The Wild Bunch - Casting

Casting

Director Sam Peckinpah considered many actors for the Pike Bishop role; Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone and Robert Mitchum were all considered before William Holden was cast. Marvin actually accepted the role but pulled out after he was offered a larger pay deal to star in Paint Your Wagon (1969).

Sam Peckinpah's first two choices for the role of Deke Thornton were Richard Harris (who had co-starred in Major Dundee) and Brian Keith (who had worked with Peckinpah on The Westerner (1960) and The Deadly Companions (1961)). Harris was never formally approached, but Keith was, and turned the part down. Robert Ryan was ultimately cast in the part after Peckinpah saw him in the World War II action movie The Dirty Dozen (1967). Other actors considered for the role were Glenn Ford, Arthur Kennedy, Henry Fonda, Ben Johnson (later cast as Tector Gorch) and Van Heflin.

Mario Adorf was considered for the part of Mapache; the role went to Emilio Fernández, the Mexican film director and actor and friend of Peckinpah. Among those considered to play Dutch Engstrom were Steve McQueen, George Peppard, Jim Brown, Alex Cord, Robert Culp, Sammy Davis, Jr., Charles Bronson and Richard Jaeckel. Ernest Borgnine was cast based on his performance in The Dirty Dozen.

Robert Blake was the original choice to play Angel, but he asked for too much money. Peckinpah had seen Jaime Sánchez in the Broadway production of Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker, was impressed and demanded he be cast as Angel. Albert Dekker, a stage actor, was cast as Harrigan, the railroad detective. He died months after filming; The Wild Bunch was his final film. Bo Hopkins played the part of Clarence "Crazy" Lee; he was cast after Peckinpah saw him on television.