Trashy Final Films of Classic Hollywood Actresses

[quote] an animatronic cat and Barbara Carrera

What's the difference?

Mae West in Sexette.

* Sextette

G in Hillbilly Elegy.

Joan Fontaine’s last theatrical film was a mess called “The Witches.” She made many television appearances after that however.

Veronica Lake in "Flesh Feast" (1970).

I watched Tallulah Bankhead's trashy last feature film "Die! Die! My Darling! (with young ingenue Stephanie Powers) years ago but can't remember much about it.

I like The Witches.

Lana Turner's last feature film in 1980 was a piece of shit with Terri Garr called "Witches' Brew". A whopping 4.3 rating out of 10.0 on IMDB. The whole movie's up on YouTube.

The Electro-Disco title song in the opening was sung by Joyce Vincent (the other Black chick in Tony Orlando & Dawn that's not Telma Hopkins).

Well, one really cannot cite "Suspiria" for dear Joan Bennett.

Gloria Swanson had a time of it in "Killer Bees."

Killer Bees was her swan son.

Mary Pickford in "Secrets" (1933), as Leslie Howard's wife (Howard was only about a year younger than she was.)

"Wealthy banker and shipowner William Marlowe and his wife Martha have their hearts set on marrying their daughter Mary to English aristocrat Lord Hurley. However, Mary has other ideas. She has fallen in love with John Carlton, one of her father's clerks. When Mr. Marlowe finds out, he fires John. John decides to go west to make his fortune, then return for Mary, but she insists on going with him. They elope.

"The couple settle in California and after a while, have a herd of cattle and a baby boy. While John and hired hand Sunshine are away getting supplies, notorious outlaw Jake Houser and his gang show up and rustle the herd. John rounds up the other ranchers. They catch and hang three of the gang, including Jake's brother, but Jake gets away. Vowing revenge, Jake and his men attack the Carlton home. Help arrives and the rustlers are wiped out. The baby succumbs to illness during the gunfight.

"Years pass, and the Carltons prosper greatly. Four more children are born, and John runs for governor of the state. They host a party on the night before the election at their mansion. Lolita Martinez, John's lover, scandalizes everyone by showing up. In private, she insists that Mary free John to marry her. Mary agrees, but John spurns his mistress and begs his wife's forgiveness; she gives it on condition that he tell her about all his prior lovers. Lolita makes public their affair, but John still wins the election.

"Later, he becomes a senator, serving for thirty years in Washington, D.C. before deciding to retire and move back to California. This puzzles the couple's grown children; Mary explains that they want time for themselves, to enjoy secrets they can share with no one else. When their offspring still oppose their decision, the couple sneak away."- Wikipedia

Jayne Mansfield (who never had a very distinguished screen career to begin with) bailed out with 2 cheap & miserable looking mid 60s flicks. Her last fully completed movie was something called "Las Vegas Hillbillys" with Mamie Van Doren in 1966.

At the time of her death she was in the process of filming something called "Single Room Furnished". Her work was never completed but they eventually ended up releasing the movie anyway. A 4.6 rating out of 10.0 on IMDB. A far cry from the big budget productions Fox gave her for a few years in the 50s.

G. in Hillbilly Elegy.

I know G. is from Classic Hollywood but thought I would include to show even those with no talent can stoop really low.

Jayne Mansfield "singing" 'That Makes It' in her last fully completed film, "Las Vegas Hillbillys" from 1966.

[quote] Jayne Mansfield...bailed out with 2 cheap & miserable looking mid 60s flicks.

She bailed out with a car accident. It was especially heinous.

Barbara Stanwyck's last feature film was a cheap William Castle Horror "B" called "The Night Walker". A professional reunion with her ex husband Robert Taylor. I've saw it years ago and from what I remember it's actually pretty good.

Of course Miss Stanwyck went on filming several TV Series' & TV Movies for at least another few decades.

R16 I own a copy of Las Vegas Hillbillies, the only reason to watch it is to see some real life Country stars of the era, such as Ferlin Husky, Bill Anderson, Connie Smith, and Sonny James, singing in color. The sequel film Hillbillies in a Haunted House, though is a fun little film that features Lon Chaney, Jr., Basil Rathbone and John Carradine. It isn't a masterpiece but is 10x better than LVH.

Evelyn Keyes in “A Return to Salem’s Lot”

Gale Sondergaard in "Living Nightmare" (1982). She's also in Miriam Holpkons' last movie, "Savage Intruder", which is even worse.

