The New York Daily News has an interesting article on movie casting as part of today’s installment from Rush & Milloy.

As someone who has a somewhat extensive DVD collection, I can appreciate the efforts a casting director puts into their work. Certainly, CSI does very well, largely due to the superb work that William Petersen puts in as Gil Grissom. Airwolf, one of my favorites as a kid, did very well with Jan-Michael Vincent, even though the real star was the helicopter. And Babylon 5 was great, largely due to a very talented cast (some of whom have, sadly, already gone).

Ronald Reagan missing out on Casablanca was ultimately a good thing – Humphrey Bogart nailed that role perfectly, and Reagan eventually embarked on the road to becoming the President who won the Cold War. To think that a casting director, who gets very little credit, made that decision, and that decision had such an effect down the road.

Quite amazing, isn’t it?