration of “Carousel.’’
Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Alec Baldwin, Kim Novak, Maureen O’Hara and Tippi Hedren were among the many stars who turned out Thursday night for the start of the festival, which runs through Sunday.