"Some of my friends have jokingly accused me of sticking pins into an
image of
Frank Sinatra or exercising some other kind of voodoo charm to
get him out of the role of "Billy" in
Carousel (1956) so that I could inherit the role. As most everyone knows by now, Frank did bow out of the
picture. His decision on this matter, however, was reached without assistance--mystic, telepathic or otherwise--from me. But I always felt that I would end up with Billy. I wasn't surprised when my agent called to say that 20th Century-Fox wanted me for it. I was excited that, at last, it was mine, but I wasn't surprised".