55, Wayne was 28 years older than Vandervoort was on D-Day (and 10 years older than he was in 1962). All of the other major actors accepted $25,000 as payment for their appearance in the film, but Wayne insisted on $250,000 to punish Zanuck for once referring to him as "poor John Wayne", regarding Wayne's problems with his lavish film The Alamo (1960). Pop stars Paul Anka, Tommy Sands, and Fabian appear together as Rangers in the film. Mel Ferrer was originally signed to play the role of Gen. James M. Gavin, but was recast due to a scheduling conflict. Richard Todd played Maj. John Howard, leader of the British airborne assault on the Pegasus Bridge, and Todd himself took part in the real bridge assault on D-Day. He was offered the chance to play himself, but took the part of Maj. Howard instead. Bill Millin was the piper who accompanied Lord Lovat to Normandy with his bagpipes, and it is a common misconception that he played himself in the film, while he was actually portrayed by Pipe Major Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the Queen Mother at the time of filming. There were discussions about having former-President Dwight D. Eisenhower play himself in the film, and he indicated his willingness to participate. However, it was decided that makeup artists couldn't make him appear young enough to play his World War II-era self, so the role went to Henry Grace, a set decorator who had been in the film industry since the mid-1930s. He had no acting experience, but Grace was a dead ringer for the younger Eisenhower (though his voice differed, so someone else dubbed his lines). In Sainte-Mère-Église, Pvt. John Steele from the 82nd Airborne (played by Red Buttons) has been memorialized by the local population with a dummy hanging from a parachute from the church tower on which he accidentally landed. According to the 2001 documentary Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood, Richard Burton and Roddy McDowall, having not been used for several weeks while filming in Rome, were so bored that they phoned Zanuck begging to do "anything" on The Longest Day. They flew themselves to the location and each filmed their cameos in a day for free. The film marked the last film appearance of Sean Connery before he was cast in the role of James Bond. Gert Fröbe (Sgt. Kaffeekanne) and Curd