What are some of the worst career decisions of actors?

What's ST and who is Denise Crosby?

Crosby did a two-day stint on General Hospital a few months back. Big change from her TNG days.

Bill Cosby - being a serial predator

Kevin Spacey - see above

Stephen Collins - see above

Doing annoying stupid commercials. Too many to name.

Pretty sure she was fired OP. It wasn’t really fair, but appearing in Playboy just did not go over well with the Star Trek producers.

Looking at her wiki though, she worked very steadily afterwards, even oddly appearing the Red Shoe Diaries the same year as Star Trek.

Oh hi!

Shelly Long quitting Cheers!! Stupid Bitch

But then we wouldn't have had Kirstie, who I did love on the show

Mommie Dearest,

IDK, being HRH The Duchess of Suck-it with 2 children is kind of trading up!!

may be universally. hated but not a bad job...Dumb Bitch really fucked-up though!1

McLean Stevenson leaving M*A*S*H.

I don't think Shelley Long leaving Cheers was THAT big of a mistake, as she had a couple of successful films right after (or at least one, "Outrageous Fortune") and it isn't a given that Cheers would have continued on as long as it did had she stayed on. Sam and Diane (as great as they were) were pretty much done in terms of places they could go with the story. Adding Rebecca and not making her a love interest for Sam was a reason the show continued on, as it was not exactly the same show any more. Add to that the replacement of Coah (R.I.P.) with Woody and it's pretty evident that so much of the show's longevity was based on key characters departing and excellent (and completely different) recasting of that character's position within the main cast.

Long was pretty limited in terms of her capabilities and she did well with Diane but, to quote Marguerite, there's only so much the American public wants to see of an 'uppity white lady'. Shelley Long maximized her potential as an actor and that's all she can really ask.

Fresh off her Academy Award, Cher doing infomercial for Lori Davies.

Obsess much R9?

Amanda Seyfried doing Lovelace

Demi Moore doing Striptease

Jane Fonda doing 80 for Brady

Sharon Stone doing Basic Instinct 2 is one that comes to mind. The movie was bad, and seemed nothing like the original. Certainly it lacked any of the qualities that made the original successful (even if one of those qualities was just how "watchable" it was). Doing that movie seemed like a desperate attempt at career resuscitation.

That redheaded guy leaving NYPD Blue. Huge mistake. He bombed in films. After years in the wilderness he made a comeback in one of those CSI shows.

Lorna doing "Grease 2."

Not only that R13, R9 s ridiculous post isn't even related to the topic. This is about actor's who made bad decisions regarding their work as ACTORS. Such as refusing one acting role (that was picked up by another actor who had major success with it) and taking another one which may have ruined their career or at the very least set it back. Not a damn thing to do with MM leaving her show. Nothing. Nada.

I'll say Jaime Foxworth turning to porn after getting the boot from FAMILY MATTERS. Or John Travolta turning down AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. He eventually had a career turnaround with PULP FICTION, but that was twelve years later.

Lena Dunham deciding to transition into Brendan Frasier in The Whale.

R18, he also turned down the Richard Gere role in Chicago. Dumb choice, he would have been great in that, he's a better singer and dancer than Gere

Okay, r21 wins!

Mel Gibson not quietly disappearing after his very public bed-shits. Or does he really need the money?

Pamela Sue Martin leaving 'Dynasty' in 1984, during the height of it's success, because Joan Collins was getting more airtime. ABC replacing her with the dreadful Emma Samms.

Helena Bonham Carter in Planet of the Apes, 2001.

Armie Hammer - cannibalism

Timothee - Bones and All

Molly Ringwald allegedly turned down Pretty Woman

David Caruso quitting NYPD Blue after one season to become a movie star which didn't happen. He lucked out later with another successful tv series CSI Miami. I quite liked him on NYPD and was pissed when he left.

Thank you for posting his name, R29. It was on the tip of my keyboard at R16 but I couldn't think of it.

That’s a good one, R29. Perfect example.

Jon Hamm thinking he was going to be George Clooney after Mad Men. Became box office poison and does commercial after commercial.

McLean Stevenson leaving MASH.

Peter Frampton doing a film version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

John Travolta doing "Moment by Moment" a movie in which he and Lily Tomlin are lovers.

When Dan Stevens left Downton Abbey.

OP, Denise said she quit because she didn't go to acting school to say "Aye, aye, captain!" She wanted diverse, challenging roles. After seeing how her career went, I'm sure she regrets her decision. Looking at her IMDB page, I don't see anything of note besides ST.

R32 I admit I thought he'd land roles after Mad Men. Wonder why he didn't?

