Actors Who Never Fulfilled Their Early Promise

Laura Elena Harring

Sherilyn Fenn

Emily Lloyd (for very sad reasons)

Emile Hirsch. So good in Into The Wild and then...

Whoopi Goldberg could’ve done better after The Color Purple. Her early stand-up included several characters that were quite moving.

I do think the Reagany/fluffy shift in the eighties took mainstream American film down an unfortunate path. Pauline Kael gave up reviewing films because of it.

And what options were there for actresses with unconventional looks, or in WG’s case, a black actress? The comedies may have been all that was floated to them.

[quote]r1 Emily Lloyd (for very sad reasons)

I was going to say her, too! She got rave reviews for WISH YOU WERE HERE....the was then replaced by Juliet Lewis in a Woody Allen film...and the pic she did with Bruce Willis didn't light any fires.

What was the stumbling block?

Michael Pare

Bette Midler never fulfilled her early promise? No sorry OP. Don't agree with that one!

I also immediately thought of Emily Lloyd. I watched WYWH over and over as a teen. She was spectacular. And then...nothing. She supposedly has severe mental illness.

Re: Emily Lloyd

oh dearie me...

OP, you imbecile, Milder was already famous and claimed for comedy. The Rose was one of those off the beatened path projects. She already has fulfilled her promise. The Rose sucked anyway.

Luise Rainer

R1 sherilyn fenn during the twin peaks era seemed the most beautiful woman in the world to me. How did her career putter out so quickly?

I thought Jonathan Jackson would have a killer career after seeing the deep end of the ocean. That he’d be the next Leo.

I think Bette needs a strong director. When she did Gypsy, I thought that finally she'd get to fulfill her dramatic potential AND get to sing AND get to be funny. She sang it well enough, was fairly funny in several scenes, but her drama scenes were shockingly bad. It was like an overripe William Castle movie. It was laughable. Her director was dying of AIDS at the time, so he wasn't going to reel her in and the performance suffered. I think directors are scared of telling her to reel it in.

Shia comes to mind.

Brenton Thwaites...did not happen despite the Datalounge love.

Adrian Brody

The Rose was her first film, r9, and none of her work in movies matches it.

I agree, r12, Gypsy should have been great, but it was a huge disappointment. Overplaying is her fatal flaw. Maybe it’s tied to her success as performing on stage. She can’t turn it down for the camera.

Laura Linney - I know it seems an odd choice. But I based it after seeing her in Tales of the City. First off, her career did stall for a few years after. And I know she's done pretty well, but I thought she'd have a Meryl Streep-like career wracking up one Oscar nom after another. Instead, it was Kate Winslet.

I thought it was about quality of work, not career nosedives or lack of awards.

Bridgett Fonda

^^ There is some untold story regarding Fonda.

R20 I agree. No mention of anything since #metoo so I doubt we'll ever know

Didn't Fonda have an autisitc kid to take care of and left films because of that?

She married Danny Elfman, the composer, right? She wouldn’t need the money.

Timothy Hutton - nothing would ever come close to his work in "Ordinary People"

There’s a whole bunch of actresses who were attractive and gave solid performances in two or three films - then pretty much disappeared. I always assumed it was cos of marriages, families etc - and the pressure of combining a career with having kids - and how hard it was to get back into working after doing so - especially as there was always a stream of new and younger talent ready to fill the void in absences you’d take... but now - in the age of me too and the stories we’ve heard - I just wonder if many got sick of the virtual prostitution it takes to get roles when you had people like Weinstein in power.

As well as Bridget Fonda - what about her co-star in Scandal - Joanne whalley-kilmer. She was a knockout when young and thought she’d keep getting great roles - but her career never really hit the heights. Marriage to Val Kilmer didn’t help either - thought she’d be half of a huge power-couple - but his behaviour didn’t do either of them any favours and it didn’t work the way it should have...

Megan Follows and Sarah Polley.

[quote]r25 Timothy Hutton - nothing would ever come close to his work in "Ordinary People"

[italic]Buck[/italic] would have been a big star.

Jude Law. He was fantastic (and beautiful!) in Wilde and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

[quote] Whoopi Goldberg could’ve done better after The Color Purple. Her early stand-up included several characters that were quite moving.

Whoopi has had few roles that tapped into what made her special.

The Sister Act movies are, to me, her biggest successes other than Color Purple, and it's because she was given space - like some movies gave Robin Williams space - to both play a character and yet do "her" thing.

Midler has multiple Tony's,Emmy's,Grammy and Golden Globes for her work singing,on the Broadway stage,movies and over 30 millions records sold.I wouldn't call her career lackluster or even unsuccessful by a longshot.OP check out her networth and then reconsider what you wrote.Its wrong.But if your young,maybe you don't know any better.

R26 Polley became disenchanted with the American film industry (and Weinstein creeped on her), so I think it may be more of her own choice.

Voted r27 for wit and wisdom

Patty Duke

Timothy Dalton. So talented, so handsome, somehow never made it into the top echelons.

Duke did fine. She stumbled with Valley Of The Dolls but turned to tv and won three Emmys.

Sela Ward owns this thread.

Sela Ward? Lol

Courtney Love was good in The People vs Larry Flint.

[quote]I thought Bette Midler was spectacular in The Rose.

Is this a joke? The Rose was one of the cheesiest. overwrought pieces of garbage ever made. Bette Midler looked, sang and acted like a clown (she screeched every song and chewed more scenery than Nathan Lane in The Birdcage). Plus, she didn't even come close to capturing Janis Joplin (or a Joplin-esque singer).

The mention of Sela Ward makes me want to binge “Sisters.” Is it available streaming anywhere?

Does Nastassja Kinski fit the profile?

I think Richard Dreyfuss is one of the front runners if a career crashing and burning spectacularly. Remember when he was at his peak as the Extremely Likable Hippie Geek? Then he got cast over and over again as the uptight Yuppie asshole and then sort of vanished. Yeah, I know people will say, "Well, he came back with Mr. Holland's Opus," but nah. That was just Oscar bait.

Lara Flynn Boyle. Loved her in Twin Peaks.

Malcolm McDowell. Became a cult superstar with A Clockwork Orange, then bombed with Caligula and never recovered afterward.

Keir Dullea.

Paul Sand.

Parker Posey. Loved her in "Will & Grace."

I thought Eric Stoltz was going to be a big star, but that didn’t happen.

Chris O'Donnell was Hollywood's "it boy" for about a minute. He had a series of good rolls and was being groomed as the next Tom Cruise. Word is the Velvet Mafia tanked his career.

When I first saw Vera Farmiga, I thought she’d be the next great actress. I thought that a Laura Linney or Joan Allen type career was pretty much a given, and assumed she’d probably do even better than that. She’s still immensely talented, but doing horror movies and television shows seems like a waste.

^good roles

[quote]Keir Dullea.

I was so shocked and disappointed when I saw him in a cheesy ass low budget TV movie adaptation of Brave New World. Like, really? From 2001 to this???

That reminds me: how about guys like Bud Cort (who was also in that Brave New World adaptation) and Michael J. Pollard. Wasn't Pollard shaping up to be some major cult figure and 60s icon? He's a little before my time but I vaguely recall that he was being groomed as some kind of major cult figure/It Guy of the counterculture or something.

Also, Brad Davis.

Just remembered a few others:

Jack Wild was one of the most charismatic child actors of all time and could've had an amazing career similar to Mickey Rooney, if not for his alcoholism.

Roddy McDowell. I know that he carved a niche for himself with the Planet of the Apes series but he basically slummed it for most of his career once he got older. I think things got so bad that at some point he was always cast as "the evil British record producer."

Bette Middler should be thankful she got to have any sort of career with that ugly ratty face.

MIDLER: 'Jinxed' wasn't that bad. You saw it on a bad day.

INTERVIEWER, "Yeah, I saw it on a bad day! [italic]I saw it!"

I have always thought that Bette Midler has a fantastic gift for comic timing but her roles never let her express that to the fullest. A lot of her stage act, especially the mermaid in a wheelchair, is truly cringeworthy. Maybe she has poor taste or poor judgement. I really liked her short-lived tv series 'Bette'.

Gwyneth Paltrow. Cannot believe she is not her generations Meryl Streep and Princess Grace rolled into one. Can you?

Some of these actors -- like Goldberg and Midler -- are too hard to cast. That's the problem. But what other names?

Streisand never topped FUNNY GIRL and made a lot of bad movie choices from then on.

Jessica Lange won an Oscar in '83 and received a lot of good press, but never really went anywhere.

[quote]Chris O'Donnell was Hollywood's "it boy" for about a minute. He had a series of good rolls and was being groomed as the next Tom Cruise. Word is the Velvet Mafia tanked his career.

Guess you don't watch much TV. Chris O'Donnell has a hit TV series on CBS, NCIS: Los Angeles, it's been on since 2009.

Yeah, Jessica Lange - - a real nobody.

Juliette Lewis. But I guess she was just too weird, ultimately.

WW for R39. I was just a gayling, so young and trusting, when The Rose happened to me. 1979. I hadn't even sat down on my first cock yet when I settled my tender rosebud in the theater seat that fateful night. Little did I know I had walked into a trap and Bette Midler was gonna savage me me with her big giant SCHLOCK! And at the end of this nightmare she even made me climb a tower of treacle (the much belerved title track) before she'd let me outta there. I did appreciate Frederic Forrest though, during the whole ordeal I kept my eyes closed and pretended it was his big schlock and not hers.

And the bitch thought the Academy should award her for this caterwauling fit. They should have arrested and fined her.

Ronee Blakely - nominated for an Oscar for NASHVILLE, gave a great, very open performance....plus wrote her own songs.

Then she ended up in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.

Brent Corrigan.

Kindly speak further of this Velvet Mafia.

Why would they want to tank CoD’s career?

He locked the back door.

Ashley Judd - There's talent in there somewhere. I saw it when I watched [italic]Heat[/italic]. But mostly she's just a pretty face.

Patrick Wilson. I really thought he would be a big A-Lister but it didn't happen, for whatever reasons.

Edward Norton, but probably because he became too difficult to work with.

I second Timothy Hutton. When I saw Taps I was sure the fat psycho kid was doomed to play character roles. That was Tom Cruise. And Hutton is where these days?

Maybe too early to put him on this list, but Jake Gyllenhaal?

Streisand had a spectacular first five years in Hollywood--from Funny Girl (1968) to The Way We Were (1973). After that, she turned down all the good roles she was offered. No idea what was going on in her head.

