 According to Melvyn Braggs biography of Richard Burton, Robert  Redford was considered for the part of Billy Breedlove. Burton  watched some movies in which Robert Redford starred and came to the  conclusion that Redford, then in his early thirties, hadnt become a  star because he lacked a certain panache or charisma. Burton didnt  want Reford for the film and was glad when the part instead was  offered to, and accepted by, Beau Bridges. Of course, within a year  of the release of "Hammersmith is Out," Redford was a superstar, the  #1 box office attraction in the America (a mantle he would wear  another two times in the Seventies), and would soon cop an Academy  Award nomination for the blockbuster hit "The Sting."