[quote] Molly Ringwald allegedly turned down Pretty Woman

I don't think she would have been believable as a hooker. Didn't she also turn down Ghost?

I just noticed Drew Barrymore now has a line of small kitchen appliances at WalMart for some reason. Because when I think of air fryers, I think of Drew...

When Gary talked Lucy out of doing "The Madwoman of Chaillot" instead of "Mame."

Sherry Stringfield leaving ER.

(R32) I really don’t think he’s that strong of an actor. He had a good supporting cast on that show. He couldn’t even do a decent Fletch.

Being a drunk doesn’t help either.

I don’t know about Jon Hamm. It seems like he’s really busy, and he had a pretty high profile role in Top Gun: Maverick, which was the second biggest grossing film last year. He seems to do a lot of fun stuff, like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Stanley Tucci doing a repetitious travel show. How many ways can you say "Wow"?

Susan Dey turning down Sandy in 'Grease' (lucky for Olivia Newton-John, though).

Liz Taylor and Sophia Loren turning down Alexis in 'Dynasty' .

Terry Farrell always asking for more than she was worth and getting fired because of it. She was good on Ted Danson's post-CHEERS show, BECKER, but sources said that she got greedy and was replaced by Nancy Travis. Allegedly she did this on another show too.

Diana Ross taking the role of Dorothy in 'The Wiz'

Farrah Fawcett leaving C A after 1 seasons .

Nah, Farrah did ok, r48.

Jeffrey Hunter for listening to his wife after the completion of the Star Trek pilot where he starred as Captain Christopher Pike:

"As the end credits rolled, and the lights came up, Jeff Hunter's wife gave us our answer: "This is not the kind of show Jeff wants to do, and besides, it wouldn't be good for his career. Jeff Hunter is a movie star." Mrs. Hunter was very polite and very firm. She said her good-byes and left, having surprisingly and swiftly removed our star from our new pilot."

(The other version is that he was fired because his wife was a pain in the ass)

IMO, Farrah's life took a strange turn, if not financially, then personally. Stayed with crazy Ryan O'Neal all those years. Son ended up an addict, going in and out of jail. She got a new boyfriend at some point, James Orr, who got convicted for beating her up.

Gina Carano not keeping her shit views hidden. Now she's doing weird Hunter Biden movies

Pedro Pascal even tried to help her not be an idiot and she still fucked it all up.

Gina's political views should not have been grounds for firing her. Her acting, on the other hand...

r53, you think it's wrong to fire someone for posting anti-Semitic memes? Okay

Roseanne - posting racist shit on twitter

R54, she did no such thing, and you know it.

Van Johnson turned down the role of Eliot Ness on The Untouchables tv show

r56, yes, she did. Fuck off, right-winger

r45, has Susan Dey released a statement about Ms. Newton-John's death?

[quote] I just noticed Drew Barrymore now has a line of small kitchen appliances at WalMart for some reason. Because when I think of air fryers, I think of Drew...

Also, Drew has been appearing in commercials for Grove cleaning products. I sort of get why she would fit shilling for those products. But, the Wal-Mart appliance thing is weird as fuck.

Farrah did 3 shitty movies in a row after Charlie’s Angels and was sued. She was offered the Goldie hawn part in foul play and a bigger percentage of Charlie’s Angels merchandise if she stayed on the show. She turned it down and Goldie took the foul play part and it revived her career.

I think Sharon stone had a pay or play deal for basic instinct 2.

Drew has/had a beauty brand with Walmart for years and has made a ton of money from it.

To R13, OP..are u saying that Rachel from Suits marrying HRH Prince Harry was a terrible career decision? Seriously??? BTW, it was the best career decision Meghan could have made, however, leaving the "best role she could ever have" by making HRH Prince Hary leave the BRF to make $$$$. This is the dumbest fucking decision she ever made for her career. She married into the biggest international public platform in the world, and she blew it. Kaye becoming "HRH Princess of Wales", no one cares about Meghan except Meghan. Really bad career decision!!

Betty Hutton getting knocked-up, becoming unavailable for a scheduled loan-out from her home studio, Paramount to Warner Brothers for "Romance On the High Seas" in 1948 . She was replaced by Les Brown's band singer, Doris Day.

Betty Hutton walking out on her Paramount contract a few years later when the studio wouldn't let her then-husband direct her next movie.

Eve Plumb refusing to do the Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

Tina Louise refusing to do Return to Gilligan's Island.

(R43) Busy doing what? Walk-ins on SNL and insurance commericals.

Yes, David Caruso owns this thread: signed; sealed and delivered.

Jayne Mansfield refusing to do the original Gilligans Island.