Pamelyn Ferdin’s farewell to the screen, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS

Jennifer Jones in Angel, Angel Down We Go (1969) where she was top-billed and an insignificant role in 1974s The Towering Inferno.

Olivia de Haviland in The Fifth Musketeer (1979) Starring Sylvia (Emmanuelle) Kristel and 1978s The Swarm.

Gloria Swanson playing herself in Airport 75

Ginger Rogers in 1965s Harlow starring Carol Lynley filmed quickly in a cheap process known as Electronovision to get into theaters before Paramount Pictures' Harlow starring Carroll Baker.

Hollywood Horror House with Miriam Hopkins isn't really that bad. Obviously made for less than Baby Jane and co., but it's got a nice nasty and grisly quality to it.

[quote] A professional reunion with her ex husband Robert Taylor.

He liked her big valley.

Bette Davis is hard to watch in Wicked Stepmother. She looks like she's at death's door (she died the following year) and she sounds like it's taking all of her strength just to say her lines. It's painful to see.

Janet Leigh in something called Bad Girls from Valley High an alleged comedy released in 2005

Winnie

R26 Maybe painful for you, but I quite enjoyed it!

[quote]R23 Ginger Rogers in 1965s Harlow starring Carol Lynley filmed quickly in a cheap process known as Electronovision to get into theaters before Paramount Pictures' Harlow starring Carroll Baker.

Both versions are horrible but at least the Carol Lynley version moves at a brisker pace.

Our Nolan from “Charlie’s Angels” did the clothes.

Nolan Miller wedding dress from HARLOW

[quote]Gloria Swanson playing herself in Airport 75

Listening to Helen Reddy sing and play the guitar in that movie is probably what did her in.

Ida Lupino closed the book on her screen career in something called "My Boys Are Good Boys" in 1979. A whopping 4.6 stars out of 10 on IMDB. Her costars were David "Bosley" Doyle, Ralph Meeker & Lloyd Nolan.

The theme song is unintentionally hilarious and sounds like a spoof that could have appeared in a gay porn flick.

Bette Davis in Wicked Stepmother, looking and sounding like death itself.

Natalie Wood - Brainstorm

Brittany Murphy was in a movie called Something Wicked with DL fave Julian Morris. Haven't seen it but it looks bad

Brittany Murphy was a classic Hollywood actress?

Lillian Gish and Ann Sothern in "The Whales Of August". Not trashy necessarily, but a good film to give the MST 2000 catcall treatment: "Sayyy-ruhhh!!".

Gloria Grahame in The Nesting aka Massacre Mansion. Really awful.

M in The Prom.

Bette Davis in Wicked Stepmother

Katharine Hepburn in Warren Beatty's vanity ghastly project Love Affair (1994)

Silly me. I was under the impression that right up to the end Lauren Bacall only worked in prestige productions. I just checked and that wasn't the case. Obviously, by 2012 she just wanted to get out of the house and agreed to do some piece of shit in 2012 called "The Forger" with Hayden Panettiere. It looks bad.

Marlene Dietrich in Just a Gigolo

R38 As Bette Davis was wise enough to quit Wicked Stepmother, I count The Whales of August as her last completed film.

Jayne turned down the role of Ginger on Gilligan's Island. I just remembered that episode where Ginger and MaryAnn were soaking in a mud bath and Gilligan thought their heads had been cut off. Yikes!

Liz Taylor in The Flintstones (1994)

R45, I had no idea! Damn it! I love Tina Louise but Jayne would have been FABULOUS as Ginger!

Sadly, GILLIGAN’S ISLAND would have been amongst the most respectable projects she ever made, had Piggy Mansfield accepted.

R46 I tend to include TV-movies, so I count "These Old Broads" as Taylor's final film. But, I must say The Flintstones, while not the best movie she had ever appeared in was far from the worst. It was a fun film and she was actually wonderful as Mrs. Slaghoopie.

Susan Gordon Picture Mommy Dead 1966

Light the candles. Get the ice out...

Eleanor Parker Sunburn (1979) starring Farrah Fawcett

"I think one has a DUTY to bring ideas to your Director *puff*"

"Life is a **cough** banquet, and most **wheeze** poor suckers are starving to **cough** death!"

"Smear some more Vaseline on the lens, I think you missed a spot!"

"Gary! Gary! Where the fuck is Gary? I need another pack of cigs, I'm almost out!"

