13 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played The Joker

By Jack Pooley /

1. Peter O'Toole

Believe it or not, the late, legendary Laurence of Arabia star was considered for Burton's Batman... Would It Have Worked?: Quite possibly, though it would have been an undeniably left-field choice, considering O'Toole would have been in his late 50s before filming even began. Would he have been able to pull off the singing and dancing? That remains up for debate, though he would certainly have nailed the look of The Joker, even with his accelerated age: pictures of O'Toole from the mid-to-late 1980s (as above) give him a strong facial resemblance to the comic book Joker, and it's easy to imagine how a lick of paint and some hair dye would make him the spitting image of Batman's greatest foe. Above all other entries on this list, it's just fascinating to imagine how an actor of his caliber and accomplishments would take on such an unexpected role. The guy took a part in Supergirl, so we needed to worry about him dismissing superhero movies, unlike a lot of other prestigious actors. Which actors do you think would have best replaced Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger? Let us know in the comments!