Playing Against Type

By PAUL GRAY/

The decision by Actors' Equity to forbid a white British star from portraying a Eurasian on Broadway may sink the musical Miss Saigon, but it revives old issues of fairness and competence. Daring casting has produced wildly mixed results:

Alec Guinness A PASSAGE TO INDIA. In David Lean's 1984 classic adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel, the British actor faithfully portrayed Professor Godbole, an ascetic Hindu wise man.

John Lithgow THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP. Cast as a transsexual former pro football player, Lithgow gave an unsmirking performance and won a 1982 Oscar nomination.

Laurence Olivier OTHELLO. The acting demigod was by no means the first Caucasian to play the Moor of Venice, but this 1965 release proves that he was the finest of them.

Luise Rainer THE GOOD EARTH. In an era when demeaning racial stereotypes were de rigueur, she won a 1937 Best Actress Oscar for her dignified depiction of a poor Chinese farmer.

Ava Gardner SHOW BOAT. She received mixed reviews for her 1951 portrayal of mixed-blood singer Julie La Verne, a part denied to Lena Horne. Gardner's songs were dubbed for the film.

Jack Palance CHE! His bombastic portrayal of Fidel Castro in this 1969 flop gave the movie cult status. The campy effect was heightened by the casting of Egyptian-born Omar Sharif as Che Guevara.

Elvis Presley STAY AWAY, JOE. Among the King's lazy epics, this 1968 flick is notable for the way Presley and co-star Burgess Meredith impersonate Native Americans as manic subhumans.

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS