Hollywood careers that just ended abruptly

Be right back

Tobey Maguire just seemed to vanish as well.

Be right back

Fuascailteoir wrote: »

Andrew McCarthy, he had a good thing going in the 1980s but didn't seem to transition from the love interest into other roles. Remember reading that he was doing a travel show in ireland or something like that

Matt Dillon seems to get sporadic roles. Definitely should be more prominent

I think his wife is Irish.

Fuascailteoir

Be right back wrote: »

I think his wife is Irish.

Just looked that up and he does indeed and has a house in dublin. Eric stoltz has an Irish wife as well. From cootehill in cavan. Another actor that seemed to vanish after pulp fiction

jobless

Steve guttenburg, now that's a blast from the past... Hadn't seen him in years till he rocked up in ballers with the rock

UrbanFret

John Belushi.
Was destined to be a superstar then went and died and was never in another movie. Unbelievable.

Beechwoodspark

the purple tin wrote: »

Haven't seen Michael Madsen in anything in ages. Kill Bill 2 was probably the last time.

Get the sense he’s another “difficult” character

pixelburp

Be right back wrote: »

Tobey Maguire just seemed to vanish as well.

He took up poker playing; if you have seen Molly's Game, a character in that is based on Maguire's career left-turn.

Morathi

UrbanFret wrote: »

John Belushi.
Was destined to be a superstar then went and died and was never in another movie. Unbelievable.

Height of laziness!

Ash.J.Williams

gmisk wrote: »

The below has a good summary of it (warning for spoilers)
Seemed like an absolute disaster from the start.
https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-snowman-what-on-earth-went-wrong/

Wow , I actually went to see it in the cinema, how can ya forget to film 15% of a movie

brinty

Fuascailteoir wrote:

Andrew McCarthy, he had a good thing going in the 1980s but didn't seem to transition from the love interest into other roles. Remember reading that he was doing a travel show in ireland or something like that

He moved into production and director roles. Worked a lot with James Spader in the blacklist and other TV series.

Also did some stage acting.

the purple tin

Is Christina Ricci still at the films?

Ash.J.Williams

gmisk wrote: »

I think that's a bit harsh on Elijah Wood and Daniel Radcliffe they have both picked a lot of really interesting projects.

Elijah Wood - come to daddy and Maniac both really good, if small.

Daniel Radcliffe - swiss army man, kill your darling, jungle, his tv show miracle workers seems to be a decent hit too.

Neither typecast though imo.

The one I would go to is Phoebe Cates as well I can see she has been mentioned, she almost disappeared after marrying Kevin Kline I think.

Another I would add is Bridget Fonda, she is retired and married to Danny Elfman

I really enjoyed Radcliffe in guns akimbo , it’s nuts from start to finish

gmisk

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

I really enjoyed Radcliffe in guns akimbo , it’s nuts from start to finish

I saw a trailer for that....bonkers...defo not typecast!

odyssey06

Chris O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone didnt do much major movie work after Batman and Robin.

HBC08

Freddie Prinz Jr has popped up a few times on this thread.
Turns out he went to work for the WWE !

brinty

Dunno if either have been mentioned

Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy

OU812

brinty wrote: »

Dunno if either have been mentioned

Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy

Molly Ringwald had a big stage & TV career. Ally Sheehy went down the D2V/hallmark route.

fryup

Wesley Snipes...had the world at his feet and then.....vanish!

RGARDINR

fryup wrote: »

Wesley Snipes...had the world at his feet and then.....vanish!

Out hunting vampires to keep us all safe

Agent Coulson

gmisk wrote: »

Another I would add is Bridget Fonda, she is retired and married to Danny Elfman

She was also in a very bad car crash and her back was badly hurt.

Agent Coulson

fryup wrote: »

Wesley Snipes...had the world at his feet and then.....vanish!

Then the Tax man got him and nice holiday paid for by the US Government

Notdeco

Ardent wrote: »

John Cusack.

He was huge - and I mean HUGE - from the late 80s through to the early 00s. Outstanding actor and starred in some of the biggest movies of that time (including many of my all-time favourites).

And then he just disappeared off the face of the earth. Except he's not gone - every thing he has done in recent times has been straight-to-DVD.

Hard to know where or why it all went wrong for him.

