This story that she was offered the role and turned it down has been around since 1968, and either she or Marty Melcher seems to have put it out there.
This is from a 2005 letter by the film's producer, Larry Turman, sent to the Los Angeles Times, in reply to an article that said that Robert Redford turned down the role of Benjamin and that Day turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson:
"I, as producer, sent the novel early on to Day's husband-manager for a reaction, not an offer (I don't recall that I even told Mike Nichols I was doing so). He, Marty Melcher, hated the book, so he never passed it along to her. The first, and only, actors offered the Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson roles were Dustin and Annie." |