Screen & Stage Legend Celeste Holm closed the book on her movie career with a "comedy" named "College Debts". The movie was released in 2015 but obviously was filmed before Miss Holm died in 2012.

Her co-stars included Richard Pryor JUNIOR & Stormy Daniels. Miss Daniels was fresh from her award winning success in "Two In The Pink, One In The Stink 14" at the time of filming.

Natalie Wood in BRAINSTORM.

Feh.

R57, are you also R35?

[quote] Gloria Swanson had a time of it in "Killer Bees."

[quote] Olivia de Haviland in The Fifth Musketeer (1979) Starring Sylvia (Emmanuelle) Kristel and 1978s The Swarm.

What is it with bees and aging Hollywood actresses?

Celeste Holm did a movie with Stormy Daniels? Wow, I never would have guessed

Linda Darnell - A Grade B 1965 western, "Black Spurs", in which she co-starred with Rory Calhoun.

What are you implying, little homosexual boy?

Martha Scott / Doin' Time on Planet Earth

Nancy Davis - "Hellcats of the Navy".

None of these women can top Aldo Ray -- who appeared in a hardcore porno movie (in a non-sexual role.)

Helen Lawson in "Who's Sorry Now?", the Connie Francis biopic in which Helen was woefully miscast as Connie's New Jersey Italian mother.

[quote]I watched Tallulah Bankhead's trashy last feature film "Die! Die! My Darling! (with young ingenue Stephanie Powers) years ago but can't remember much about it.

That movie scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

R67, It is not a trashy movie.

R35, Technically, her last completed movie was "The Last Married Couple in America".

R56 I looked on IMDB and Stormy Daniels nor her real name Stephanie Clifford are listed as being in the cast. It is also not listed on Stormy's wikipedia page.

Helen Hayes's final films weren't too bad. Her last theatrical film was the delightful Candleshoe, and her last television film was an adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder with Mirrors (also starring Bette Davis).

[quote] her last television film was an adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder with Mirrors (also starring Bette Davis).

Shortly before that she was in the first two episodes of Highway to Heaven with Michael Landon if I recall.

Rita Hayworth's last film was a spaghetti western called The Wrath of God, also starring Robert Mitchum. She did it strictly for the money, and because of her alcoholism and what proved to be incipient Alzheimer's, her scenes had to be shot one line at a time. She tried to do another film after that, but it was impossible for her to continue.

R70, Stormy Daniels isn't in that movie. I only threw her name in for comedic effect and because she was the first female pornstar I could think of. I didn't think anyone would latch onto that bit or even care. I needed to drill home how Grade Z the "movie" was. My sincerest apologies to anyone who took me seriously .

The bits about it (unfortunately) being Celeste Holm's last movie, co-staring (Richard Pryor's gay son) Richard Pryor, Jr. and everything else I said at R56 (minus the Stormy Daniels bits) are true.

It wasn't a total loss for Miss Holm. "College Debts" did allow her one last chance to cozy up with a hot stud on screen. Here she is with some smoking hot dude named Derek North, who also starred in the film,

One of the last movies Deborah Kerr did was the gypsy moths. The cast was solid and it was directed by John frankenheimer, but it was a bomb and Kerr did a nude scene in the film.

Jean Harlow's last film was Saratoga, a prestige production also starring Clark Gable. She was terribly ill from kidney failure throughout filming--Gable later described her gray skin, bloated figure, and breath that smelled of urine (all signs of kidney failure). She died before production ended, and body doubles were used for certain scenes to finish the picture.

It became MGM's highest-grossing film of the year.

It was hard to watch Bette Davis after the stroke. Her speech, mobility and looks were so affected it was just painful to look at her.

R77, Kirk Douglas and Dick Clark, as well.

R76, Not body doubles, just Mary Dees.

Bette should have been able to retire after the stroke, but she had spent too much money supporting her cunt daughter BD, who later betrayed her with a Mommie Dearest-like tell-all. Bette found out about it before her death and cut BD out of her will, and nobody really believed BD anyway. Her bid to turn her mother into another Joan Crawford failed miserably.

R79, there were three body doubles: Mary Dees for close-ups, Geraldine Dvorak for long shots, and Paula Winslowe for dubbing Harlow's lines.

[quote] [R67], It is not a trashy movie.

R68, Tallulah Bankhead's "Die! Die! My Darling" may have had some entertainment value, but all of those Post-"Baby Jane", Hag Horror movies are/were considered trashy. They're sure as hell a step down from the prestige "A" productions all of those actresses were getting during their heyday!

