Faye Dunaway had proved to be difficult and many actresses had been considered for the role, including Jane Fonda, Tuesday Weld, Ann-Margret, Carol Lynley, Leslie Caron, and Natalie Wood. Penn loved Dunaway and managed to convince actor and producer, Warren Beatty, who played Clyde Barrow in the film, that she was right for the part. Besides her relative anonymity, Beatty's concern was her "extraordinary bone structure", which he thought might be inappropriate for Bonnie Parker, a local girl trying to look innocent while she held up smalltown Texas banks. However, he changed his mind after seeing some photographs of Dunaway taken by
Faye Dunaway the Sarah Siddons Award for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in "Master Class" (1996). She is protective of her private life, rarely gives interviews, and makes very few public appearances. After romantic relationships with Jerry Schatzberg and Marcello Mastroianni, Dunaway married twice, first with singer Peter Wolf and then with photographer Terry O'Neill, with whom she had a son, Liam. Dunaway was born in Bascom, Florida, the daughter of Grace April (née Smith; 1922–2004), a housewife, and John MacDowell Dunaway, Jr. (1920–1984), a career non-commissioned officer in the United States Army. She is of Scots-Irish, English, and German