Well, granted, some of the things she turned down (like THE EXORCIST) would have been ridiculous with Streisand in them.

And KLUTE.

Nastassja Kinski, Leigh Taylor-Young, Peggy Lipton

Not sure if this fits exactly in this category, but I always thought that Zohra Lampert should have had a bigger career. She's always been a very unique and compelling actress who always manages to find a moving way to interpret a role (even a relatively minor role), and I always thought she should have had a career similar to Sissy Spacek's (not flashy, but well known and highly respected for her work), but it never seemed to happen. Eventually, she was demoted to supporting roles on TV, until even that work dried up.

Interesting trivia about r62 :

The actors wrote their own songs, and the first one she does in that scene is played really fast, to show the unstable character lagging a bit against a challenge. Then the second song (a ballad) shows her pain. Then the monologue is something the actress stayed up all night writing and memorizing, and the musicians backing her up were not alerted by Altman that she would be stopping and starting so much...so their, and the spectators', confusion is real.

Also Blakely had a fever that day, which made her feel a little delirious the whole afternoon while acting. But it works[bold] : )

[quote]r74 I always thought that Zohra Lampert should have had a bigger career. She's always been a very unique and compelling actress who always manages to find a moving way to interpret a role

Well, her canned beans commercials were certainly TOP NOTCH.

Streisand allegedly turned down (among others):

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Cabaret

Julia

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Eyes of Laura Mars

Diary of a Mad Housewife

Mask

[quote]Jude Law. He was fantastic (and beautiful!) in Wilde and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

And he played a beautiful, smug little cocktease in both.

Not much range and he quickly lost his hair.

Ann Blyth -- amazing in MILDRED PIERCE at only sixteen then... she didn't do too many dramatic roles. She mostly did light operetta movies until they dried up in the '50s and retired.

R48 and R58 - I can see where Chris O'D and his Catholic-ness rubbed the Velvet Mafia the wrong way, but that guy CANNOT act to save his life!

It has brought me pain and many-a-cringe over the years having to watch him in movies that I otherwise wanted to see (save the fact that he was in it). Bland, boring, and nothing going on in those eyes.

Well, Tatum O'Neal was good in two films, then seemed to start over again with no discernable talent, as if she'd emerged from a coma.

Sometimes borderline talented actors get a really well written role they're perfect for, but outside that range they're basically at sea.

I second Eric Stoltz and third Timothy Hutton (it wasn’t just Tom Cruise in Taps, btw; Sean Penn stole that movie out from under Hutton), and I’ll throw in Edward Furlong. Winning performances in T2 and American Heart (which also features a ripped Jeff Bridges), and then a descent into drug hell.

On women, I’ll say Julia Ormond. She was everywhere for two years in the 90s, and then disappeared.

Christine Lahti

Barbra Streisand in Cabaret? I can't even imagine it.

OP makes it sound like it's the actor's fault they didn't "fulfill" some sort of promise but it many cases it's a question of the right actor getting the right role and making a success out of it but then not getting similar "right" roles. There are excellent actors out there but no one is assured of 50 years of great, starry roles. Only a tiny handful of actors really get to that iconic level of working at the same consistent level for more than a few years.

Uh.... I think we're forgetting a big one. But probably because she's become a DL Punchline.

Kate Hudson!!!! Nominated for an Oscar for her first big movie role, just like her mom. She was expected to win. Just like her mom. But she lost in a surprising upset to Marcia Gay Harden. I don't think she's even had an oscar worthy role since Almost Famous.

To get technical, Meryl Streep has really never fulfilled HER early promise.

She established herself in the 70s getting good roles in good films made by excellent filmmakers (Julia, The Deerhunter, Manhattan and Kramer vs Kramer) but if you look hard at her filmography after that it's full of inconsequential/middling films.

There's actually very few brilliant/classic films on there and little work with interesting or innovative filmmakers. I mean, when her biggest films are directed by Pakula, Nichols and Pollack, that's not saying much. (all good directors but not great film artists). Or, if she does work with a more talented director (Altman, Demme, Spielberg) it's long after their prime.

For being such a brilliantly praised actress (and, I think Streep IS talented) she really has NO significant role in a film classic. All she has are a few good performances (and sometimes iconic ones) in not particularly major movies.

Eric Roberts - Brilliant in King of the Gypsies, Raggedy Man & beyond brilliant in Star 80 and then his career sort of fizzled out after The Pope of Greenwich Village and Runaway Trail. He makes lots of movies but nobody sees most of them. He was terrific in It's My Party during the 1990s and in The Dark Knight but he really should have been an A-lister during the 1980s and remained there. The guy is so talented.

Re: Emily Lloyd. The website notstarring dot com has iffy info on it (the gossip's sometimes just collected from around the internet) but there are some projects she was to do that I had not heard about.

I think for 5 minutes everyone wanted her.

[quote]Mermaids : Emily Lloyd was originally cast as Charlotte but was replaced by Winona Ryder. She sued Orion Pictures for damages and won. Actor who got the part: Winona Ryder

[quote]Scandal: According to a New York Times article, Emily was due to play Mandy Rice-Davies, but dropped out. Bridget Fonda played the role and recieved a Golden Globe nomination.

[quote]Tank Girl : Lloyd was originally cast as the title character, but dropped out after refusing to shave her head for the role. Actor who got the part: Lori Petty

r67’s post made me think of Ben Shenkman and Justin Kirk, Patrick’s co-stars In AIA. I thought all 3 would be huge after that mini-series...they were all phenomenal. Has anyone checked on Ben Shenkman lately?

Dolly Parton began her film career (Nine to Five / Whorehouse) with both critical praise and box-office-muscle to her credit, only to fall into the lazy trap of giving perfunctory performances in some pretty lackluster projects. Despite it's seemingly legendary success, "Steel Magnolias" did Dolly's film career no favors and most of her line readings in the film are pretty terrible, the exception being her scenes opposite Sam Shepard, mostly because the two shared an easy, natural on-screen-chemistry, which added some tenderness to her performance, especially in the "it makes you pretty" and "I'm a chain" scenes.

I think OP is talking about the quality of the work, not the level of success. People who only had one or two good performances in them, like Heather Graham, as opposed to reliables like Laura Linney.

Interesting argument about Streep, though who knows what future generations will regard as classic. But she surely had opportunities to choose more interesting projects.

What is Timothy Hutton's story? Personal problems in the 80s or just doesn't care about the Hollywood game?

[quote]I watched WYWH over and over as a teen.

Me too; she was brilliant. I had no idea she’d written a book, thanks, DL!

Cybill Shepherd- twice. She was very good in ‘The Last Picture Show’ but awful in subsequent films. She was okay in ‘The Comeback Kid’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ but neither really called on her to do anything except be pretty.

15 years later she made a huge comeback in ‘Moonlighting’ in which she proved she was quite adept at comedy and that she could also play a sympathetic lead character. She was great for the first 3 seasons of that show, but started phoning it in after she got pregnant.

She’s never done anything of quality since, and that includes her CBS sitcom in the mid-nineties.

R87

You can't really be the most celebrated actress ever and not have fulfilled your promise. If she hasn't then no one has.

R52 I can’t remember a poor performance given by Jack Wild; he was magnetic in everything he did. His turn as Ornshaw in MELODY (aka S.W.A.L.K., that movie The Bee Gees did all the music for) broke my heart the first time I saw it, and I watched his later work (supporting roles, mainly) in productions like OUR MUTUAL FRIEND and ALICJA with the same fascination. He could even entertain well in his less prestigious work, like EVERYDAY MATHS for the BBC. He just knew how to perform with a vulnerability but also a knowing humour and awareness of his audience, and that’s something you can’t teach. I was gobsmacked seeing him suddenly appear after a long hiatus in that tiny slapsticky role in that Costner 90z ROBIN HOOD, but even there he managed to seem like a natural fit in the part.

That said. It probably helps that he did years of stageschool in London and got his start as a jobbing actor so young with that PUFNSTUF nonsense (the one thing I didn’t like watching him in, though not because of his performance). It’s such a pity that he couldn’t enjoy his talent or his success working in film/television to its fullest (less said about the pop-star stuff, the better....)

The actress Jacqueline Pearce (Blake's 7) who died last month is really interesting in this regard. At RADA her classmates were John Hurt and Antony Hopkins. Talent wise she was easily regarded as their equal. Before she graduated she was getting work. A glittering career seemed to be at her fingertips. Anyway throw in some self sabotaging choices, clinical depression, bad relationships her career just stalled.

R69 Gyllenhaal became a more interesting actor after the attempts to turn him into a movie star tanked. If he had been a conventional leading man, I doubt he would've been in things like Nightcrawler or Enemy.

R82 Ormond stupid agreed to star in a remake of Sabrina. That killed her momentum.

R82 & R100 - a couple of nights ago I saw a lovely little Australian film that’s only just opened here (in Oz) called The Ladies in Black. It’s set in a swank Sydney department store in the fifties over the Christmas/new year period. Julia Ormond is one of the four leading ladies. She plays a very sophisticated, European Post war imnigrant called Magda - who runs the couture department.

She looks so voluptuous and sexy in her beautiful, fitted costumes - and is clearly having a lot of fun with it all. She really is glorious! Wish they’d give her more films - she’s very good - more than makes up for the woeful Sabrina remake!

[quote]Streisand had a spectacular first five years in Hollywood--from Funny Girl (1968) to The Way We Were (1973). After that, she turned down all the good roles she was offered. No idea what was going on in her head.

LOL, she decided to become a director, Lamont.

Stephen Dorff

Ormandy was fun in her role on Mad Men

Kristy McNichol

[quote] Streisand allegedly turned down (among others): Cabaret

Good.

"The Rose was her first film..."

And your point is? Midler was already a star and continued to be a star. Same with Streisand.

R87 and R93 - name all those great American mainstream films made by great directors over the last 30 years Streep could have starred in yet turned down. Not great supporting roles but big fat starring roles for women in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Woody Allen, who, regardless of his current reputation, was once considered 1. an important director and 2. a women director, made only one film centered around a middle aged (i.e. over 50) female star (Gena Rowlands in Another Woman, Geraldine Page was part of an ensemble in Interiors, despite her best actress nomination). Streep's career, in her position as a superstar, is all about making films about the character of woman of a certain age she's about to play, and such films are hardly ever made by "great" - i.e. male - directors.