BD and her husband were a couple of leeching losers. Neither one of them cared to work for a living, and Bette supported them financially. And she was very generous in her support, keeping them at a comfortable level that was more or less upper-middle-class. Bette spoiled BD rotten her whole life, then BD went and wrote that nasty book. It was such a shitty, backstabbing thing to do. Bette would've been a fairly wealthy woman if it hadn't been for her leeching relatives.

There's really nothing scandalous in BD's book, Bette wasn't an abusive mother. It was no "Mommie Dearest." Bette drank too much, and could be overbearing and overly involved in her children's lives but so have millions of other mothers. The conflicts and arguments in the book were just the usual family stuff, except that it involved a celebrity. The whole book was a big nothing.

Bette lived long enough to hit back at BD in HER final memoir and to disinherit her. It didn't hurt her reputation at all, either. She had the last laugh in a way.

Just a Gigolo was Euro-trashy.

R74 I feel sorry for Ms Holm. She married her last husband in 2004, who was 46 years younger than her. Then the husband spent the rest of her life trying to over turn the trust her son had set up, so he could get the money. The husband admitted that she had been treated for memory issues since two years before they married. Therefore, I can’t hold it against her for appearing in that film. Her gold digging husband probably made her.

[quote] There's really nothing scandalous in BD's book, Bette wasn't an abusive mother. It was no "Mommie Dearest." Bette drank too much, and could be overbearing and overly involved in her children's lives but so have millions of other mothers. The conflicts and arguments in the book were just the usual family stuff, except that it involved a celebrity. The whole book was a big nothing.

R83, years later on her deranged YouTube channel, BD continued to bash Bette. She even claimed that Bette had been a witch.

That's sad R86. Did Miss Holm have no children to protect her?

Looking at some of the sad last films of these actresses, women like Deanna Durbin and Greta Garbo, who went out on their own terms, look smarter and smarter.

Marlene Dietrich knew when it was time to close the door and just go to bed.

[quote] Marlene Dietrich knew when it was time to close the door and just go to bed.

She was tired.

Dietrich was 77 in Just A Gigolo and she still looked pretty good. This was her last performance. She retired to her Paris apartment and became a recluse for the rest of her life.

Poor Patricia Neal. Billed 4th and under Billy Ray Cyrus (LOL) & Heather Locklear in something called "Flying By" in 2009. Her last screen effort.

It looks like one of Kevin Sorbo's TBN productions without the Christian storyline. LOL

Trog!!!!!

George Cukor directed back-to-back box office bombs that abruptly ended the careers of their leading ladies. After "Two Faced Woman" (1941) performed poorly, Greta Garbo bought out her MGM contract and retired for good. "Her Cardboard Lover" (1942) lost MGM so much money, the widow Thalberg, Miss Norma Shearer realized her status as Queen of the Lot was over and quit the business. In doing so, Garbo and Shearer were saved from the indignity of hagsploitation thrillers and appearances on "The Love Boat."

R88 she had two, it was the youngest one who had set up the trust to try and protect her. Apparently she was estranged from her eldest child, whom she had left to be raised by her parents after her first marriage ended.

R82 Tallulah made 3 films during the 40s, a film in 1953 and then Die, Die My Darling in 1965. Lifeboat is probably her best known film. The best thing about DDMD! is that the post dubbing session Bankhead did for it was the basis for the Broadway play LOOPED which was hilarious and Valerie Harper as Tallulah was tremendous.

I should add that Garbo, Shearer, and Deanna Durbin made wise investments and lived comfortably in retirement. Poor Judy and Bette and so many others had to keep working to pay the bills and support their families.

R83, Bette not only had that no good BD to support, but also Margot, who was placed in special schools and institutions.

Rosalind Russell didn't do too bad with her feature film swan song. Her last effort was something called "Mrs. Pollifax-Spy" in 1971. Roz (along with her husband) produced it and based on this promo short, it may be worth watching. At least she wasn't humiliating herself in Hagsploitation & Grade Z/Rated R efforts.

R97, I had no idea there was such a play. Just the description sounds hilarious and reminds me of Orson Welles' infamous frozen pea & wine commercial outtakes. Thanks for filling me in!

R96, so was the sleazy husband able to break the trust and get the money? Or did it go to Miss Holms' children.

R96 I haven’t been able to find out, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is still ongoing. James Brown died in 2006 and his family still hasn’t settled his estate, due to fighting and litigation.

