Which Daytime Star Turned Down The Lead Role In The Film Splash?

Every actor has experience with the role that “got away.” Sometimes it’s a part that just wasn’t meant to be and other times it’s due to the fickle hand of fate. But sometimes, it’s a case of dismissing the role out of hand only to realize, much too late, that they said goodbye to something special.

Which Daytime Star Was She?

All of these actresses portray a character on one of the four remaining daytime dramas – The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless – but only one of them can say that she turned down the opportunity to star in Splash, the romantic fantasy film directed by Ron Howard.

Who can that actress be? Is it Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan, BB), Arianne Zucker (Nicole Walker, DAYS), Genie Francis (Laura Collins, GH), or Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Newman, YR)?

Katherine Kelly Lang

Lang jump-started her career by appearing in the 1979 comedy film Skatetown USA, and she went on to have roles in the horror picture Evilspeak, The Night Stalker (a slasher film), and Desperate Lives, a film about the plight of drug addiction amongst adolescents. But she wasn’t the one to turn down the opportunity to work on Splash.

Arianne Zucker

Sorry, Zucker wasn’t the one who said no to Mr. Howard. However, she does have experience acting opposite “underwater visitors.” After all, she did appear in Michael Caruso’s A Mermaid for Christmas.

Melody Thomas Scott

Scott didn’t turn down the co-lead role in Splash. But she did appear in The Fury – a supernatural thriller film that included Daryl Hannah (who played Splash’s leading lady) amongst its cast.

Genie Francis

She’s acted opposite some true heavy hitters – including Patrick Swayze, Angela Lansbury, Lee Grant, and Jean Simmons – but had Francis played her cards right, she could have added Tom Hanks (who was cast as Splash’s leading man) to that list.

Yes, it was Francis who turned down the role that eventually went to Blade Runner alum Daryl Hannah. Upon reading the script, she had declared the material “silly.” But audiences disagreed.

Splash wound up becoming the 10th highest-grossing film of 1984 and it was nominated for multiple Saturn Awards (Hannah won for Best Actress) as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

So if you hazarded a guess that perhaps Francis – who has played Laura Vining Baldwin Spencer Collins on and off since December 28, 1976 – was the answer to today’s query, then you were absolutely correct!