It's not the actors and actresses that suck. It's the movies.

And btw, regarding those 3 big name directors Streep did work with, according to R87, she had a showy supporting role in The Manchurian Candidate (Washington was the protagonist), was part of an ensemble in A Prairie Home Companion and The Post's original script, which was all about Graham, was manned up by Spielberg to be more about the papers affair that a character study of a this (female) individual.

[quote]The Post's original script, which was all about Graham, was manned up by Spielberg to be more about the papers affair that a character study of a this (female) individual.

Well, it [italic]was[/italic] called The Post, not The Publisher of The Post.

Well said, R108, the great North American 'auteurs' (outside of Allen, who I think is more akin to Pollack than Scorsese), don't typically make films that feature a female character as the driving force.

Cuba Gooding owns this thread, as does scores of other Oscar winners who’s names I’ve forgotten.

Sharon Stone showed sudden mid-career promise as opposed to early career promise when she stripped away her glamour puss style of "acting" (See The Specialist or Sliver) to actually play a human being in Casino. But then, other than an underrated turn in The Muse, she never really lived up to the hype again.

The Rose was not Bette Midlers film debut. Not counting non-credit background roles her screen debut was The Thorn (1971) in which she played the Virgin Mary. Midler would rather erase all evidence of the films existence.

[quote]Chris O'Donnell was Hollywood's "it boy" for about a minute. He had a series of good rolls and was being groomed as the next Tom Cruise. Word is the Velvet Mafia tanked his career.

Must’ve been because he didn’t put out. I understand that he’s a conservative Catholic.

R116 I believe he is hung like horse.

Winona Ryder. She was Hollywood It girl for a while but her career began to tank at the end of 90s even before shoplifting thing.

Proof r117?

[quote]Chris O'Donnell was Hollywood's "it boy" for about a minute. He had a series of good rolls and was being groomed as the next Tom Cruise. Word is the Velvet Mafia tanked his career.

[quote]Must’ve been because he didn’t put out. I understand that he’s a conservative Catholic.

[quote]I believe he is hung like horse.

That would have been some excellent out-putting.

[quote] He had a series of good rolls

Sweet rolls or hard?

Christopher Walken never had another dramatic performance come close to his Oscar-winning turn in "Deer Hunter". I think everybody mistook his crazy eyes for outstanding acting. F. Murray Abraham's career went nowhere after his much-deserved Oscar for "Amadeus", clearly because his look is hard to cast. Ben Whishaw had started out headlining movies and has lately been relegated to supporting roles, except for the occasional BBC miniseries. He's brilliant but lacks ambition - the big time stresses him out.

thought of eric Stoltz. sarah polley was by choice she did not want to lame Hollywood formula movies and kiss butt. too get the parts. Also wanted to live in Canada not the usa.

Christopher Jones.

Actually, a lot of those mentioned DID fulfill their "early promise." It's just that their "promise" didn't extend beyond their early roles. They shot their wad and that was that. And keep in mind, not everyone who's talented can be a huge star. There's only so much room at the top. Plus the whole business runs on a formula. Read "The Star Machine" to see how that works. Talent isn't the only factor involved. Then there are those (like Jones) who sabotaged their careers through behavior, addiction issues etc. And then there are those who never had much talent to begin with (Michael Pare, for instance).

[quote] Ben Whishaw had started out headlining movies and has lately been relegated to supporting roles, except for the occasional BBC miniseries. [bold]He's brilliant but lacks ambition - the big time stresses him out. [/bold]

Which you know how?

R89, eons ago there was a rumor that Eric Roberts used to whore Julia out to his friends when they were both teenagers, and that when she became a star she got back at him by tanking his career. That said, I never thought he was all that talented.

R125, interviews.

I thought instantly of Aaron Stanford. I'm a fan of his and think he's talented with a perfectly respectable resume. However, objectively-speaking he hasn't yet lived up to his initial hype (and who ever really does?).

Considering he's more or less obscure in the industry now, the first part of his career is almost glittering by comparison. His first role was a lead in the critical darling TADPOLE opposite Sigourney, and he followed this by taking a part in Allen's HOLLYWOOD ENDING and one in Singer's glorious X-MEN: UNITED. He was part of the ensemble in the lauded 25TH HOUR, played the antagonist in cult black-comedy RICK with Bill Pullman and was then given his own vehicle WILL TRAVELER, which we have to suppose acted as a testing ground...

Then the mid-'00s rolled around and he suddenly sunk, playing second banana to Zooey Deschanel and a sidekick role CW sci-fi schlock NIKITA. He got the lead in the fairly decent 12 MONKEYS reboot but that's still a niche production with no prestige to speak of. He's on the WALKING DEAD spinoff series now, and punctuates that with the occasional audiobook recording. He's a sound actor with training and education as well as some solid experience, so why doesn't he have more (and better) to do these days?

People only recognise him as Pyro from the X-Men or as Doug from the new version of THE HILLS HAVE EYES, but maybe that's by design and he prefers it that way?

I didn't like Bette Midler at all in "The Rose." She alternated between foul-mouthed jeering (a favorite mode for Midler in both comedy and drama) and weepy self-pity.

I just don;t think Midler has dramatic talent. She is a great comedienne, and she can be a wonderful singer. But that's as far as it goes.

I don't think Meryl Streep is "the most celebrated actress ever." I think that title would go to Sarah Bernhardt or Eleanora Duse.

Judy Davis. Could have been a great Hollywood star after "A Passage to India" (especially given how pretty she was when she was younger), but went back to her native Australia, doing only (widely celebrated) worj for Woody Allen and TV miniseries in the US.

She was so traumatized from working with David Lean, a famous bully, that she gave up mostly on Hollywood unless she could have control over which directors she worked with.

Barbara Harris

[quote]I don't think Meryl Streep is "the most celebrated actress ever." I think that title would go to Sarah Bernhardt or Eleanora Duse.

Eleanora Duse?! Who has even heard that name? You don't like Streep. We get it. But if she's a disappointment than every other actress who ever lived is too.

[quote]I don't think Meryl Streep is "the most celebrated actress ever." I think that title would go to Sarah Bernhardt or Eleanora Duse.

I'm sure they were glad you enjoyed their performances, r130. I'm going to stick with "the most celebrated actress ever to appear in my lifetime."

I know I enjoyed Eleanora Duse in the last 2 seasons of Game of Thrones.

Dawson.

This thread is interesting but I think the OP's premise is fundamentally flawed.

The assumption is always that if someone said actor did not become a great commercial success, or become a living legend a la Streep that they have somehow missed the mark.

But a lot of these actors have carved out interesting niches. Many actors have the best shot of working as character actors. Some are fighting against being typecast, or ageism/sexism. Some are pretty narrowly endowed with talent or range: Chris O'Donnell, mentioned above, was pretty much born to play the handsome romantic lead or good guy.

Of the long list of actors here, most have had a chance to play a variety of roles. Courtney Love is actually one of the ones listed where I think her screen presence showed great promise, unfortunately overshadowed by the drama of her personal life and drug use.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste — stole SECRETS AND LIES right out from under Brenda Blethyn, was nominated for an Oscar, and never got another great role.

I think she would have had more success if it happened 20 years later; there are more good roles for black actresses now.

Samantha Eggar - Oscar nominated for The Collector in 1965. When the rating system went into effect, she refused to do nude scenes, and eventually went public about it and how it was negatively affecting her career. If she refused to drop her top, she lost the lost the part.

Barbara Shelley - Her career took hold around 1957 when she starred in the Cat Girl, a british remake of Cat People. She progressed to a co-starring role in Village of the Damned, but her career went into a treadmill of horror/sci-movies through the 60's. She got tired of being type cast and left Hammer films around 1968, refusing any more horror parts. She continued to work but faded into obscurity as her non horror roles didn't attract any attention.

Elisabeth Shue - very good in LEAVING LAS VEGAS, but nothing notable after that.

Eric Roberts was really good early on, esp in THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (along with Mickey Rourke, another good actor whose career face planted).

William Hurt had a tad of "early promise" with BODY HEAT, but he was such a boring actor he flatlined.

My generation will always love Elisabeth Shue for "Adventures In Babysitting."

Pamela Franklin after The Prime of Miss Jane Brodie.

Edward Norton for me, clearly the best actor of his generation and people don't even know who he is these days.

He should have 2-3 Oscars by this point. Birdman feels like 20 years ago already and the general public has never heard of that movie either. He's big in Brooklyn, that's about it.

R126, Eric is 11 years older than Julia, so they were never 'teenagers together', he was already well into his film career by the time Julia turned 13 in 1980.

1980? Why, I wasn't even born yet!

R140 William Hurt was one of the most acclaimed, successful and in-demand actors of the 1980s. However, the developed a bad reputation of being somewhat difficult to work with which had something to do with his decline during the 1990s, not to mention he got older and less attractive.

R131 Judy Davis has had a very successful career, in films, TV and on stage, despite that she can is supposed to be something of a cunt in real life. And it was her giving David Lean a hard time no him giving her one. However, one cannot deny that Davis is a very talented actress and almost always a pleasure to watch.

"Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow." - Noël Coward

[quote] Eleanora Duse?! Who has even heard that name?

You said "most celebrated actress ever"--so we are not confined to the year 2018. There IS such a thing as history you know--the world was going on long before you were born (which I know must be a shock to you).

[quote] You don't like Streep.

Why the fuck said I don't like Meryl Streep? Stop putting words in my mouth.

"I'm going to stick with "the most celebrated actress ever to appear in my lifetime."

Which is NOT at all the same thing as "the most celebrated actress ever.," as was claimed earlier.

You're shifting the goalposts.

The issue with Edward Norton isn't lack of talent. He's just an asshole. I knew the screenwriter of one of his films who said he was an absolute terror and kept wanting to rewrite everything. There were some even bigger stars in that film and they were nothing but respectful to the screenwriter, but Norton seemed like he went out of his way to fuck stuff up.

Eva Green

Great actress and a beautiful woman what happened to her career?

Skeet Ulrich.

Er wait, I guess I just wanted to fuck him.

James McAvoy

He's great in everything he does but his career is not doing really well

Shia LaBeouf

Ben Whishaw

Amazing actor deserves better roles and big films

Keanu Reeves - extremely limited actor but FANTASTIC big screen movie star. I loved going to Keanu Reeves movies. Then after Matrix (1999) he just dithered around for well over a decade. And he still had several years there where he was so easy to look at. Wasted. Wasted wasted wasted star power.

