The Lord of the Rings: A Golden Age of Hollywood Cast

I think about strange things sometimes, and recently one of those strange things was a question concerning the Lord of the Rings films. I was thinking about who I might cast if I could cast only actors and actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood (pre–1960). There are so many greats to choose from. With a good bit of help from my lovely wife (and now also with the help of some readers), I have tentatively settled on the following cast.

Thomas Mitchell as Frodo Baggins

Burgess Meredith as Samwise Gamgee

Alastair Sim as Gandalf

Henry Travers as Bilbo Baggins

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Aragorn

Ray Bolger as Merry

Donald O'Connor as Pippin

Tony Curtis as Legolas

Walter Matthau as Gimli

Errol Flynn as Boromir

Montgomery Clift as Elrond

Gene Tierney as Galadriel

Laurence Olivier as Theoden

Gary Cooper as Eomer

Ingrid Bergman as Eowyn

The Talking Tree from The Wizard of Oz as Treebeard

Okay, I'm kidding about this one. However . . . when it comes to the voice of Treebeard, since James Earl Jones wasn't working in the Golden Age of Hollywood, what about . . .

Max von Sydow as Treebeard (voice)

Lionel Barrymore as Denethor

Paul Newman as Faramir

Jimmy Stewart as Beregond

Vivien Leigh as Arwen

Oliver Hardy as Barliman Butterbur

Joan Blondell as Rosie Cotton

Marie Dressler as Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

Barry Fitzgerald as the Gaffer

And since my imaginary film version will include the Old Forest:

Edmund Gwenn as Tom Bombadil

Grace Kelly as Goldberry

And last, but not least, the villains . . .

Basil Rathbone as Saruman

Peter Lorre as Gollum

John Carradine as Bill Ferny

Lon Chaney as Wormtongue

Boris Karloff as the Witch King/Lord of the Nazgûl

Bela Lugosi as Sauron

So, what do you think? Do you have better suggestions for any or all of the above roles?