Apparently he was/is a pain in the arse to work with. That is why he doesn't get as much work as he should, word gets around.

Agent Coulson

odyssey06 wrote: »

Chris O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone didnt do much major movie work after Batman and Robin.

The lead actor for the last 12 years on NCIS LA one of the highest rated TV shows in America.

Notdeco

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ok, while today is clearly the day in my life that I am the Fountain of Knowledge on all things Jennifer Grey, let me finish with this one -

She is married to Clark Gregg, who played...

Agent Coulson.

"was" in divorce in process

trashcan

CastorTroy wrote: »

Not sure about Meg but I know that was definitely the case for Melanie Griffith. Ruined her face.

I don’t know why actresses in particular do this (there have been some men too, like Mickey Rourke). I’ve never seen anyone who’s appearance has been improved by surgery (anyone not disfigured I mean.)

Notdeco

odyssey06 wrote: »

Val Kilmer, main roles seem to have disappeared after Alexander?

Throat cancer... Plus his religion refused medical treatment

xper

The criteria for inclusion in this thread seem so loose, you could name Daniel Day-Lewis.

But I think a legit entry would be Linda Fiorentino.
She had roles in a string of high profile films in the 90's, notably Men In Black and Dogma, following her breakthrough femme-fatale lead in The Last Seduction, then foolishly turned 40 and Hollywood moved on. She had acquired the "difficult to work with" label which we now know isn't all that reliable. And to top off her qualifications for inclusion here, she then got involved in some real life sub-par Last Seduction-style nonsense involving an FBI agent, former boyfriend and private eye to the stars, Anthony Pellicano, and some computer files.

brinty

Fuascailteoir wrote:

Just looked that up and he does indeed and has a house in dublin. Eric stoltz has an Irish wife as well. From cootehill in cavan. Another actor that seemed to vanish after pulp fiction

Eric Stoltz, another guy who was hard to work with and disappeared. Remember reading about when he was sacked/replaced in back to the future, he insisted on being called Marty and immersing himself and p155ing the cast off. He was very much a method and stage actor and was difficult to just be a natural character. Funny thing was he seemed likeable in some kind of wonderful.

Thelonious Monk

Haven't read the whole thread but has anyone mentioned Chevy Chase? I think I heard he was a total prick in real life, but he seemed to be everywhere in the 80s and then just vanished.

Strumms

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Turning 91 would be a clue

Certainly to why he hasn’t acted recently but when he was in his 70’s or even early 80’s... plenty of actors doing work during those years...

Strumms

Notdeco wrote: »

Throat cancer... Plus his religion refused medical treatment

Looks like a really old man in a lot of his more recent photos... reading too that he needs a feeding tube...

Suckit

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Haven't read the whole thread but has anyone mentioned Chevy Chase? I think I heard he was a total prick in real life, but he seemed to be everywhere in the 80s and then just vanished.

He was in Hot Tub Time Machine 1 and 2. I'm pretty sure he's still acting, but haven't seen him in anything more recent.

If you haven't seen them, they are worth a watch. The latter was only a few years ago I think. The first was maybe 10.

xper

Strumms wrote: »

Certainly to why he hasn’t acted recently but when he was in his 70’s or even early 80’s... plenty of actors doing work during those years...

I don't think Hackman would have had any trouble getting role offers in his 70's. He just elected to retire. Some actors do. Having a few quid in the bank after a successful career helps of course.

Sean Connery being another example - thank god Peter Jackson failed to tempt him out of retirement to play Gandalf despite throwing ludicrous money at him.

dark crystal

Renee Russo comes to mind; I haven't seen her in anything for a long time. She was ubiquitous during the mid 90's - early 2000's.

Kim Basinger also seems to have been absent from the big screen for a while now. She won the Oscar for L.A Confidential and then sorta just disappeared after her divorce from Alec Baldwin.

Louis Friend

dark crystal wrote: »

Renee Russo comes to mind; I haven't seen her in anything for a long time. She was ubiquitous during the mid 90's - early 2000's

In Summer 2019, she was in literally the highest grossing movie of all time, ‘Avengers: Endgame’!

She plays Thor’s mother.

Suckit

brinty wrote: »

Eric Stoltz, another guy who was hard to work with and disappeared. Remember reading about when he was sacked/replaced in back to the future, he insisted on being called Marty and immersing himself and p155ing the cast off. He was very much a method and stage actor and was difficult to just be a natural character. Funny thing was he seemed likeable in some kind of wonderful.