The Marvel films have hampered the careers of some very good actors, like McAvoy, Fassbender and Cumberbatch. The damn things take so long so shoot and then there are the press tours which also take months, then it's right back to filming another one.

I'm tired of seeing Emily Watson's talent being wasted at playing moms for 5 mins in every British film she's an extremely talented actress she deserves better

R157 I can feel your passion lmao.

That guy that played elio, what’s his name again?

Julian Sands.

Failbender deserves his career being hampered he's a violent domestic abuser

Romola Garai

You know what, r150? I don't care. I don't remember "Duse." I'm not going to rate her.

[quote]Skeet Ulrich. Er wait, I guess I just wanted to fuck him.

Why?

Of all the "25 under 25" actors ever profiled in magazines in the 1980s, he is the one I didn't get. Still don't. Either from an acting standpoint or a fuckability standpoint.

Lamy Adams

[quote]r130 I don't think Meryl Streep is "the most celebrated actress ever." I think that title would go to Sarah Bernhardt or Eleanora Duse.

THAT bitch.

Back in my day, we called her Eleonora [italic]Douche.

Oh to each his own. Skeet was obviously not a clean cut young man nor probably a healthy one. He had an angel the gutter prettiness. It's a type. I loved a number of his young performances. Mickey Rourke had it, too.

Mickey Rourke had terrible skin and a crumbled face but he sure was pretty. He looked a guy with dirty or no underwear, an interesting small record collection, decent drugs, an exciting car or bike, and a good fuck.

So no one mentioned Kathleen Turner? She had one of the best film debuts for a modern Hollywood actress with Body Heat, and got an Oscar nomination for Peggy Sue Got Married. But her career fizzled when the 90s came around. Pauline Kael said in her review of Body Heat that Kathleen Turner was like a mix between Barbara Stanwyck and Lauren Bacall.

Someone like Turner, a tall, statuesque blonde with a sultry voice, should've had the career similar to her contemporaries (e.g., Streep, Lange, Sarandon, .etc). What happened? Same goes for Debra Winger.

Have you been living under a rock, R171. Gee, I wonder what happened to Turner. If ONLY there was a way to find out. Gee, what a pity I will never know the story.

Both Turner and Winger were "difficult"

Also, Turner had major health problems in the early 1990s. Rheumatoid arthritis I believe it was, which is very debilitating.

[quote]r171 So no one mentioned Kathleen Turner? She had one of the best film debuts for a modern Hollywood actress with Body Heat, and got an Oscar nomination for Peggy Sue Got Married. But her career fizzled when the 90s came around. Pauline Kael said in her review of Body Heat that Kathleen Turner was like a mix between Barbara Stanwyck and Lauren Bacall.

A top movie star's career doesn't usually go longer than 10 years. Turner had several hit pictures and admired performances in such a period. She DID fulfill her early promise.

BTW, Kael did not give her any kind of a rave for BODY HEAT. I think she said Kathleen Turner was tall and had a lovely voice, but went through the moves in a perfunctory manner, as if they were marked on the floor. Kael did not like this actress until her next film (THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS), where she wrote Turner "comes alive in comedy."

Goodness, Turner certainly went through 'sucking' stage in her career. First Steve Martin's finger in The Man With Two Brains and then John Laughlin's toe(s) in Crimes of Passion the following year.

Can't imagine an actress doing that these days.

Wes Bentley owns this thread

Wes Bentley is a good one

I never found Wes Bentley to be particularly talented. He was gorgeous (and still is), but he even fucked up his chance to be in Ryan Murphy's stable of actors by sucking so bad in AHS: Hotel. He was literally sleepwalking through his entire performance.

Kathleen Turner was always more of an artist type rather than a movie star. She was smart and realized that, once her looks were gone, she'd be shit out of luck as a movie star, so she turned to stage and has become very successful at that. She always did seem to be more of a character actress trapped in the body of a beautiful, stunning woman. I think it's very tough for actors like that, because agents and casting directors want to bring them in for the girl/boy next door roles or the leading lady/man roles, but their talents aren't really suited to those. Despite looking the part from their headshots, there's something a little bit more quirky and interesting about them once they get in the room and start reading. Sometimes, losing their looks is the best thing for their careers. They can finally be taken seriously.

What about Jessica Harper? I thought she was kinda interesting and has the distinction of being in a couple of really outlandish cult favorites like Suspiria, Phantom of the Paradise, and Shock Treatment. These movies still have rabid fanbases. I hear she's got a tiny role in the new remake of Suspiria, so I'm excited about that. I think she married the head of Fox, so she probably doesn't have that fire in her belly anymore. Once people realize they're set for life, they start playing it super safe.

In agreement about Courtney Love. She's an obnoxious mess ..etc... but that woman is multi talented.

If she didnt have nirvana money, and a bad reputation, she would've probably done more in hollywood and nominated.

I'll never understand the "Ed Norton is an asshole who rewrites every script" thing ... is he ill or something? Why does he feel this obligation to make changes in a script that he didn't write????

It sounds like a compulsion lol. They've been saying that for years. Obviously he didn't rewrite on Rounders and Fight Club and all the movies that made him a star. He should try cutting that out for a while and getting a top level career back.

[quote]Failbender deserves his career being hampered he's a violent domestic abuser

Evidence? I've never heard this. I know he's a drunk, but I've never heard about abuse.

OP here, checking in and surprised to see this many replies.

To clarify what I meant in the OP:

Actors who gave very good performances at the start of their careers but never equaled those early performances.

Good early. Never as good again.

Not WHET. Not career nosedive. Not lack of awards. Not box office failure - or success.

I used Bette Midler as someone who has had a fairly solid and long career in film, who is also someone who I feel never gave a performance as good as her first big role.

Some posts that seemed to resonate with my intended meaning included ones about Dolly Parton, Meryl Streep, and Timothy Hutton.

And Dawson, of course. Those first dozen or so loads were the stuff of screen magic that simply eclipsed him as he neared the triple digits.

I’m intrigued by how some posters ha e pointed to industry success as a factor in diminished quality of work, as with Bette Midler becoming so big that a director couldn’t rein her in, or the Marvel superheroes who miss out on projects that might tap their talents while they’re otherwise engaged in CG spectacles.

And on the flip side, an actor like Jake Gyllenhaal, who never broke as big as had been predicted and therefore found himself in roles that made him a better actor, like Nightcrawler.

And in the case of Sarah Polley, I think she turned into a fascinating filmmaker. What she does behind the camera easily supersedes her work on front of it.

Miss OP has Stated Her Boundaries!

^ I’m a teacher. On DL, I get to call you a fuckwit and a shitskull for not reading to understand the fucking directions, which I can’t do on the job. Except that even on DL I suppress that urge, as I did in the above post. I did, however, use a special education strategy to explain succinctly what it meant, and what it didn’t mean.

All for nothing. DL doesn’t pay much mind to parameters anyway.

There's still time, but Kiernan Shipka needs to get to gettin'

2010

Girlfriend Fears 'Inglourious Basterds' Star

Michael Fassbender's ex -- Sunawin Andrews -- filed a petition for a restraining order against him earlier this month in L.A. County Superior Court.

In the documents, Andrews claims Michael hit the bottle hard during a film festival in July of 2009 -- and after he woke up in a puddle of his own urine, he became violent and "threw me over a chair breaking my nose."

Andrews also says Michael allegedly dragged her alongside their car one night after they had an argument about one of her ex-boyfriends ... causing her to twist her left ankle, blow out her left knee cap and burst an ovarian cyst.

2018 Allegations resurface

The Shocking Abuse Allegations Against Michael Fassbender

Anthony Mackie...seemed like he was ready to take the reins from Denzel as the Alist African American actor...now what? Didn’t he make some homophobic remarks after his role in the gay themed LOOKING FOR LANGSTON?

I too thought Bette Midler was terrible in"The Rose." The very semitic looking Midler playing a Texas blues/rock singer? And with that Broadway voice? It was SO bad.

I really have never liked Bette in any dramatic role. Only her light 80s comedies.

I would say the answer to the question is "most."

If you look thru the Oscar nominations, Emmy, Tony etc. Most people have one and then they are done. People like M and even G who have careers for years and amass awards are very rare.

That ex-girlfriend of Fassbender is shady AF. Who knows if she was really telling the truth.

Tatum O'Neal's performance in "Paper Moon" was totally manufactured. It had to be pulled out of her, little by little. She never had any real talent.

Marlee Matlin won an Oscar for her film debut in "Children of a Lesser God" but her film career went nowhere after that. I think she's only done tv work since then.

Wes Bentley made a splash in "American Beauty" but his film career never caught on, although he does continue to work.

Of course poor Emily Lloyd disappeared due to mental illness, but "Wish You Were Here" made her seem like she was going to be the next big thing.

Tatum thanked Bogdonovich and her father for the Oscar. Bogdonovich pulled the performance, and her father got her the job. Still, I love her in the role.

But I wish Madeline Kahn or old salt Sylvia Sydney had won.

By Little Darlings, it was apparent there was no talent. Kristy McNichol, on the other hand, was wonderful. I think her downfall was also mental illness, probably mixed with discomfort being a lesbian in an industry that would have run her out of town had she been out.

Awards and talent are not synonymous, r193.

Don’t forget me.

Aidan Quinn

Aidan Quinn also had an autistic child and he pulled back on his career to only take stuff near home in NYC to be near the kid.

R200 Sounds like one special guy. Love his work.

Teri Garr was a great comedic actress from Young Frankenstein right through Tootsie. She took some chances (One from the Heart) and continued to do well despite being saddled with thankless girlfriend/wife roles - Oh, God/Mr. Mom.

Andy Dick.

Before you throw rotten tomatoes at me, hear me out. Before he became one of the most despicable, hateful, pathetic pieces of crap on the planet, Andy Dick was an above average character actor who had carved a special niche playing a certain type (adorkables/prissy nerds). And you know what? He was genuinely funny and likable when he played those characters. (Watch him on Less Than Perfect; he's actually cute.)

Had he kept at it, he could've become like Mayim Bialik or Carol Kane--you know, made a career out of playing quirky, awkward, offbeat but beloved characters. Instead, he blew it.

Right in a way about Judy Davis, so excellent and also very pretty in "My Brilliant Career" although there were literally dozens of very good Australian actresses vying for roles in corset dramas of the same era (1975-1983) that should have broken through, like Sigrid Thornton.

