One of the many character actors in supporting roles for the movie "Casablanca" was Dan Seymour. He played Abdul, the doorman at "Rick's Place" (officially Cafe Americain). I'm sure there was a doorman at the real nightclub in Morocco, but he probably didn't look like Seymour. In fact, Dan Seymour resembled another "real life inspiration" for the movie - Signore Ferrari.
Had the producers wanted to go for veracity, they could have cast Seymour as Ferrari. But the role probably did require an established name. After all, the supporting cast do a lot of heavy lifting in that film, since Bogart was probably filming three movies at the same time.
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| THE "REAL" SIGNORE FERRARI |
Several real-world people have fictional relatives in Toobworld - Tim Russert with Megan Russert of 'Homicide: Life On The Street'; Art Carney with Vera of 'Alice'; and Bryant Gumbel's Uncle Sammy from 'The Nanny'. The could be true for Dan Seymour. His televersion could be related to the Signore Ferrari of Earth Prime-Time. And to get Ferrari's permission to be portrayed in the movie, the producers may have had to hire Ferrari's American kinsman Dan Seymour for the movie.
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| SIGNORE FERRARI FROM THE MOVIE |
Ferrari himself may have been egotistical enough to be flattered by the portrayal by a star like Sidney Greenstreet, so it most likely was not a problem that Seymour was cast as the doorman.
Here's lookin' at you, Kid.....
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