Career Death-Rolls [Archive]

Ian Osborne

29th October 2003, 05:02 AM

Originally posted by Ed
Stars whose careers really went into the crapper.

Bela Lugossi, a horror actor with real presence and a reputation to rival Vincent Price and Peter Cushing. He got addicted to drugs and ended his career 'acting' in Ed Wood films.

Brown

29th October 2003, 05:10 AM

Orson Welles, who set new standards in radio and cinema with "War of the Worlds" and "Citizen Kane," spent the last years of his career pitching cameras, peddling cheap wine and asking Ed McMahon to pick a card.

Brown

29th October 2003, 05:41 AM

The three stars of "2001" -- Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and William Sylvester -- basically disappeared from the radar screen after making Kubrick's 1968 epic. Dullea and Lockwood are still working, but Sylvester has passed on.

Marc

29th October 2003, 06:18 AM

Travolta beats them by doing it twice. Started out big, then nose dived into the crapper. Resurected with Pulp Fiction, then went on to Lucky Numbers and Battlefield Earth. Can we put a stake in his career and call it a night yet?

hgc

29th October 2003, 06:35 AM

Originally posted by Brown
The three stars of "2001" -- Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and William Sylvester -- basically disappeared from the radar screen after making Kubrick's 1968 epic. Dullea and Lockwood are still working, but Sylvester has passed on. Sylvester was still living (d. 1995) when they made the sequel, but was replaced by Roy Scheider. Anyone know why he never worked after 1979?

Brown

29th October 2003, 07:37 AM

Originally posted by hgc
Sylvester was still living (d. 1995) when they made the sequel, but was replaced by Roy Scheider. Anyone know why he never worked after 1979? I don't know for sure why he didn't reprise his role in "2010," but I can guess. First, his appearance changed quite a bit. Sylvester had a bit part in "Heaven Can Wait" and was barely recognizeable. His hair was significantly more grey. In contrast, Keir Dullea looked "more like himself." If no one was going to recognize Sylvester anyway, then susbstituting another actor in the role wouldn't hurt.

Second, Sylvester wasn't much of a name for a starring role. Roy ("Jaws") Scheider had more box office appeal.

Third, not to sound disrespectful, but Sylvester wasn't a very good actor. I saw him in a couple of other flicks, and his acting was on par with what you see on MST3K. I am completely at a loss as to how he ever got cast as Floyd in the first place. Some of his delivery in "2001" was charitably described as "wooden," but then again, "2001" focused more upon imagery than upon dialog. In "2010," dialog was much more important to the drama.

29th October 2003, 09:37 AM

One of my favorite flicks is All that Jazz. If you check out IMDB it appears that virtually all of the major characters never acted again. Very weird.

hgc

29th October 2003, 09:42 AM

Originally posted by Brown
...

Third, not to sound disrespectful, but Sylvester wasn't a very good actor. I saw him in a couple of other flicks, and his acting was on par with what you see on MST3K. I am completely at a loss as to how he ever got cast as Floyd in the first place. Some of his delivery in "2001" was charitably described as "wooden," but then again, "2001" focused more upon imagery than upon dialog. In "2010," dialog was much more important to the drama. Yeah, but I cannot imagine anyone else doing this role in 2001 (though Scheider is great in 2010). It's a small part, and I've obsessed for years over every word he speaks (which are few), and the manner in which he says it. I've always thought of it as a great delivery of the no-nonsense government functionary type, keeping the underlings from panicking or revolting, keeping the Russians from getting too nosy. It never even occurred to me that he's just not a good actor.

I like the conversation with the other 2 guys in the lunar transport vehicle, on the way to examine the monolith, when one of them tells Floyd that his talk in the conference room was a real moral booster. What a laugh! That talk was a "shut-up and do you jobs and sign the loyalty oath" toungue-lashing, delivered in the smoothest monotone imaginable.

zakur

29th October 2003, 02:28 PM

Leslie Nielsen.

He actually played solid, dramatic roles at one time. But since 1980 (Airplane!), it's been nothing but low-brow slapstick comedy. Lately he's been doing stupid TV commercials for the Ohio Lottery.

MetalSeagull

29th October 2003, 04:12 PM

Originally posted by Brown

Third, not to sound disrespectful, but Sylvester wasn't a very good actor. I saw him in a couple of other flicks, and his acting was on par with what you see on MST3K.

I couldn't remember which character he played, so I did a quick search. It turns out he's not just on a par with MST3K, he's been in two MSTed movies: Gorgo and Devil Doll

uneasy

29th October 2003, 04:21 PM

Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Poor guy.

Marc

29th October 2003, 04:59 PM

Originally posted by uneasy
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Poor guy.

While he hasn't been in any major movies, he has been keeping active, especially in animation. He was the Joker in the Batman animated series, and a very good one too.

Brown

29th October 2003, 06:16 PM

Originally posted by MetalSeagull
I couldn't remember which character he played, so I did a quick search. It turns out he's not just on a par with MST3K, he's been in two MSTed movies: Gorgo and Devil Doll Hmm, haven't seen those two.

