Deliverance to play Lewis Medlock. Jack Nicholson was considered for the role of Ed, while both Donald Sutherland and Charlton Heston turned down the role of Lewis. Other actors who were attached to the project included Robert Redford, Henry Fonda, George C. Scott and Warren Beatty. The film is infamous for cutting costs by not insuring the production and having the actors perform their own stunts (most notably, Jon Voight climbed the cliff himself). In one scene, the stunt coordinator decided that a scene showing a canoe with a dummy of Burt Reynolds in it looked phony; he said it looked
Frances Lee McCain and off-Broadway in Lanford Wilson's "Lemon Sky", creating the role of Carol. She joined the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco under William Ball and played a variety of roles in repertory. She began her career in film and television after appearing opposite Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway in "A Streetcar Named Desire", eventually co-starring with Ronny Cox as the female lead in her own television series, CBS-TV's "Apple's Way" in 1974. She appeared in a variety of television series and miniseries throughout the 1970s, including "" and the "Quincy ME" episode "Eye Of The Needle" playing a Holistic practitioner.