Stella Stevens 'Popstar' (2005) with Aaron Carter and David Cassidy. 2.6 rating on IMDB

Louise Fletcher Grizzly II: Revenge (2020)

[quote]Killer Bees was her swan son.

She had a son with a swan?

Mrs. Alfred Steele, I didn't know they had TV in HELL!

R97, I saw it on Broadway and Valerie Harper was, indeed, tremendous in what was practically a one woman show. She toured in it after it closed on Broadway but she became ill and Stefanie Powers took over, ironic since she had been in the movie.

R83, Bette allowed B. D. to marry at 16 and threw her a lavish wedding in Los Angeles. She later admitted that the only reason she agreed to play Susan Hayward's mother in the trashy film "Where Love Has Gone" was to pay for the wedding.

[quote]Screen & Stage Legend Celeste Holm closed the book on her movie career with a "comedy" named "College Debts". The movie was released in 2015 but obviously was filmed before Miss Holm died in 2012.

I've seen that "performance," so I wouldn't say was "obviously" filmed prior to her death. "Good morning," indeed.

[quote]Jn doing so, Garbo and Shearer were saved from the indignity of hagsploitation thrillers and appearances on "The Love Boat."

Does anyone remember my performance as identical twins on an episode of "The Love Boat"?

[quote] Stella Stevens 'Popstar' (2005) with Aaron Carter and David Cassidy.

Well Stella Stevens was rather trashy so it wasn't as if this were a step down.

I hope Luise won 2 Emmys for her Love Boat twins performances.

[quote] Just the description sounds hilarious and reminds me of Orson Welles' infamous frozen pea & wine commercial outtakes.

R100, that recording you linked is hilarious.

[quote]Jn doing so, Garbo and Shearer were saved from the indignity of hagsploitation thrillers and appearances on "The Love Boat."

We both did hagsploitation thrillers plus made appearances on "The Love Boat"! In separate episodes, of course.

I wish this trend would come back. Every now and then you get a throwback to these movies, but with all the great actresses over 50 who rarely work, it'd be nice to see someone throw them a bone and cast them as a fun psycho to give them something to sink their teeth into. Ryan Murphy sort of does it on American Horror Story and it led to Jessica Lange getting a big career boost, but he's the only one even attempting it.

Bette Davis in Burnt Offerings, hoping for a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Everyone associated with The Prom should just bow their heads in shame. I would rather re-watch this year's Oscars.

R115, Bette's death scene on the bed was embarrassing.

[quote]Everyone associated with The Prom should just bow their heads in shame. I would rather re-watch this year's Oscars.

This thread has certainly taken a major detour from its original premise. WTF does "The Prom" have to do with trashy final films of classic Hollywood actresses?

r109 I thought you were joking but Luise Rainer did indeed do The Love Boat. Twins!

[quote]R109, I thought you were joking but Luise Rainer did indeed do The Love Boat. Twins!

That would have been an odd thing to make up. I wasn't a regular "Love Boat" viewer, but, when that episode aired, I made it a point to watch because I was curious to see Luise Rainer after she had been basically retired for so many years.

[quote]Eleanor Parker Sunburn (1979) starring Farrah Fawcett

Is is worse than her Regine Danton in She's Dressed to Kill, a 1979 television film with GOWNS BY TRAVILLA!

[quote]reminds me of Orson Welles' infamous frozen pea & wine commercial outtakes.

I find it humorous that they are arguing with the man that co-wrote and directed what many consider the greatest film of all time.

That was one good thing about shows like Hotel and Love Boat: They gave old Hollywood troopers a chance for a nice paycheck and a little spotlight once again.

Speaking of Garbo, she bought a lot of art in retirement. Some of it wasn't worth much, but some of it turned out to be quite valuable. When she died, she was worth 60 million in today's money. It all went to her niece.

Garbo and Katharine Hepburn never had kids or leeching husbands and relatives to sponge off of them. They were able to keep all their money to themselves.

Hollywood lesbians doin' it for themselves.

Trog was such an embarrassment for such a huge star as Joan Crawford. She was lonely and bored and just wanted to work, so she took whatever she could get in her later career.

If Joan had lived a bit longer, she could have made bank on one of the nighttime soaps of the late 70s/early 80s.

She would've been perfect as a recurring guest star on Falcon Crest or Dynasty. Joan was made for shit like that. Hell, she practically invented that style of acting. It is a pity she didn't live longer, she could've had a big resurgence in the 80s.