Catalina Sandino Moreno. When she received an Oscar nomination for her big screen debut I thought she's new Salma Hayek in the making (fame-wise, at least) but she totally disappeared shortly after that. I don't think I even saw her in anything other than her first film so I'm not sure if that performance (which was pretty amazing) was a fluke or not.

I liked Sigrid Thornton as Judy Garland in the Peter Allen miniseries.

Kate Hudson what a huge letdown

[quote]r183 in the case of Sarah Polley, I think she turned into a fascinating filmmaker.

Speaking of Polley, does anyone here love SPLICE as much as I do? I thought it was really well done. It made me jump!

r195 Tatum O'Neal's performance in "Paper Moon" was totally manufactured. It had to be pulled out of her, little by little. She never had any real talent.

I thought she was considered to give a good performance in her Oscar follow-up film, THE BAD NEWS BEARS, as well?

At least, it was a big hit.

[quote]r204 Right in a way about Judy Davis, so excellent and also very pretty in "My Brilliant Career"

She's divine in HUSBANDS AND WIVES (though if you watch it you're sadly exposed to icky Woody Allen)

Rosanna Arquette post Desparately Seeking Susan. And I still think Juliette Lewis - with an Oscar nom for Cape Fear people really thought she was going to become big, but between her drug problem and just being too weird it didn’t happen.

[quote]r211 but between her drug problem and just being too weird it didn’t happen.

Whatever do you mean?

^^ Trivia about J. Lewis' Oscars dress:

She bought it at a vintage clothis boutique. Another girl had put a deposit on it as her wedding dress months and months before, but never come back to pay it off....so the store sold it to Lewis. But then the other girl saw it on TV and suddenly re-decided the dress was the best thing in the entire world and called the store in a rage, saying she wanted it.

Lewis was like, "Fine, take it."

I don't know if Lewis charged this chick the outstanding balance, or just sent it off.

Teri Garr has MS, and it has been debilitating, so I think she gets a pass.

Ravishingly beautiful Cara Delevingne, brilliant in the classic Paper Towns. Then nothing much.

Mary Stuart Masterson

What about Penelope Ann Miller? I think that’s a really good one actually. I always liked her

Priscilla Presley.

[quote]Goodness, Turner certainly went through 'sucking' stage in her career. First Steve Martin's finger in The Man With Two Brains and then John Laughlin's toe(s) in Crimes of Passion the following year. Can't imagine an actress doing that these days.

Throw G a couple of bananas and some Oscar talk and she’ll suck anything you put in front of her.

Why is everyone shitting all over THE ROSE?

It is one of my favorite comedies of all time.

Such a movie that I found only a few years ago. Bette’s character was often who I’d fantasize (ariund 6) I had ended up with living with after my parents were killed. Eerie how the desire for that carefree life, no concern of society rules, pursuing dreams not expectations - I thought would heal the hurt.

Seeing this movie - I was shocked my head had dealt with the confusion and pain of the time imagining the life the little girl lived from where this movie ended. Then, discussing with someone,they insisted the ending was non-committal to what happened.

I couldn’t find any information on a sequel or like. Anyone aware of one I missed?

I’m 20 years from that time. Have always loved Bette’s music. Some truths forgotten so easily.

Wow Downer dude post. No use asking for kindness in pounding my reputation. I typed the odd truth that still, the reality, hurts some days

What would Bud Cort's career have been if he had not been in hit by another car?

[quote] Wes Bentley made a splash in "American Beauty" but his film career never caught on, although he does continue to work.

And meanwhile, some of us did vital, amazing work in that movie....and were blocked by some masculine, hairy 90210 tartlet!

[quote ] Andy Dick - Had he kept at it, he could've become like Mayim Bialik or Carol Kane--you know, made a career out of playing quirky, awkward, offbeat but beloved characters. Instead, he blew it.

And we could have enjoyed his incredibly large penis without guilt or disgust.

Andy Dick has a big dick?

The mentions of Teri Garr remind me of Shelley Long, another charismatic blonde comedienne who kind of peaked and never really went anywhere acting wise.

How many times did Wes Bentley get groped by the Spaceman on the set of American Beauty?

Stephen Dorff is making a new MMA fight movie

I think a lot of actors on Star Trek series fall in this category, for example, Jennifer Lien, a beautiful actress with a sultry voice. She had a promising career in both regular and voice acting (she played a character in Men in Black) and never got it together after she was let go from Voyager.

Treat Williams, Lisa Eichhorn & John Heard all started out with strong starring roles around the same time in films like Hair, Prince of the City, Yanks, Cutter's Way, Between the Lines, Chilly Scenes of Winter than went into lower profile films and roles. William Katt was expected to be a big star after Carrie but made a few flops then had a hit TV show.

John Heard was amazing in Cutter's Way and stole the movie from the very hot-at-the-time Jeff Bridges. It's interesting that Cutter's Way, a solid neo-noir, isn't talked about much among those who love thrillers.

Shelley Long has at least made a few films that are cult classics. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't so wise to depart Cheers, but I don't want to imagine a world without Outrageous Fortune, Troop Beverly Hills, and The Brady Bunch Movie.

Penelope Ann Miller is now on Riverdale. I've always liked her. She has a great quality about her. I think she's very funny in Adventures in Babysitting and brings a lot of humanity to her role in Kindergarten Cop. Don't hate me, but I love those movies.

I was going to add Elizabeth Berkeley than I reminded she never showed any promise.

R225 Yes.

Reality is - there are a lot of people vying for very few roles. The issue is - once you have success, you demand more money but also get more selective as well. If you don't pull in the money with your next film after being paid a lot, then you're half way to having your career killed.

Films are a dangerous game for actors - TV is where it's at (nowadays) if you want longevity. TV used to be looked down upon, but that shouldn't be the case any more.

And there are a ton of actors and actresses that have too much of an ego to do TV - I'm looking at you Demi Moore.

[R223] I was going to add Elizabeth Berkeley than I reminded she never showed any promise.

—Anonymous

In "Show Girls" she showed more promise as a Porpoise than she did as a actress.

James McAvoy spent years playing psychos so he could break out of the male ingenue ghetto, and it seems to finally be paying off. He's got two franchises (X-Men and Split), just finished filming the It Sequel, and is about to start His Dark Materials. I think he's about as famous as he wants to be.

Anamaria Marinca

Franka Potente

Tootie Patootie.

Meg Tilly owns this thread.

Neely O'Hara. She learned the hard way that Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope.

WHET Neely O’Hara?

The last I heard she was stumbling around an alley screaming her own name.

Is a comeback still feasible?

Catherine O'Hara

Bryan Hawn.

When did Catherine O’Hara ever give a bad performance? She’s as funny now on Schitt’s Creek as she was on SCTV.

The kid from Home Alone.

Peter Fonda kind of falls into this category, doesn't he?

But did he even seriously try to get on with his acting career.....or did he just make his millions, drop out and do a lot of acid for a few decades?

I think Meg Tilly stepped away voluntarily 20/30 years ago. She's a writer now and she played Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in Canada maybe a decade ago. I feel like there's a #MeToo story in there somewhere.

Catherine O'Hara has never given a bad performance in her life, but I guess she never become a superstar the way Kristen Wiig or Melissa McCarthy did, which really is a head scratcher. I think she's funnier and more talented than both of them. She's best known as Kevin's mom from Home Alone which is kinda sad when you think about it. Hollywood doesn't always know what to do with genuinely funny women and they really didn't know what to do with them when O'Hara was starting out. It didn't help that she was very beautiful and probably went in for a lot of ingenue roles and didn't get the roles because she was too quirky. Like someone else said before, sometimes, being a wacky character actor trapped in the body of someone beautiful can really suck and it's hard to cast these people. Their headshots say one thing, but when they walk in and audition, they're too odd for the roles the roles they're reading for.

Jackée

For some reason, I’m Imagining Totie Fields “legitimizing” herself via a dinner theater production of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF

R92 I have to disagree with Dolly in Steel Magnolias, she was the most natural and effortless actress in the film, and more than held her own with Field, MacLaine, and Dukakis, proving that she could be a character actress, sadly she didn't follow it up with similar projects.

R214. Terri gets a pass indeed, but sadly, never fulfilled her early promise.

Jane Krakowski-she’s been relegated to playing Hailee Steinfeld’s mother in an Apple TV series about Emily Dickinson.

I’d kill someone to have Jane Krakowski’s career. Kill!

Carrot Top.

Allison Elliot, Loren Dean. Christopher Jones.

Jenilee Harrison

[quote] The very semitic looking Midler playing a Texas blues/rock singer?

Where did you get the idea there are no Jews in texas???

R259 you should have signed your comment Kinky Friedman. Some people fail to understand that Jews exist across the South and Southwest.

Bully Crudup. When I first saw Almost Famous I thought he'd be the next mega star. I also thought Patrick Fugit's career would take off but he only gets not parts in movies here and there.

Sorry bit parts in movies.

"Allison Elliot, Loren Dean. Christopher Jones."

I was just wondering about Alison Elliott. Thought she was great in The Wings of the Dove, but she never really did anything memorable after that. She was beautiful and could act.

Faye Dunaway

[quote]To clarify what I meant in the OP: Actors who gave very good performances at the start of their careers but never equaled those early performances.

Can I mention a certain DL fave without awakening his insane stans?

Scarlett Johansson was supposed to be a huge critical actress when she was younger ... and never happened. Money and box office and bombshell status, yes. But failed miserably to develop her skills. She has missed out and on a string of high profile roles many of which resulted in the other actresses getting Oscar nominations and in Anne Hathaway's case in Les Mis, an Oscar win.

Rufus Sewell

Jennifer Lien is a drug addict, right? Too bad.

R268 A combination of drugs, alcohol and being batshit crazy.

Jennifer Lien could've made a very good living as a voice-over actress if she hadn't gone off the rails. Sad story.

Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. Forever in my mind as TV's "He & She."

Jennifer Hudson; granted she's a singer, but she did win the Oscar for Supporting Actress in "Dreamgirls."

Diana Ross.

Diana Ross, good one. She was very talented as an actress, too bad she didn't do more films. Maybe The Wiz killed her acting career?

Often wondered about Megan Follows...she leaped off the screen in Anne of green gables..a real Judy or Liz Taylor teen. And only lately I've wondered about Emily Lloyd. Marc Singer was sexy in V...was surprised to see him in a silly role on a starting to flop Dallas..then zero. Is it BAD management.. the wrong people around them telling them to hold out for more money etc....always hated that Suzanne Somers ruined 3's company with that crap.....but i still like her.

