Was the original choice of producers to play the lead in Batman (1966), the role ultimately portrayed by Adam West, but Hardin had to turn it down because he was filming a western in Italy. For the same reason he had to decline the lead in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the role ultimately portrayed by Clint Eastwood, who had been Hardin's castmate six years earlier in Lafayette Escadrille (1958). At the time of Hardin's death on August 3, 2017, West who died just 24 days earlier, and Eastwood, still going strong, were household names, but Hardin was mostly unknown. Both roles, which Hardin had to turn down, became star vehicles, and if Hardin had not turned down the roles, it is likely his career would have been on a much better, and longer, trajectory than it actually had.