Rita Hayworth's last film

Hedy Lamarr's last was the campfest The Female Animal

[quote] Hedy Lamarr's last was the campfest The Female Animal

It's Hedley!

Mary Astor - "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"

Lena Horne - The Wiz

That was a good movie, r132.

R134, I think R132 is being sarcastic.

Malaga - Dorothy Dandridge

Louise Brooks - Overland Stage Raiders

Claire Trevor - Kiss Me Goodbye

Delgo - Anne Bancroft

Bukkake Gangbang Cumbath - Helen Lawson

With Six You Get Eggroll - Doris Day

R134, Not compared to "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?".

Lucille Ball - Stone Pillow

Myrna Loy - Just Tell Me What You Want

Joan Blondell - The Woman Inside

R144, That was a very underrated Sidney Lumet movie.

Ann Sheridan - Arthur 2: On the Rocks

R147, Um, no.

Gene Tierney - the TV Miniseries Scruples

Jeanne Crain - Skyjacked

Wife Wanted - Kay Francis

The Nude Bomb - Rhonda Fleming

Kathryn Grayson - The Vagabond King

Vera-Ellen: Let's Be Happy

Perfect Mate: Jane Greer

Ruby Keeler - Beverly Hills Brats

Another actor, but it's a good one:

Groucho Marx in "Skidoo."

Silent star Norma Talmadge made one sound movie, "DuBarry - Woman of Passion" (1930), which I believe was a disaster, and she retired. I actually saw it one morning on regular TV in about 1982 - they sure don't show movies like that on TV anymore!

"Murder, She Wrote" was another tv show that employed veteran Hollywood stars, especially Dame Angela's old MGM colleagues. I think MSW was a step above Love Boat in quality, though.

A lovely actress Pier Angeli who deserved a million times better: OCTAMAN. Also Kerwin Mathews her co-star in it and many child's favorite actor managed to survive it but not by much ending with Nightmare in Blood. Hollywood is cruel.

June Allyson's last effort was something in 2000 called "A Girl, Three Guys and a Gun" starring Josh Holland (?????). It was supposedly a "Comedy/Drama"

I didn't care for Luise Rainer's Love Boat appearance, but she was wickedly funny as Fonzie's granny on Happy Days about the same time.

Jane Russell's last screen effort was something called "Cauliflower Cupids" in 1970. It looks bad but Jane looks nice. You can tell that they at least spent a few dollars on the production. Here's the trailer. Jane doesn't appear until 2 or 3 minutes in.

How did these actresses like Jane Russell support themselves for decades after their careers ended?

[quote] How did these actresses like Jane Russell support themselves for decades after their careers ended?

They all did bra commercials.

R164, they probably saved, made good investments when they still had careers and/or married well.

Those "full-figure gals" always find a way to get by.

Evelyn Keyes - Wicked Stepmother

You beat me to it, R167. Us "Full-Figured Gals" are quick on our feet!

I think it’s safe to say that any movie with a repeat word in the title - of the era made - is reliably going to be a piece of shit.

[quote] They all did bra commercials.

I would never stoop so low.

^dammit, there should be a “regardless” at the beginning of that parenthetical clause in R170.

All these years I'd always thought that "Valley Of The Dolls" was the screen effort for Susan Hayward/Helen Lawson. She actually made one last feature film & a few TV Movies after that.

The theatrical release was a Grade "B" Western in 1972 called "The Revengers". Miss Hayward's co-stars were William Holden & Ernest Borgnine. Not too shabby!

Poor June Allyson had her Depends commercials and Martha Raye had Polident. Did they have no pick of commercials?

“The Party Crashers” with Frances Farmer, 1958. Her first film after being released from the nut house but also her last. She continued with TV and regional theater throughout the 60s though.

A charlatan has written a paperbook about all this ugliness.

[quote]Poor June Allyson had her Depends commercials and Martha Raye had Polident. Did they have no pick of commercials?

R174, I'd say Rosie Clooney got off fairly easy with her Coronet deal.

r174 June's commercials for Depends ran for years, and she made a mint. She also was able to keep her (um) face before the public.

R174, don't forget that Jane Powell replaced Martha "Big Mouth" Raye as spokesperson for Polident when Miss Raye became too old & sick.

June Allyson got the Depends gig because she shit her pants at the audition.

R112, if you thought the Orson Welles "Frozen Pea Outtakes" were funny than you have to see his "Wine Commercial Outtakes".