Allison Elliott was pretty but extremely generic looking.

Alden Ehrenreich & Garrett Hedlund are two very recent examples. Chris Hemsworth is another who beyond those Marvel films simply can't get a bum on a seat. All three should consider other careers whilst they are still young enough.

[quote] Often wondered about Megan Follows...she leaped off the screen in Anne of green gables

Rumor has it that early success went to Megan's head and she became quite the little cuntress. Branded as difficult, especially in the States.

Took her a while to regain momentum - Reign helped, but she's now definitely in a different age bracket.

Would Gwyneth Paltrow be willing to glam down to take the lead role in Troubled Voyage: The Jennifer Lien Story?

She’s only 20 pounds away.

She could take a tip from Charlize Theron in Monster.

Oscar #2 is just a make-under away.

Hahahah, when I first saw R269's pic I immediately thought it was GOOP. How uncanny. She should play her in a TV Movie produced by her new hubby.

R274 - Maybe this performance killed her acting career?

Paltrow could maybe play young Jennifer Lien, but Arnold Schwarzenegger seems like the natural choice to play current Jennifer Lien.

French shooting star Simon de la Brosse committed suicide at 33 *thinking* that his career as gone nowhere. But it was the depression doing the talk.

I think he was great in the Little Thief, opposite Charlotte Gainsbourg.

No R282. "The Wiz" took out every single one of its actors' career. It was the cinematic Moldavian Massacre.

[quote]Troubled Voyage: The Jennifer Lien Story

This made me snort.

R74 I agree with Zohra Lampert, but I think it's more of a case that she was never really given the opportunity to fulfill her potential. I think Let's Scare Jessica to Death was the only film she ever led, and she was excellent. There were just no more opportunities after that as that film was not a hit.

I think Jennifer Lien showed a lot of promise at a young age, and her voice was incredible. But I think it's likely that she has mental issues; combine that with a successful acting career before the age of 20, and it's a recipe for disaster. While her acting career was over by the time she was 26, she did have Voyager, American History X, SLC Punk, and her voice acting on her filmography. She could have easily made a good living off voice acting and Star Trek convention appearances for the rest of her life if she didn't have her personal problems.

r142 Finally, someone else who remembers Pamela Franklin! I was obsessed with TPoMJB when it came out and I was a teen, who looked like 'Sandy' (dark hair and glasses). Saw the movie about eight times. I followed her later career until she got into horror films, which I don't much care for. Years later I rented the DVD of TPoMJB specifically to listen to the commentary, which was Pamela and the director (Ronald Neame). She stated in the commentary that she walked away from her career in the late 70s/early 80s because she was tired of being treated with disrespect. She married a fellow actor who opened a rare book store in LA.

Mo'Nique

[R289]

Even if you dislike horror movies, if you like Pamela Franklin, you should check out The Legend of Hell House. She and Roddy McDowall give excellent performances, and it's a really good movie regardless of the genre.

Yes, Teri Garr never fulfilled her early promise as "Dancer (uncredited)" in Elvis movies.

I suppose she should have had all the roles that Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Fonda got?

Jensen Ackles

Andrew Prine

Elizabeth McGovern

Tim Hutton owns this thread

I remember Pamela Franklin as a little girl in The Innocents. She was a good actress even then.

Chrissy Metz

When I saw R269's picture I thought it was Diana Scarwid.

R297=Faye Dunaway

How about Anna Paquin? Unlike most people I thought her Oscar for The Piano was totally undeserved, but I still hoped she might develop into a fine actress later on. Well, unfortunately she didn't - she's pretty much charisma-free and totally stiff onscreen.

JoBeth Williams

JoBsth Williams didn’t get the career she deserved, but she doesn’t belong on this list at all.

[quote] TV is where it's at (nowadays) if you want longevity. TV used to be looked down upon, but that shouldn't be the case any more. And there are a ton of actors and actresses that have too much of an ego to do TV.

I can't find a source now, but I remember Christina Ricci giving an interview once and saying that an older actress had warned her: "never do television". Ricci wisely chose to ignore that advice.

R33 I agree partially, but as an adult she did win three Emmys, so let's not forget that 👍

JoBsth Williams? If you're going to defend her, R301, at least spell her name correctly. Jesus fucking christ.

Joe Mang - Er, my husbeen!

Henry Thomas owns this thread.

R304 has never used a mobile phone.

Or a Xanax.

R307 - Fat fingers? Sorry, hon. I had no idea.

I was thinking Elizabeth McGovern too but she seemed to keep under the radar on purpose. Moved to London to raise her family. Downtown Abbey gave her another dose of stardom. I like how she's aged naturally as well.

Tim Curry

JoBeth Williams. Aw, man! I loved her. Where has she gone off to?

I think Tim Curry has had an inviable career. He's gotten to play some really fun roles in some great movies. He's one of those people who you know is going to be brilliant in everything he's in. He's reliable that way. A shame about his stroke, but happy to see he's doing conventions now and in good spirits.

Define inviable.

Christine Lahti is a pain in the ass. NOBODY likes working with her.

Word travels FAST and LOUD with those who are not worth the trouble.

Annabella Sciorra-and not just because Weinstein blackballed her.

Dana Plato

Charlene Tilton. Dallas and then what?

Jay North. Dennis The Menace, Maya, and then what?

Lassie

The Brady Kids

Lynda Day George

Cathy Lee Crosby

Bea Benaderet

Meg Foster. Feels like she should have a couple very famous performances and some important awards over her weird career.

Willie Aames

Someone said Anna Paquin. Is it true she had sex with several of the male cast of Hurly-burly?

Sondra Locke. She got a lot of acclaim for her performance in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" but didn't go on to have much a career, although she did get a lot of work in Clint Eastwood movies (she was his girlfriend at the time).

Elizabeth Hartman. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her film debut in "A Patch Of Blue" and won a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. She did other films but never became a big star. although she was very talented. Pauline Kael really liked her. Suffering from depression she ended up killing herself at age 43.

Kitty Winn. She won a Best Actress award at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in "Panic in Needle Park." She had a role in The Exorcist and did a few other films. She retired from acting in 1978. but did a few plays after that and won an award for one of them. But her potential was never realized.

Linda Purl-she made a wonderfully vivacious Alice Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin.

R326 I think being Clints girlfriend hurt Locke. I think she felt compelled to work with him all the time. I think they wanted to keep an eye on each other. In most people's minds she was just his girlfriend, not an actress in her own right. The parts she had in his movies weren't exactly awards bait. She might have been better off without him and free to work with a lot of different directors.

Chloe Moretz, Natalie Portman and Alicia Silverstone. All three positively sparkled as child/teen stars and then fizzled. I'm especially shocked by Chloe Moretz. I've never seen a kid steal so many scenes as much as she did in Kickass and yet she bombed spectacularly as a an adult. She is this generation's Drew Barrymore.

[quote]Jay North. Dennis The Menace, Maya, and then what?

Jay North was not that good a child actor and was miscast as Dennis the Menace, IMO. (It should've been Bobby Buntrock.)

Lori Petty could've broken out as a wildly successful character actress (playing Helena Bonham Carter-type roles) but never went anywhere after Tank Girl.

Quite a few of the ER cast members were amazing on that show and bombed after they left, especially Alex Kingston, who was so charismatic and charming and I was sure was going to break out but didn't. Leland Orser, too, who's always had a history of playing these very droll characters but keeps getting put in these crappy roles.

Polly Holliday

[quote] Quite a few of the ER cast members were amazing on that show and bombed after they left, especially Alex Kingston, who was so charismatic and charming and I was sure was going to break out but didn't.

Kingston continues to work in the UK and got a lot of mileage from her stint on Doctor Who. Sherry Stringfield, Laura Innes and Maria Bello all wish they had Alex’s career.

I've been wrestling with whether or not to say Raven-Symoné.

Perhaps it's true but if so I don't think it's her fault. Cosby, Disney and a forced-closeting are no picnic. Plus I don't believe Raven was ever really out to become a serious actrice, more enjoying comedy & pop music/entertainment. I still really like watching her or listening to her, except on THE VIEW which is a terrible show (and I'm glad she left).

Esai Morales

Judge Reinhold

Mira Sorvino

[quote] I think Tim Curry has had an inviable career

...Well, he's dead, so...yeah.

Clint Eastwood sabotaged Sondra Locke's career after their breakup but she sued him for it and he settled.

Rosie O'Donnell

Tim Curry isn't dead. He just had a stroke.

Linda Purl is a good one. I always liked her.

I think Meg Foster never got her due, because she's hard to cast. She has those icy blue eyes and can read as intimidating and even scary. She was never going to be the ingenue. I've actually met her and she's one of the sweetest people ever. A shame she always gets cast in villain roles. Then again, the ones who play those roles are usually the sweetest. The ones who play the ingenues are the ones who are the assholes.

Meg Foster has aged horribly, which isn't helping her cause.

Meg definitely seemed to stay out in the sun too much or something. She's also rail thin. It all seemed to happen so quickly, too. She's still spry, so it doesn't seem to be some sort of sickness or anything. Did someone leave her out in the sun for a month?

I remember her skin looking like pale porcelain in the 80's movies that she did. Maybe that was just really strong makeup or something.

Tippi Hedren

Tim Hutton is an unpleasant person. Anger issues. Probably not helpful for career, though admittedly peaking at age 18 must be rough.

Arlene Golonka owns this thread.

Rikki Lake - so promising in Hairspray, Last Exit to Brooklyn & Serial Mom. Then she became obsessed with becoming a talk show host.

[quote]R326 Sondra Locke. She got a lot of acclaim for her performance in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" but didn't go on to have much a career, although she did get a lot of work in Clint Eastwood movies (she was his girlfriend at the time).

I think he basically just expected him to work for HIM. Superstars are like that.

I imagine she was offered a lot of roles she turned down.

....expected HER just to work for him.

It sounds like Eastwood treated Locke like shit.