I knew he was the original, but didn't realise he wasn't well liked.
I just read this, and might get the book.

Realt Dearg Sec

Suckit wrote: »

He was in Hot Tub Time Machine 1 and 2. I'm pretty sure he's still acting, but haven't seen him in anything more recent.

If you haven't seen them, they are worth a watch. The latter was only a few years ago I think. The first was maybe 10.

He was in community which was a huge hit a couple of years ago.

He is a very bitter man reading interviews with him and the are many stories of how horrible he was on set in his prime.

JP Liz V1

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Haven't read the whole thread but has anyone mentioned Chevy Chase? I think I heard he was a total prick in real life, but he seemed to be everywhere in the 80s and then just vanished.

Was he fired from the sitcom Community?

Padre_Pio

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Was he fired from the sitcom Community?

Rumours that he wouldn't do certain scenes if he didn't like them, condescending and insulting to cast and staff , he didn't get on with Dan Harmon, then apparently used some racist slurs during a rant.

Seems like George Peppard, where you've had a decent movie career, then move to TV and expect to be treated better than everyone else.
Chase was on the record saying that television acting was for losers and only did Community because it was convenient.

The Inbetween is mine

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

He was in the final season of Lethal Weapon with Damon Wayans..approx 2 years ago

They both appear for the first 5 minutes of Super Troopers 2 as well and Penn was in the Goon 2. Ok enough film

Ash.J.Williams

sugarman wrote: »

I wouldn't say ended abruptly, but Bill Murray had a fairly sharp drop off post Groundhog Day and Kingpin in the mid 90s when he was still in his 40s. Since then he mostly stuck to cameos and voice work.

He’s been livin the dream

JP Liz V1

dark crystal wrote: »

Renee Russo comes to mind; I haven't seen her in anything for a long time. She was ubiquitous during the mid 90's - early 2000's.

Kim Basinger also seems to have been absent from the big screen for a while now. She won the Oscar for L.A Confidential and then sorta just disappeared after her divorce from Alec Baldwin.

Russo appears in her husband's films

Basinger hasn't done really anything

Realt Dearg Sec

sugarman wrote: »

I wouldn't say ended abruptly, but Bill Murray had a fairly sharp drop off post Groundhog Day and Kingpin in the mid 90s when he was still in his 40s. Since then he mostly stuck to cameos and voice work.

Lost in translation? Hyde park on Hudson? Royal tennenbaums? Life aquatic?

Would say his real dip in form was late eighties and early nineties when he was in some awful stuff post ghostbusters but pre groundhog

~Rebel~

If not already said - Pauly Shore!

Had an purple patch with Biodome, Jury Duty, and In the army now, and then dropped off to almost entirely inconsequential roles.

Biodome and In The Army Now were guilty pleasures back in the day..

Speaking of the latter, Lori Petty was a really big deal for a while - that, Free Willy, Point Break, Tank Girl, and then right back to small roles in small things until appearing in Orange is The New Black as a crazy old lady. That role made me feel very weird after being a bit in love with her in some of the above movies...

the purple tin

the purple tin wrote: »

Haven't seen Michael Madsen in anything in ages. Kill Bill 2 was probably the last time.

He's actually one of the most prolific actors in the world.

He basically gets paid 20k to shoot a short clip, takes one day and the company can then use his name on the box of whatever God awful tripe they are putting out.

Last one i saw was a blatant c list movie about a giant shark with dodgy cgi. He was in the first 5 minutes, I managed 10 so I guess the 20k worked

Ash.J.Williams

Suckit wrote: »

I knew he was the original, but didn't realise he wasn't well liked.
I just read this, and might get the book.

He would have been an interesting Marty , much darker apparently

dubstepper

Renee Russo was good in Velvet Buzzsaw. Still look great too!

dubstepper

You can see on this thread that a lot of the issue with 80s/90s stars is bad plastic surgery. I saw Helen Hunt on a netflix movie recently and would not have recognised her.

weldoninhio

Eric Bana was Chopper and Hulk and then disappeared.

Ash.J.Williams

weldoninhio wrote: »

Eric Bana was Chopper and Hulk and then disappeared.

i saw him the other day