Mr. Welles was sharp as a tack during the frozen pea debacle, but here he was just fucked up!

Ava Gardner's last was a TV movie, "Maggie" (1986) and her last theatrical film was 1983's "Regina Roma" with Anthony Quinn. I never heard of either movie.

Believe it or not, Ruby Keeler was still working in 1989! Her last theatrical release was a star-studded affair (Martin Sheen, Whoopi Goldberg, Terry Moore & others) called "Beverly Hills Brats".

And even with all that star power, it still ended up being a turkey. A 3.7 out of 10 on IMDB. To put that in perspective, the Jayne Mansfield monstrosities linked earlier in the thread had 4. 7, 4.9 ratings. Hell, even Joan Crawford's "Trog" is ranked higher at 3.9!

This was also the last screen effort for Natalie Schafer.

[quote]“The Party Crashers” with Frances Farmer, 1958. Her first film after being released from the nut house but also her last. She continued with TV and regional theater throughout the 60s though.

I watched that last night! Such a waste -- she played a housewife/mother like Jane Wyatt in "Father Knows Best."

Also the last film of doomed Disney child star Bobby Driscoll, who committed the unforgivable Hollywood sin of developing acne. He ended up a heroin addict, and his corpse was found by children on a frozen New York City playground.

Neely O'Hara, "Night of the Pterodactyl Women."

[quote]He ended up a heroin addict, and his corpse was found by children on a frozen New York City playground.

Two boys found Bobby Driscoll's body on a cot inside an abandoned tenement building. There was no way to identify him, so his body was buried in an unmarked grave in New York;s Potter's Field. Late in 1969, his mother asked Disney officials for help contacting Driscoll because his father was near death. A fingerprint match resulted in the body in the pauper's grave being identified as the former child star.

Dorothy Malone - Basic Instinct

Joan Fontaine - the tv movie Good King Wenceslaus

Audrey Totter in this tv movie

Twentieth Century Fox's "Queen Of The Bs" & Sid Luft's ex-wife, Lynn Bari closed out her career with a teen flick called "The Young Runaways" in 1968. I've seen it a few times. It's quite silly but entertaining. Kinda plays like a Late 60s episode of "Dragnet".

Miss Bari plays a frigid & bitter mom who keeps pusings her daughter until she finally runs away from home. Her big scene is when she repeatedly slaps the shit out of said daughter, who's played by Patty "The Bad Seed" McCormack. "You're afraid to even hear the word, aren't you mom? Sex! *SMACK!* Sex! *SMACK!* SEX! *SMACK! & SMACK!*

The scene is twice as hilarious when one recalls that Lynn specialized in playing sexy, vampy, husband-stealing femme fatales in the 40s.

Ms. Ekberg last seen a decade ago in Fellini's "Intervista" has metamorphosed into the kind of devouring gargoyle that the term Felliniesque was coined to describe. NY Times 6.18.99 "The Red Dwarf"

Jeanne Crain - Skyjacked

Vera Hruba Ralston - The Man Who Died Twice (1958)

^ I prefer the sequel The Woman Who Died Twice, also known as The Tanya Roberts Story

Greer Garson's last gig was The Love Boat

I suspect that "The Love Boat" was the last gig for many a faded Hollywood star. It certainly was for Luise Rainer.

The Love Boat and Murder She Wrote were at a time when those Old Hollywood stars were at the end of their days of actually being able to work. It was the last time they were relatively healthy and cognizant enough to get in front of a camera.

This makes a good companion to a thread I started a few years ago:

It was smart of Love Boat to cast the old Hollywood stars. They were old pros and happy for the work, and they probably didn't cost a fortune to hire. Much of the audience for Love Boat was old folks (I used to watch it with my gran when I stayed at her house), and they enjoyed seeing familiar faces from their youth.

It's not all that much different from the Stranger Things producers hiring Winona Ryder when you think about it.

One thing I like about the Love Boat, is not only did it provide an outlet for some older stars to still find work, it sometimes allowed them to act against type. One of my favorite stories was an episode that featured, in his last acting role, Arthur Godfrey and Minnie Pearl as two older people from a retirement home who elope on the ship and are pursued by their self absorbed children played by Elinor Donahue and Warren Berlinger. It was a gentle yet strong story about how older people are still adults with romantic feelings, and deserve to be treated as such. Neither, Godfrey nor Pearl acted like their usual personas and got to play actual characters.