From 1975 until 1989, Locke cohabited with actor Clint Eastwood. They had first met in 1972, but became involved while filming The Outlaw Josey Wales.[3][24] In the late 1970s, Locke had two abortions.[n 1] "I'd feel sorry for any child that had me for a mother," she told syndicated columnist Dick Kleiner in 1969.[25] After the second abortion she underwent a tubal ligation, stating in her autobiography that her decision to have the procedures was due to Eastwood's adamancy that parenthood would not fit into their lifestyle.[4] Eastwood secretly fathered another woman's two children during the last three years of their relationship.[4]

In 1989, Locke filed a palimony suit against Eastwood after he changed the locks on their Bel-Air home and moved her possessions into storage while she was on the Impulse set.[3][26] Following a year long legal battle, the parties reached a settlement wherein Eastwood set up a film development/directing pact for Locke at Warner Bros. in exchange for dropping the suit.[26][27] Locke sued Eastwood again for fraud in 1995, alleging the deal with Warner was a sham[24]—the studio had rejected all of the 30 or more projects she proposed and never used her as a director.[4] According to Locke's attorney Peggy Garrity, Eastwood committed "the ultimate betrayal" by arranging the "bogus" deal as a way to keep her out of work.[28][29] The case came to trial in 1996, but before the jury was to render a verdict in Locke's favor, she settled with Eastwood for an undisclosed amount of money.[30][31] The outcome of the case, Locke said, sent a "loud and clear" message to Hollywood, "that people cannot get away with whatever they want to just because they're powerful."[32]

Locke brought separate action against Warner Bros. for allegedly conspiring with Eastwood to sabotage her directorial career.[33] As had happened with the previous lawsuit, this ended in an out-of-court settlement, in 1999.[27][34] The agreement with Warner Bros., Locke said, was "a happy ending" after "five years of torture."[27] "I feel elated. This has been the best day in a long, long time," Locke said outside the courthouse.[33] The case is used in some modern law-school contract textbooks to illustrate the legal concept of good faith.[35]

[quote]Rikki Lake - so promising in Hairspray, Last Exit to Brooklyn & Serial Mom. Then she became obsessed with becoming a talk show host.

Do you know how much money talk show hosts make? She's probably set for five lifetimes. She was hard to cast and knew acting work would be harder and harder to get and she could make WAY more money with a talk show. I don't blame her one bit.

[quote]Meg definitely seemed to stay out in the sun too much or something.

I was so shocked when I saw her in Lords of Salem. But something about her skin has worked to her advantage. She's kind of become like the female Iggy Pop, in that her wrinkles give her character, whereas with other people they'd just look old and feeble.

"I imagine she was offered a lot of roles she turned down."

I don't think Sondra Locke was ever offered "a lot of roles." I think if she had been she sure as hell wouldn't have turned them down. Her career just didn't really do much after "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter." That's the way is goes sometimes. By the way, "The Heart Is Lonely Hunter" is one of the most depressing movies of all time. It's hard to watch.

Toni Collette

R352 By “a lot of roles,” I mean over the course of the decade or so she was with Eastwood. She was young, blonde, an Oscar nominee, more talented than many, attractive enough....I imagine plenty of people wanted to work with her. Not all A list, but still decent projects that could have got her more recognition.

R249 Catherine O'Hara has never given a bad performance in her life

Yes she's always great but she deserved to be a bigger star

Some of you bitches need to do your research. Many of these actors have gone on to work in theater, class projects on television and indie films.

Eminem owns this thread. I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for his "music," but in 8 MILE, he proved he was a film star. Why he hasn't had a huge career in movies is a mystery to me.

No, he didn't prove he was a film star. It made money because he was a popular rapper basically playing himself, that doesn't mean he can act or that people want to see him in other roles.

He only burned a whole through the screen with charisma, as many stars with less acting ability did before him.

R204 Wendy Hughes was another Australian actress who was pretty much in direct competition with Judy Davis for the first half of her career. Probably one of the finest actresses the country ever produced. Worked sporadically in the US, mostly in television. Sadly passed away several years ago. Could play regal very well (like Davis) and made a very sympathetic villainess in melodramas like Return to Eden and An Indecent Obsession.

In the movie "Careful, He Might Hear You" there is a rather shocking scene where Hughes molests a young boy (her nephew) during a thunderstorm. The scene is quite ambiguous but somewhat graphically implied. The next day when the Aunt is carefully trying to explain her actions she seems to be gentle with the boy but there is a very thinly veiled threatening approach that Wendy plays so subtly. It's really chilling.

R351 YIKES!! Her right breast looks like it has a hole for a nipple. I realize it's the character, but still.

B-movie actress Linnea Quigley. Made over 100 films and peaked around 1987 with MGM's "Return of The Living Dead". The roles dried up soon after that but she kind of survived on name value alone for several more years, and partially because video stores had a glut of the movies she did. If you wanted to rent a Linnea Quigley movie you could probably choose between 20 or 22 titles, Linda Blair might have had 8, Meryl Streep probably had only 6 or 7 back in 1990.

One of the best and saddest: Robert Williams, who practically stole "Platinum Blonde" from co-star Jean Harlow (an impressive feat since Harlow was a big star), died of peritonitis just before the film premiered. He would have given Cary Grant and other comedy stars a run for their money had he lived.

I really thought Patrick Wilson would be the next big A-Lister. Don't know exactly what happened there.

He works on stage quite a bit though.

[quote]R363 Robert Williams, who practically stole "Platinum Blonde" from co-star Jean Harlow...died of peritonitis just before the film premiered.

This is the cutest clip in the world.

Amazingly natural acting for that era. The pair actually seems HUMAN....like this is a rehearsal, rather than a “performance”.

Yeah, they were quite adorable together. Shame they both died so young.

R351 I thought she was wearing a body suit but I honestly can't tell from that picture. Why didn't they cast her in the Sabrina remake instead of a lookalike actress? Was she too old?

Richard Dreyfuss has had a very impressive Dustin Hoffmanesque career up until the nineties. He's still doing quite well it seems, only playing roles he's passionate about.

Holly Woodlawn

Would have liked to see more of Heather Matarazzo after “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” Unfortunately, she turned down all offers to reprise the role of Dawn Weiner (Todd Solondz charitably says she didn’t want to be an “Antoine Doinel”-type, which I guess makes him a Truffaut type?).

Can’t remember her in anything but the disastrous ninth season of Roseanne and the execrable “Hostel Part 2.”

R370 She was one of Anne Hathaways friends in that film with Julie Andrews. Can't remember the titles.

^ The Princess Diaries

You may not like horror, but Patrick Wilson has starred in two enormously successful horror series: Insidious and Conjuring. So there's that.

[quote]I thought Jonathan Jackson would have a killer career after seeing the deep end of the ocean. That he’d be the next Leo.

His Christianity got in the way. He often proselytized on set and publicly stated that he wouldn't take on a role/film that was disrespectful to God.

I haven't seen Jonathan Jackson in anything in ages

[quote]R370 Can’t remember her in anything but the disastrous ninth season of Roseanne and the execrable “Hostel Part 2.”

She was a revival of THE WOMEN on Broadway.

Matarazzo was also the DUFF in the "Princess Diaries" movies. Those were hits.

Helen Slater. She had looks and was a pretty good actress, but fizzled out in the 90s. Very strange.

Esai Morales has it all, but never became a big star, I just don't get it.

Carrie Snodgress was highly praised and promoted after "Diary of a Mad Housewife".

Neil Young saw "Diary" and took Carrie away for many years. Even when they were finished, Carrie had their severely disabled child to raise by herself, so she put him first in her life.

I don't know how the Sharon Stone of Total Recall/Basic Instinct/Casino could go on to do almost nothing. Sure she's hit or miss but when she hits it's fucking out of the park.

Bryce Dallas Howard started out as a pretty interesting and edgy actress (we're talking about someone who did a gratuitous crotch shot in a Lars von Trier film). However, she's about as bland as it gets these days.

Meredith Salenger. She won some acting awards as a teenager.

R383 I loved THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN as a kid! I just looked her up to see what she was up to and -- lo and behold -- she is now recently married to Patton Oswalt. Didn't his wife just die?

Back in the early 2000s I really thought Patrick Wilson was going to be the Next Big Thing in movies. I don't know what happened there, but he never quite made it as a major movie star.

"Carrie Snodgress was highly praised and promoted after "Diary of a Mad Housewife"."

And then she died.

[quote]r323 Meg Foster. Feels like she should have a couple very famous performances and some important awards over her weird career.

It's the Cagney Curse.

When you're replaced in that role, your career's over.

[quote]r334 I've been wrestling with whether or not to say Raven-Symoné.

Didn't she come out as a muff diver?

Linda Fiorentino

Ron O'Neal, who played Youngblood Priest in the original "Superfly." He made a splash in that movie, but never had the career he should have. He was handsome, talented and sexy but was forever typecast as a pimp or drug dealer and never got the opportunities to show he could play other roles.

Neve Campbell

Gary Cole

Clark Johnson, as actor & director-maybe more gifted a director

Timothy Hutton and Matthew Modine.

Glenn Close

Dakota Fanning...WTF! Should have at least two Oscar noms by now

Huh? Dakota sucks as an actress. In The Alienist she ruined every scene she was in.

I think what R395 meant was that when Dakota Fanning was a kid she was being touted as one of, if not, THE most talented child actor around. People were predicting Jodie Foster things for her (i.e., an Oscar nod as a teen and two wins as a twentysomething).

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio had a shot, but never seemed to really make it - was it all that hair?

Madeline Stowe has made a living in TV, but seemed like she was going to be huge in the movies in the 90's after she had a few big hits. Didn't happen.

Katharine Ross should have had a much bigger career after The Graduate and Butch Cassidy - perhaps she preferred staying home with Sam Elliott?

Joanna Pettet was one of the young actresses in The Group, along with the above mentioned Elizabeth Hartman. She was uniquely beautiful and had a seductive, intellegent screen presence, but something never really clicked for her, probably too many nothing roles in bad or forgettable films.

Madeline Stowe was never much of an actress but about a dozen years ago she wrote a script for a Western that was much sought in Hollywood. Stowe wanted to star in the film but as the years went on she was too old. Hugh Jackman was attached to star with at one point but nothing has panned out. I can't recall what the basic storyline was but I do recall thinking it sounded good.

Hopefully one day her script will be produced.

[quote]Esai Morales has it all, but never became a big star, I just don't get it.

He's incredibly handsome and sexy, so I wondered about that too. He's always serving as an officer in SAG-AFTRA, somewhat angrily representing the slates of candidates and ideas favored by the Republican members of the union. It's not as obvious, but the stuntmen, old guard and the always-angry types always vote for him. I imagine he's a ragey handful.

Interesting info about Esai Morales. I don't he's a republican himself, though - at least not during the Dubya years.

