Casting the Commandos

Once Where Eagles Dare was approved for production, Elliott Kastner faced the challenge of assembling a cast that could attract both British and American audiences. His first choice for the mission leader, Richard Burton, seemed unlikely. Welsh actor was at the height of his fame, one half of the decade’s most photographed couple with Elizabeth Taylor, and known more for Shakespeare than submachine guns.

Yet Burton’s sons had just watched Becket and The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and complained that their father “always dies in the end.” Burton laughed: “So I decided to make a film where I did the killing for once.”

Kastner flew to Nice to meet him. Over whisky and coffee Burton agreed on the spot. His million-dollar fee, plus ten percent of the gross, made him one of the world’s highest-paid actors. Burton’s decision in turn guaranteed studio backing.

“Once you had Richard,” Kastner said, “you could get anyone else.”

For the American co-star, both Kastner and director Brian G. Hutton wanted Clint Eastwood, then still best known for Sergio Leone’s Italian westerns. Burton initially preferred the older Richard Egan, but a friendly negotiation in Rome’s Grand Hotel settled the issue.

“Let’s make a deal,” Hutton told Burton. “You get your girl—Mary Ure—and I’ll get my guy—Clint Eastwood.” Burton agreed instantly.

The supporting cast drew on Britain’s deep pool of character actors: Anton Diffring as the icy colonel, Ferdy Mayne, Donald Houston, Peter Barkworth, and William Squire, an old friend of Burton’s from the Old Vic.

The final piece was Ingrid Pitt as the fiery double agent Heidi. She pursued the part relentlessly, even visiting Hutton while voiceless with laryngitis, croaking, “Heidi.” The director was amused—and impressed.

“Sometimes you talk for hours and get nowhere,” Pitt later said. “I could hardly speak, and I got the job.”

Her casting, however, triggered bureaucratic chaos. More than two hundred actresses were tested in case Pitt’s work permit fell through. She learned she had won the role only hours before the flight to Austria and boarded the plane with her hair still wet from the salon.

The choice proved inspired. Her energy matched Burton’s world-weariness and Eastwood’s restraint, completing a trio that made the film’s improbable plot believable.