In the days of the casting process for Superman, everyone and his brother had been considered for the role. From top names such as Robert Redford and Paul Newman to numerous actors including Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Steve McQueen, Jeff Bridges, and even Harrison Ford, over two hundred different actors were considered.

But the most offbeat person to audition for the part was not an actor or an athlete or even a bodybuilder… but a California dentist.

Born in California on July 31, 1937, Donald Steven Voyne attended and graduated from North Hollywood High School and attended Valley Junior College in Los Angeles before attending the University of Southern California, where he played from 1956 to 1958 as a defensive and offensive tight end. It was during his time at USC that he entered the school’s pre-dentistry program.

One of Voyne’s classmates and teammates, Hall of Fame lineman Ron Mix, remembered Voyne for his sense of humor, his maturity, and his observations about the world around him, and that in a different era he would have been an all-American tight end. “By ‘different era,’ I mean when football changed from players having to both offensive and defense to players just playing one one or the other,” Mix said in a 2020 interview for the Palm Springs Desert Sun. “Don was an outstanding offensive end; great skills in speed, pass-catching, and blocking. However, at that time, USC was like most college teams and passed very little.” At his prime, Voyne stood six-foot-one and weighed 203 pounds. Even then, he certainly had the height and build like a potential Man of Steel.

After graduation, Voyne set up his dental practice in Beverly Hills, where he practiced over the decades. During the 1960’s he had accumulated a number of acting credits on the side, appearing in TV series such as Leave It to Beaver, It’s a Man’s World, Michael Shayne, and My Three Sons, and in films such as For Those Who Think Young, Honeymoon Hotel, The Marriage Go-Round, and A Gathering of Eagles.

But one meeting with a dental patient would give him a brief brush with near-superstardom. As David Michael Petrou recounted in his book The Making of Superman: The Movie, Ilya Salkind’s then-wife Skye Aubrey recommended Voyne to him during the casting process. “Hey, I’ve got this terrific guy, Don… he’s my dentist… seriously… and I think he looks just like Superman. Even Ryan O’Neal told Don he looked right for the role, since you don’t want him anyway. So what do you think?”

Ilya remarked to David Petrou, “Well, needless to say, Dick (Donner) and I thought perhaps this dentist was a bit too free with the sodium pentathol or something. We certainly didn’t feel inclined to waste another hour with some Beverly Hills dentist. But then I said, ‘Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone and have my teeth cleaned at the same time!’”

It was then that they reached out to Voyne and interviewed him. Ilya Salkind continued, “…then came that knock at the door—and wham! In walked Superman! Dick and I both thought this (Don) Voyne was great. Turns out he was something of a physical-fitness fanatic—tennis, jogging—like most Californians. So we arranged for a screen test at Shepperton in January, and Dick and I flew back to London, confident that we had our star.”

On January 26, 1977, Don Voyne filmed his screen test at Shepperton Studios in England, opposite actor/director Jeff Corey reading as Lex Luthor. (A couple of reports incorrectly list the date of the screen test as January 20, 1977.)

Salkind continued, “Well, we put Voyne in a Superman suit and ran the test. And in a complete turnaround from (Bruce) Jenner’s (1976 screen) test, he just looked too old. I mean, he’s a very good-looking guy—in his mid-thirties, I guess—but he didn’t convey that youth and power and courage that you associate with Superman. We all realized it at that moment. I don’t know, maybe he could have pulled it off by strong direction, but there was no guarantee.” The 39-year-old Voyne was out. A few days later, Christopher Reeve shot his screen test, and the rest is history.

Eventually, Don Voyne moved to the Coachella Valley and continued his Palm Springs dental practice, and with his wife they raised three sons, Donilo, Sava, and Fabrice. While Donilo and Sava followed in their father’s footsteps and excelled in high school football, all three of them learned from his example of achieving their very best in life.

“He was just the best person and man I knew,” Fabrice Voyne told the Palm Springs Desert Sun. “He would always constantly give me that support that any young kid needs, and he would help me and give me that confidence, and most importantly, teach me how I can give that to myself and now function on my own.”

Sava Voyne added, “Everything from my love of sports, my ability to be the best person I can be and and then eventually the path of going into the Navy and being in the military and training to be a pilot – that was all greatly influenced by my dad. Not so much to chase making him proud, but more so to just understand that whatever I’m doing I want to make sure that I’m putting myself in the best position to be the best version of myself. I think that’s really what my dad taught us.”

Fabrice’s football coach, former Oregon State and NFL player James Dockery, would seek out Don Voyne for parenting advice. “Fabrice’s dad instilled in his sons to be high-achieving individuals….Going out and playing his heart out in that first game was the best way Fabrice could have honored him.”

Don Voyne would pass away on August 29, 2020, from heart failure at the age of 83. That December, because of Covid-19 restrictions and schedules, the family gathered together to hold a Celebration of Life for him when the sons could be all together.

But for one moment in time, even though it was a screen test, a dentist from California briefly became the Man of Steel.