Jeannie Berlin, who showed such promise in "The Heartbreak Kid".

Eric Bogosian

I keep thinking of Jason Flemyng, a British actor who I found so impressive back in the 90s in a film called Alive and Kicking (think it was called Indian Summer overseas). He played a difficult but vulnerable ballet dancer with AIDS and was so perfect in the role. He has worked a lot since (not many leads) and been in plenty of Hollywood stuff, but he got typecast as a villain straight away, and nothing I've seen since captures what he had in that early role.

[quote]I don't know how the Sharon Stone of Total Recall/Basic Instinct/Casino could go on to do almost nothing. Sure she's hit or miss but when she hits it's fucking out of the park.

She was always a limited actress, and she made it too late - by the time her ship came in she was too close to 40 to fully capitalize on it. Then there was the fact that women hated her, especially after all the drama with the producer she hooked up with on Sliver. A female lead in Hollywood has to have something of a female following for all the love stories/romcoms that they'll be headlining. And on top of all that, she quickly gained a reputation as a pain in the ass to work with, which is always less tolerated from actresses than actors.

[quote]Esai Morales has it all, but never became a big star, I just don't get it.

He's not white. That alone has sunk many a promising career. I've also heard that he's closeted, which probably hasn't helped.

What happened to Lois Chiles? Most people think of her as a Bond girl, but I know her as Mrs. Lansing from Creepshow 2 (1987) - she had a gratuitous topless scene as well.

Cher could have had a longer and better acting career. She fucked up her face and was bored by it all.

Lois Chiles is hilarious in Creepshow 2. I, too, wonder what happened to her.

Helena Botham Carter

[quote]MIDLER: 'Jinxed' wasn't that bad. You saw it on a bad day. INTERVIEWER, "Yeah, I saw it on a bad day! I saw it!"

Don't ruin people's jokes by misquoting them.

MIDLER: "'Jinxed' wasn't that bad. You saw it on a bad day."

INTERVIEWER, "Yeah, I saw it on a bad day. They showed it!"

Milder was lousy in Hello Dolly. And a really C-U-N-T

Alice Eve was supposed to be the next big thing, but fizzled out after that Star Trek sequel.

[quote] And it was her giving David Lean a hard time no him giving her one.

That's not quite right.

David Lean was one pf the most infamously bullying directors of all time: he was very rough on all his actors even before he started having international successes. Judy Davis was young and inexperienced, and was shocked to find out he behaved on a set. You have to remember: he was incredibly famous by that time, had won Academy Awards and a knighthood. she was very young, comparatively speaking,. So she fought back, and he was completely unused to that. At one point after he yelled at her consistently for a day she told him he didn't understand what E. M. Forster's novel was really about (which was true), and he began to lose his nerve. That was the last film he ever did. But she only went after him because he bullied her something awful first.

If you don't believe me, read his biography by Kevin Brownlow.

What happened to Tia Carrere?

I always thought THE ROSE was a foul-mouthed comedy like Streisand's NUTS.

"Operator...I don't know da fuckin' numbah."

"Hey baby, I'd be happy if you sat on my face."

"Fuck him. Fuck you. Fuck them ALLLLLLLLLL..."

Jon Hamm. He has done nothing good since Mad Men. Lousy movies. And Kyle Chandler. Amazing in Friday Night Lights.

I'm surprised Zooey Deschanel never became a big star.

R416 Jon Hamm just has to wear tight pants and the world swoons.

When aren't his pants tight?

[quote]Jon Hamm. He has done nothing good since Mad Men.

Mad Men was the height of his career but honestly I think it's probably the highest he was/is meant to go. Seven seasons is quite good for a show at this point and he was the lead. As for nothing good he's basically done comedic stuff since but I believe that's his decision.

Kristy Swanson is another one who seemed to be doing quite a lot back in the 90s and early 00s and still works but she never quite got where she should have gone.

Nancy Allen had a string of popular movies in the 80s but she kind of petered out there as time went on. I remember her from Robocop and Limit Up.

Robyn Lively still works regularly but from the Karate Kid and Teen Witch to being on a Hulu Teen series is probably not where she would have ended up if things were a bit different. Unlike someone like Nancy Allen who is pretty old now, Robyn Lively is only 47. (Granted that's "old" for women in Hollywood but she's the same as as Winona.)

Why isn't Rachel McAdams the biggest actress on the planet?

Orlando Bloom

R70, she is an exception- she remained essentially the biggest star in all entertainment decades beyond due to occasional films, recording, TV and concerts- may even be true now to a certain extent.

I agree with you on Midler, OP.

Beauty is not Bette Miller’s middle name...

Poor Bette...yes, her career went down the shitter. Multiple Gramm, Emmy, Tony awards...still working in all media's and sell out concerts...poor thing...yes, The Rose was the height of her career..... Eye Roll 🙄

Alexandra Daddario was supposed to be a big deal there for awhile. Now, she's starring in cheap genre movies. Her image and trajectory is almost identical to Alice Eve.

Bette should have won that Oscar for The Rose.

Came in to agree with R82 about Edward Furlong.

I’m pretty familiar with his filmography and so I feel confident saying that his last excellent performance in a good film was as the eponymous role in John Waters’ slice-of-life PECKER (1998), opposite Christina Ricci. He would have been 21 at the time of the film’s release. His last watchable film performances were in THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER (a maligned threequel to the Brandon Lee cult classic, in which Furlong is the best thing) and CRUEL WORLD, both released in 2005 when Furlong was aged around 28. A couple of years later he also gave a nice turn as a non-speaking lead character in a music video for the song ‘Still in Love with You’ by the little-known band Five A.M. Even still he was dunzo by age 30.

Honestly, though, I stopped being a fan of his work and hoping for his return to form once it came out that his personal life had crept into the territory of abusing and stalking his ex-wife. That’s a hard pass.

R422 based on....what?

Amanda Seyfried was positioned as a big star, but being the lead/co-lead in a string of early 2010s flops seriously derailed the big star plan.

Demian Slade (the paperboy from Better Off Dead (1985). But I think his best role was Anette Funicello and Frankie Avalon's son Bobby in Back to the Beach (1987). That was a star-making turn if there ever was one. He even had a bunch of stuff deleted.

Op really found a fresh new way to hate on Bette, a DL pastime!

I agree with others that I’d have expected Rachel Mcadams and Jake Gyllenhaal to still be A list.

Jennifer Grey was wonderful in Dirty Dancing and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off then ruined her career with rhinoplasty.

Julia Stiles

R389 I second Linda Fiorentino. I really loved her look and her voice. She was great in The Last Seduction and Men in Black. She was even kinda good in Jade.

Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan, A League of their Own and especially Dangerous Game. If she learned to take direction, she could have been a good actor. But no.

Elisha Cuthbert was the Phoebe Cates of the 00s.

Brittany Murphy. Death makes it hard to fulfill your talent.

r431

Giving a blowie in the Fappening might also have affected her employability.

Romola Garai.

"I know I enjoyed Eleanora Duse in the last 2 seasons of Game of Thrones."

She was also great as the evil KAOS robot/spy in Get Smart.

Although, I'll never forget her dramatic turn in that very special episode of Facts of Life when Natalie and Tootie get lost in a hardware store.

Sue Lyon

Her final role:

R2 there's a scene where Emile Hirsch gets raped in a wedding dress in the film The Mudge Boy.

I think it's kind of hot.

Remember when Josh Hartnett was in everything?

Debra Winger

Oona Laurence was supposed to the next Chloe Moretz for awhile, but seems to have faded.

Joyce O'Witt was good on 3some Company and should been next Luzy

Gillian Jacobs did the best work of her career early on, but now it's mostly forgettable roles in comedies and horror movies.

You mean their dewey, earnest supple promise?

We let me tell you, honey, I was turned into an anorexic before I was five. So what if I'm the Blimp Pixie on those insurance commercials. It's been a steady gig and this mama's house is bought and paid for. The kids are set. And the grandkids aren't my problem.

Damn. I should a done what Candy did.

And I thought she was the birdbrain.

Some kind of raptor bird.

Robert Sean Leonard and his nose hair

Jason Patric - he started out in the '80's as a kind of Brat Pack-adjacent actor (THE LOST BOYS) who was interesting, intense and impossibly handsome. Too handsome, perhaps - that happens with some actors. He tried to go full-on Hollywood in 1997 starring opposite Sandra Bullock in SPEED 2 but it turned out badly and bombed. After that his career was comparatively low-profile. He has worked steadily and has taken some risks (YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS) but is in the curious position of being a leading man who plays character roles.

Poor Jason - too gorgeous for his own good.

Vivica A. Fox. She was sort of a big deal awhile back, but has recently showed up in supporting roles in horrendous, SOV anti-bullying movies made by an ex-male stripper.

Eric Roberts

Linda Manz

The guy behind those SOV anti-bullying kids movies with Vivica A. Fox is also a giant, obnoxious asshole and possibly even a republican.

Scarlett Johansson decided to become a two-time Oscar nominee just to prove R266 wrong.

I'm not sure if the subject here is early promise of brilliant talent or just early promise of big movie stardom.

Anyhow: Molly Ringwald, Vincent Spano, Mickey Rourke, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe. Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson.

Liza Minnelli (big movie stardom was short-lived, great stage star), Barbara Harris. Sandy Dennis. Gloria DeHaven.

[quote]The very semitic looking Midler playing a Texas blues/rock singer?

I know, right?

Many of these actors have had very good careers just not Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise level fame & fortune.

In my eyes those who keep working and put in good, even great performances have fulfilled their promise.

R461 So can you give examples of who you think did not fulfill their promise?

Alicia Cuthbert rules this thread.

She played Jack Bauer's daughter in 24. She was in Old School and The Girl Next Door with Emile Hirsch. she had classic movie star looks and was actually a decent actress and had potential.

Then she started doing crap like that House of Wax remake with Paris Hilton and that torture pron movie Captivity. Then she went POOF!

R4 Schizophrenia

Sienna Miller was supposed to be the next big thing, but hasn't been relevant in a good while.

Sarah Trigger

Pia Zadora.

Demi Moore and Meg Ryan. They both made the very difficult jump from soaps to films and then fizzled out. Demi was such a unique beauty with a sexy voice. Also, Teri Polo. I thought she'd be huge after the Focker movies.

Whoever commented about Madonna upthread- she was never a serious actress. She's too hard, dry, and defensive. She can't let herself be vulnerable. Horrible in every performance.