Soap actor Grant Show, star of Melrose Place and Dynasty, has revealed that he was offered the role of hustler J.D. in the hit movie Thelma and Louise, a role that ultimately went to Brad Pitt, launching him into stardom. The veteran actor sat down on the Still Here Hollywood Podcast with Steve Kmetko, almost thirty years after he left the hit TV series. When asked what he would change about his career, Grant brought up the Thelma and Louise role, explaining that scheduling conflicts prohibited him from taking it.
"You know I did have an opportunity… but it's complicated. I was offered the role Brad Pitt did in Thelma and Louise before Brad Pitt was offered it, but I was doing another job and they overlapped and I couldn’t make it work, so I couldn’t accept the role," he explained.
"Part of me looks back, and I knew when I read that script it was the cherryest script, it was one of the cherryest roles I’d ever read and I knew whoever got that was going to have three or four shots at having a film career," the star continued.
© AFP via Getty ImagesGrant then went on to say that it has hung over him for years, but is ultimately philosophical about it. "Who knows what would happen if I’d got that job. Maybe I would have not been successful in those shots and maybe it would have destroyed me emotionally," he said.
"So on one hand I can look at it and go it could have been that path, but I’m pretty happy, I've got a great family, I've had a great career, I'm very proud of the work I've done, I still have more ahead of me so it's really hard to answer that question."
© Getty ImagesThe 63-year-old also revealed on the podcast that while he loved being part of Melrose Place, the level of fame it brought him was difficult to deal with. "I figured it was going to be successful, but I did not think it was going to be what it was or as hugely successful as it was," he recalled, adding that it was "really fun" for a time.
© Getty Images"There are other things that happen that you don't see happening. You start to lose your ability to be out in the public," Grant continued. "There's a thing that happens with fame that I saw happening not just with myself but with everybody. When it's that kind of fame, you kind of lose your humanity."
© Getty Images"The way other people see you, they don't see you as a human being anymore, they see you as the character you're playing, and they have a relationship with you that is really one-sided…It's very dehumanizing. I think that's where all the bad behavior comes from [with] famous people."
He added that while he was "a pretty decent human being", fame had made him behave poorly in the past. The father of one ultimately left the show after season five, due to tensions between himself and the show's producer, Aaron Spelling, who he felt was stifling his budding acting career.
