15 Actors Who Foolishly Turned Down Career-Making TV Roles
6. Thomas Jane Was Almost Don Draper - Mad Men
Jon Hamm makes a great Don Draper, this much, everybody knows: it's like he was born to play the role.
What a lot of people don't know though is that Thomas Jane, most famous for his roles in The Punisher and The Mist, was originally the one approached to portray the suave businessman on AMC's Mad Men, and that he unthinkably turned it down. Jane's reason for not taking the role was that he didn't want to act in a television show, despite the fact that he then, ironically, went on to play leading man, Ray Drecker in HBO's short lived comedy-drama series, Hung just a couple years later.
Although his career has shaped up to be a decent one with parts in five upcoming projects slated to be released this year, there is little doubt that Jane could have been on par with Jon Hamm's fame if he wasn't so stubborn and just took the role (even if we would have then been robbed of Hamm's superlative performance.)
At least he attempted to learn from his mistakes though.