A Different Life: Cary Grant as George Bailey?

Re “It’s a Wonderful Life,” editorial, Dec. 25: To answer your rhetorical question, there could have been a George Bailey without a Jimmy Stewart, but he would have been a very different fellow. Cary Grant was originally slated to play the role, and scripts by Clifford Odets and Dalton Trumbo were prepared for him. On the other hand, there definitely could not have been a George Bailey without Philip Van Doren Stern, who created the character (then named George Pratt) in his short story “The Greatest Gift.” And it would have been a very different movie if someone other than Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra and Jo Swerling (with an uncredited polish by Michael Wilson) had not crafted that unforgettable script.

Doug Molitor

Los Angeles