Joy Todd, Casting Director for Sidney Lumet, Dies

Posted by Larita Shotwell on Friday, July 26, 2024

Casting director Joy Todd, whose credits include Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America,” “Demolition Man,” “Rambo III” and Sidney Lumet films including “Prince of the City” and “The Verdict,” died Feb. 18 of natural causes in San Diego.

Todd started out in Philadelphia as an actress and standup comedienne. She had small parts in shows including “Act I,” “Hello, Dolly” “Naked City” In Las Vegas, she was the comedy relief in a book show called “That Certain Girl,” with Walter Slezak, Virginia Mayo and Dennis O’Keefe, and she also worked in some night clubs on the Canadian border.

Shortly thereafter, Todd did her first casting work, for Marty Richards (now a Broadway and film producer), who needed help casting film extras in New York. She then assisted Ralph Serpe, exec producer for Dino De Laurentiis on “Mandingo,” in Louisiana.

She kept an office in New York from 1976-93. Her first big extra casting job was on the film “Network,” which began a long association with director Sidney Lumet, who gave Todd her first real break to do principal casting as well. Her credits on Lumet films included “Just Tell Me What You Want,” “Prince of the City,” “The Verdict,” “Garbo Talks,” “Q&A,” “A Stranger Among Us” and “Power.”

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Other films Todd cast during her New York stay included “Moscow on the Hudson,” “Rambo III,” “Maria’s Lovers,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” “Street Smart,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Lock Up” and “Gettysburg,” working with directors including Sergio Leone, Ridley Scott and Paul Mazursky.

She moved to California in 1993 and thereafter cast “Demolition Man,” “The Next Karate Kid,” “Gods and Generals” and “Redline.” She had recently worked on the films “Pizza With Bullets” and “Guns Guitars and a Badge,” both due out this year.

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