MovieChat Forums > Moby Dick (1956) Discussion > If not Peck in 1956 then who?

If not Peck in 1956 then who?

posted 10 years ago by ggilles104
19 replies | jump to latest

The board continually criticizes Peck as Ahab. I agree D Day-Lewis would be outstanding today. But in 1956 who would have been better cast as Ahab? I really can't place any actor in the role except for maybe Robert Ryan, Edward G. Robinson, or Orson Welles. Perhaps Michael Rennie if he could sport a mean streak. I say no to Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, C. Heston, Yul Brenner, C. Grant, Clark Gable. The list goes on and on. Maybe Harry Andrews who played Stubbs would have been a good fit.

Who then for Ahab?

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

So hard to re-cast an old movie that is well-known. Most of the choices offered I cringe at. Peck wasn't bad but he's not a Fulminous actor. Douglas and Lancaster might have looked like chewing scenery, as with most of the other guys. And you didn't think of Tracy?
I'm thinking for star power (unlike Ryan who might have been excellent) I'm going Gable. I'm sure he could have acted as a rule hewing despot madman. But he would have had to work hard.
Laughton did it wonderfully in the early Mutiny with Clark, and it would have made a fun contrast.