I know Gary Lockwood got the MST treatment in "The Magic Sword."

Also, the guy who voiced HAL, Douglas Rain, hasn't done much in the way of movies, either. He parodied his role in "Sleeper" and he reprised it in "2010," but otherwise he hasn't done much. I understand he is more of a stage actor, anyway.

Guys like Douglas Rain and Dick Tufeld (the voice of Robot on "Lost in Space") probably have great messages on their telephone answering machines.

deBergerac

30th October 2003, 06:46 AM

Originally posted by uneasy
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Poor guy.

He even made a Swedish movie (as made in Sweden, shame on you if you thought something else). He was a bad guy getting blown to bits by the Swedish hero (Peter Stormare).

Agammamon

30th October 2003, 11:55 AM

Add to the list pretty much anyone who starred in any of the Star Trek series.

OS: Shatner managed to keep his head above water but pretty much all the others drowned.

TNG: Unless you want to count Jonathan "Whore For The Paranormal" Frakes only Patrick Stewart has been successful off the Enterprise and he had a leg up, what with having a very distinguished film and stage career prior to TNG.

DS9: 'Ole Sisko seems to be holding on by his fingernails, but where are the others?

Voyager: Resurrected Mrs. Columbo's career to promptly beat it to death again. 7of9 seems to be the only one who can make the move to other things.

Enterprise: Still collecting the data, have to wait until it ends.

Dinonychus

30th October 2003, 12:12 PM

Originally posted by Agammamon
DS9: 'Ole Sisko seems to be holding on by his fingernails, but where are the others?

Odo had somewhat of a craeer going before DS9. He (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041281/) starred in many movies before DS9, in cluding M*A*S*H.

Enterprise: Still collecting the data, have to wait until it ends.

Scott Bakula kinda disappeared after Quantum Leap. Enterprise may be a stepping stone for the other actors. Maybe.

Sandy M

30th October 2003, 01:46 PM

But both Nimoy and Frakes have decent, even good, reputations as directors. Frakes just has to live down being married to a soap star. It's nice to see Bakula back, but I've reached the point where it's an effort to watch enterprises. Where is the charm of Sam Beckett of Quantum Leap?

Gates McFadden had an almost non-existent roll - what? 3 lines? in Hunt for Red October at the very beginning as Ryan's wife, then morphed into Ann Archer for the Harrison Ford films.

Brent Spiner has had minor roles in Independence Day and one of those "Grouchy Old Men" movies, but other than that???

Of course, I think that many of these people may well be doing live-theatre, either regionally or even on Broadway, and unless it's a big-time musical or revival of a Tennessee Williams play or Shakespeare in the Park, you just don't hear that much about it unless you're a New Yorker.

Brown

31st October 2003, 12:37 PM

Michael Biehn did some pretty big projects with James Cameron, including "The Terminator" and "The Abyss." But in looking at his most recent credits, I don't recognize anything.

Tony

31st October 2003, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by Brown
Michael Biehn did some pretty big projects with James Cameron, including "The Terminator" and "The Abyss." But in looking at his most recent credits, I don't recognize anything.

He was in that Omega Code 2 movie, the one about the "end times". He played the president of the US whos brother was the anti-christ.

uneasy

31st October 2003, 01:19 PM

Albert Einstein

He only did two good things, and even they were just theories. After that he just sat around trying to come up with another one.

boooeee

31st October 2003, 03:24 PM

Dana Plato

Not for how high she rose, but rather for how low she sunk.

Went from being one of the stars of a very popular sitcom, Diff'rent Strokes (did I get the apostrophe right?), to....

...appearing in low budget hard core porn, getting married to some trailer park deadbeat, and eventually dying from a drug overdose.

Very sad.

On a less tragic note:

Cary Elwes - Had a promising start as the Wesley in the Princess Bride. Seems to have made exclusively bad decisions since then (except for maybe "Glory"). He starred in what is still the worst film I ever paid money for to see in the theatre: "Robin Hood : Men in Tights".

Cuba Gooding Jr. - Oscar for "Jerry Maguire". Now we get "Boat Trip" and "Radio".

Monketey Ghost

31st October 2003, 05:13 PM

Originally posted by boooeee

Cary Elwes - Had a promising start as the Wesley in the Princess Bride. Seems to have made exclusively bad decisions since then (except for maybe "Glory"). He starred in what is still the worst film I ever paid money for to see in the theatre: "Robin Hood : Men in Tights".

*Groan* I can still recall sitting in the theatre, ten minutes into that, ducking my head and feeling ashamed to be seen watching it lest anyone I knew was there.

I had thought, "It's Mel Brooks, it'll be funny!" ...and it was so embarrassingly, badly unfunny...

kookbreaker

31st October 2003, 05:25 PM

Originally posted by No Answers

*Groan* I can still recall sitting in the theatre, ten minutes into that, ducking my head and feeling ashamed to be seen watching it lest anyone I knew was there.

