20 Actors Who Quit Movies For Insane Reasons
9. Robert Mitchum's Marijuana Conviction - Lizabeth Scott (The Big Steal)
Lizabeth Scott was originally hired to play the female lead in the 1949 film noir The Big Steal, but ended up exiting the project just three weeks before cameras were set to start rolling.
The reason? During pre-production original male lead George Raft was replaced with Robert Mitchum, who had recently been incarcerated for possession of marijuana.
Though RKO head Howard Hughes felt that Mitchum's "bad boy" image would only aid the film's publicity, Scott and her management felt that starring opposite the actor would negatively affect her image and standing in Hollywood.
As a result Scott dipped and was replaced by Jane Greer, whose pregnancy forced production to be rushed, resulting in the film's short 71-minute runtime.
To modern sensibilities it's comical for a Hollywood actor to quit a film because of their co-star's weed habits, but considering that anti-marijuana sentiments pervaded the United States throughout the 1940s, it makes a little more sense.