French movie icon LESLIE CARON missed out on the lead in BONNIE & CLYDE because her real-life lover, WARREN BEATTY, thought she was too old.
The GiGi star was five years older than Beatty when she left her husband to romance the Hollywood Lothario and when he started working on the classic heist movie, she felt sure she'd play his leading lady.
In her new memoir, Thank Heaven, Caron recalls, "He told me bluntly, 'Let's face it, you're too old for me.' That hurt.
"But now that 40-plus years have passed and the pain of Warren's rejection has worn off, I can smile at his raw ambition and ruthlessness."