I had thought, "It's Mel Brooks, it'll be funny!" ...and it was so embarrassingly, badly unfunny...

You'd think that after three attempts at making fun of Robin Hood, Mel might get it right.

specious_reasons

31st October 2003, 09:00 PM

Originally posted by Marc

While he hasn't been in any major movies, he has been keeping active, especially in animation. He was the Joker in the Batman animated series, and a very good one too.

Mark Hamill's work in LucasArts games is excellent. And I agree with you about his Joker.

I give his live acting gigs a C but voice acting an A.

Brown

2nd November 2003, 09:48 PM

Whoopi Goldberg won a best supporting actress Oscar for one of the funniest performances of the decade in "Ghost," went on to do... "Star Trek."

Joel Grey won a best supporting actor Oscar for giving a "wow" performance in "Cabaret," and went on to do... "Star Trek."

Louise Fletcher, whose performance as Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" earned her a best actress Oscar, went on to do... "Star Trek."

F. Murray Abraham, absolutely perfect in the role of Salieri in "Amadeus" and who won an Oscar for the role, went on to do... "Star Trek."

Mr Manifesto

2nd November 2003, 10:22 PM

Anyone remember Margot Kidder? How about Sissy Spacek? Karen Black? (okay, that last one was a joke... She NEVER had a career)

Marc

3rd November 2003, 08:07 AM

Originally posted by specious_reasons

Mark Hamill's work in LucasArts games is excellent. And I agree with you about his Joker.

I give his live acting gigs a C but voice acting an A.
Just saw today a CNN article (http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/03/theater.markhamill.ap/index.html) on his career.

Monketey Ghost

3rd November 2003, 09:46 AM

Originally posted by Brown
Whoopi Goldberg won a best supporting actress Oscar for one of the funniest performances of the decade in "Ghost," went on to do... "Star Trek."

Joel Grey won a best supporting actor Oscar for giving a "wow" performance in "Cabaret," and went on to do... "Star Trek."

Louise Fletcher, whose performance as Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" earned her a best actress Oscar, went on to do... "Star Trek."

F. Murray Abraham, absolutely perfect in the role of Salieri in "Amadeus" and who won an Oscar for the role, went on to do... "Star Trek."

Both Goldberg and Fletcher's roles and performances were outstanding. I'm sure they made quite a nice sum for these roles; not sure how you can call these two "career death-rolls".

Brown

3rd November 2003, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by No Answers
Both Goldberg and Fletcher's roles and performances were outstanding. I'm sure they made quite a nice sum for these roles; not sure how you can call these two "career death-rolls". Actually, Goldberg's and Fletcher's work on the show was some of their best. In my view, Goldberg is better as a serious actress than she is as a comic actress, and the "Trek" writers gave her some of the best lines in the whole series. As for Louise Fletcher, it's a pity that she couldn't bag "meatier" roles in movies or TV, but many fine actresses have had similar problems.

A sidelight: There's a fun game to play while watching television called "Who's Done 'Trek?'" The idea is to identify people in movies who have played at least one role on "Star Trek," or any of the spinoffs, or any of the movies. It's quite surprising how many people have worked in the franchise. You can even see 'Trek' veterans in some classic movies, like "The Maltese Falcon" or "The Robe" or "The Manchurian Candidate" or "The Deer Hunter." (Aside from Fletcher, "Cuckoo's Nest" had at least two other actors who would go on to do "Trek.")

Skeptic

3rd November 2003, 01:11 PM

Originally posted by uneasy
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Poor guy.

Just between you and me... most of the acting in the original "Star Wars" movies was horrible. Those must be the most overrated movies of all time, which is why I love Eddy Izzard's spoof of them in the "Circle" and "Dressed to Kill" stand-up shows.

Skeptic

3rd November 2003, 01:16 PM

He played the president of the US whos brother was the anti-christ.

And I thought that the family get-togethers in MY house were full of tension...

Skeptic

3rd November 2003, 01:25 PM

Originally posted by Marc

Just saw today a CNN article (http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/03/theater.markhamill.ap/index.html) on his career.

Very interesting. I must say, he probably could have made literally millions from prostituting himself to his "Star Wars" character, and he didn't. Can you imagine how much "Star War" geeks would pay for a toy lightsaber signed by the REAL Luke Skywalker, for instance?

Perhaps he should start a club with Bill Watterson and Gary Larson, who also refused to cheapen themselves and their creation ("The Far Side", "Calvin and Hobbes") despite tons of money that was thrown at them to do just that.

Then they should go and beat the s--t out of Jim David ("Garfield") and James "Scotty" Duhane...

Brown

3rd November 2003, 02:07 PM

Originally posted by Skeptic
Then they should go and beat the s--t out of Jim David ("Garfield") and James "Scotty" Duhane... That's Jim Davis and James Doohan.

Hopefully, there aren't two guys out there named David and Duhane checking themselves into emergency rooms wondering what they heck they did to make someone so mad.

Actually, I think Mr. Doohan is not doing too well these days. I saw him on a recent program, and he was not his spry self.