Donald Pleasance's performance as Dr. Loomis in Halloween is the stuff of horror legend, but he wasn't John Carpenter's first choice for the role. It's often said that a movie hero is only as good as his villain, but in horror, sometimes the opposite is true. Horror is the genre most likely to end up centering on its antagonist, especially when it comes to crafting a long-running franchise. Yet, for the first six Halloween films, Dr. Sam Loomis was just as essential to the plot as Haddonfield's resident slasher, Michael Myers.
Pleasance's work as Loomis painted a portrait of a man who grew steadily more obsessed with his former patient the longer Michael remained on the loose and able to continue claiming victims. Loomis grew more and more unhinged at times, but his heart did still seem to be in the right place overall, unlike his surly, selfish counterpart played by Malcolm McDowell in the Rob Zombie Halloween films.
It's hard to imagine anyone else going toe-to-toe with Michael Myers in the first six Halloween films - minus Halloween 3: Season of the Witch of course - but it turns out Donald Pleasance very easily could've ended up not playing Dr. Loomis. In fact, he was one of multiple actors to be considered for the role.
Halloween: Actors Who Almost Played Dr. Loomis
Halloween director John Carpenter and his producing/writing partner Debra Hill originally wanted Peter Cushing to play Dr. Loomis. The late Cushing was best known for his work in the classic Hammer horror films of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and later for his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars. Unfortunately, Cushing declined the role, with the actor's agent balking at the low salary offered of $25,000 and feeling that Cushing should have a bigger part in the film. Carpenter and Hill then offered the Dr. Loomis role to Cushing's old Hammer co-star Christopher Lee, best known for playing Dracula in multiple films, then later appearing as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee also turned down the gig, although he later expressed his regret over what he came to regard as a mistake.
Carpenter and Hill really wanted a distinguished British actor for the Dr. Loomis role, next leading them to Donald Pleasance, who is said to have accepted due to his daughter enjoying Carpenter's prior film Assault on Precinct 13. Other notable actors said to have been considered, however briefly, for the part include Dennis Hopper, Kirk Douglas, David Carradine, Peter O'Toole, comedy icon Mel Brooks, and several more. As far as the available information is concerned though, none of those actors were actually offered the role. Mel Brooks especially seems like an odd potential choice for Halloween, as he's about as far from Donald Pleasance as an actor can get.