I wonder how Sylvia Sidney ended relatively well. Her last movie was [italic]Mars Attacks![/italic] She was also in [italic]Beetlejuice[/italic] as Juno, the caseworker. Otherwise, she did guest shots on the same series as other older actresses.

And then there was Sidney's final stint on the short-lived reboot of Fantasy Island. The original FI was apparently where the Love Boat landed every Saturday night on ABC.

Alexis Smith went out on a high note - The Age of Innocence

[quote] Cranky legend Sylvia Sidney

I've been told that she was really Sophia Kosow and that she did something strange. And I've heard that she bedded Bogart, Herbert Hoover, the Dalai Lama and Adlai Stevenson.

Can that be right or have I been misinformed?

R204 = Bennett Cerf

[quote]It was smart of Love Boat to cast the old Hollywood stars. They were old pros and happy for the work, and they probably didn't cost a fortune to hire. Much of the audience for Love Boat was old folks (I used to watch it with my gran when I stayed at her house), and they enjoyed seeing familiar faces from their youth.

Before the Internet, I imagine a lot of older folks watched just to see "what Barbara Rush looks like now" or whatever.

Fay Wray's last part was going to be a cameo in Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong. He'd signed her to walk up to Jack Black at the end as he looked at Kong's body and say the line about 'twas beauty killed the beast.

And then she died.

Lana Turner in something called "Witches' Brew" (aka "Which Witch is Which?")

Merle Oberon in "Interval"; at least she got Boytoy to the Stars Robert Wolders as a consolation prize.

^ Poor Estelle was becoming pathetic at that stage. 'Of Love and Desire' was equally trashy.

Goldie Hawn in Snatched.

Barbra Streisand in "The Guilt Trip 2: Electric Boogaloo"

R208 see R9

This was such a fun topic. I wish that OP hadn't have limited it to just Classic Movie Actresses. There were a lot of once respected Classic Movie Actors that ended their careers in horrid cinematic pieces of shit as well.

Linda Darnell...

Ella Raines...

And Gloria Grahame as Florinda

The last film flight for Martha Raye and Mercedes McCambridge

R215, Please see R61 and do keep up.

R219, R61 didn't provide us with the lovely movie poster.

Yes, R219, do keep up trawling through trash.

R220 = R221

Quoi, R222?

If you were to say near final film that would be half the cast of The Swarm.

Sylvia Sidney got the biggest laugh in Mars Attacks when she said "They blew up Congress!"

if I remember correctly, Confidential Magazine was going to blow the lid on Rock Hudson. To prevent it, and in exchange, Henry Wilson and Universal offered Confidential exclusive interviews with Hudson and all the dirt on cocksucker Rory Calhoun.

Caloun's career survived but he never got the leading man roles he had been being groomed for. Hudson remained Hoiiywood's stud, Everyone got their money.

R226, I was under the impression (although I'm sure he slipped the cock to Miss Henry Wilson early on) that Rory Calhoun was a major pussyhound.

But then again him & Guy Madison were best friends & fisting......I mean "fishing buddies" for 50 plus years until Guy's death.

[quote] Rory Calhoun

I only saw him in one film and he looked severely bloated.

See him in River of No Return with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe.

R228, he was absolutely gorgeous in his youth. Even as an older man he was handsome and very thin. I'm not sure what you saw him in?

He looks like Taylor J Phillips (and I don't see that as a compliment). He isn't half as pretty as Guy Madison.

[quote]He isn't half as pretty as Guy Madison.

Who was?

Guy Madison was (at least to my eyes) almost unrecognizable by the Mid 1950s. He remained a handsome man throughout his life but that swarthy, beefy, prettyboy goodness was all but gone.

A lot has been written about his first wife Gail Russell's drinking, but I suspect that Guy was a major boozer as well. It just didn't affect him in the same way.

In her last film poor Gail played second fiddle to a boy and his dog.

R234, she was quite haggard toward the end too.

This thread is really onto something.

Gail Russell was the basis for the Jane Fonda character in "The Morning After".

R69 Brainstorm is Wood's final/last film appearance.

R238, No shit, Sherlock. But, the last film she completed while alive was "The Last Married Couple in America".

Jessica Lange in Wild Oates

Speaking of Bette Davis and the stroke, it was caused by alcohol withdrawal when she was still in the hospital recovering from her breast cancer surgery. The doctors, amazingly, didn't recognize that she was going through withdrawal. It could've been easily prevented had they realized what was happening. Terribly sad.