Gil Bellows leaving Ally McBeal.

Tony Martin turned down originating the role of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls on Broadway and Cyd Charisse turned down An American in Paris to have their son.

Molly Ringwald again - apparently she was sent the Blue Velvet script (for the Laura Dern part) but her mother read it first and sent it back without Molly ever seeing it.

Siggy not even being told by her agent that they wanted her for "The Piano". I guess the bad decision was on the agent's part as she sacked him!

R72 Siggy?

[quote]Denise said she quit because she didn't go to acting school to say "Aye, aye, captain!"

That is fucking hilarious, because Denise Crosby is one of the worst actors in the business. She was grating and whiny on ST:TNG and didn't fit in with the rest of the ensemble cast. Every line she uttered sounded like she thought she was in an after-school special.

David Duchovny leaving X files to become a movie star.

That ‘I can’t remember his name’ guy who turned down the role of Chandler on Friends.

R73 Sigourney Weaver, maybe?

Suzanne Somers owns this thread.

BTW, R44, Tucci's show came from fact that during the pandemic, he would post on Instagram his cooking skills. They became very popular, so much so that he wrote cookbooks and CNN gave him his own show. I don't think that qualifies as a bad career decision.

Barbra Streisand for taking the role of 'Cheryl Gibbons' in the horrible "All Night Long" in 1981. She did it as a favor to her agent Sue Mengers at the time (who was married to the producer), and she got a few million for a film that didn't take long to make (she put the money she made into 'Yentl').

However, it flopped at the box office with her name all over it (it was pushed as a Streisand 'zany comedy' which it wasn't), cost Mengers her friendship and business relationship with Streisand, and is never ever mentioned in any interview with Streisand when discussing her film catalogue. She has distanced herself completely from this - as have most of her fans.

Delta Burke for marrying Gerald McRaney and letting him guide her career right into the toilet by encouraging her to be a total pain in the ass on "Designing Women".

I agree Farrah made a huge mistake which took her a long time to recover.

She thought she was a 'major star' when she finished the first season of Charlie's Angels (1976-77) and her poularity would transfer to the silver screen. However, after such major box office flops as the adult-oriented 'Somebody Killed Her Husband' and 'Sunburn' in the late 70s, she realized she wasn't the big talent she believed she was - her audience really was with teenage boys who turned into CA every week. Those teenage boys weren't exactly running to the movies to watch her in 'Sunburn'; they were watching 'Star Wars'.

She wisely got her career back on track in the early / mid 80s when she turned to TV dramas. But it was a long time coming to repair her stardom.

Louise Brooks backing out ot fhe role Jean Harlow played in "The Public Enemy" ir order to take a trip to New York with her wealthy boyfriend.

Louise Brooks refusing to reloop her voice in "The Canary Murder Case." The studio offered her more money to do it, then even more money but she couldn't be bothered. A new actress had to be hired to do the voice all over again. It cemented her reputation for being irresponsible and unprofessional.

Louise Brooks not accepting G. W. Pabst's efforts to mentor her and guide her career. She just didn't give a damn and that's why her career in movies evaporated, not because she "walked out on Hollywood." Hollywood walked out on her.

Who else?

R82 at least it led to some good songs about her.

Kim Cattrall all her new shows flopped

r80, I have no idea what you are talking about.

Chevy Chase thinking he was hot shit and leaving SNL after the first season for a mostly-disastrous movie career.

Ezra Miller ending the hush payments to his victim's family once the girl turned 18.

Stewart Granger turned down the part of Massala, in MGM's Ben-Hur, directed by William Wyler. Film won 11 Oscars incuding Best Picture, Actor, Director. Stephen Boyd got an Oscar nomination in the role. Granger's wife Jean Simmons turned down the female lead, also.

Granger's Hollywood career was all but over, and would have been revived by co-starring in this prestigious smash hit. But supposedly he or his agent thought he shouldn't support Charlton Heston, who wasn't a major star at the time (Heston had had 4th billing in a supporting role in the previous year's Wyler film, The Big Country).

Joseph Gordon Levitt just... not finding a theme. He's dabbled in some drama, some comedy, some romance, but he's never made a big enough splash in any one genre. A couple good movies, just no personal identity or persona.

Ingrid Bergman's decision to go to Italy in the late 40s to work with Roberto Rossellini.

Michael Wilding's decision to work in Hollywood after he married Elizabeth Taylor. His career in British films was doing great, his Hollywood career flopped, and his acting career neve recovered.

Montgomerey Clift's decision to turn down a lot of good films. He finally did Raintree County because he needed to make a film, having been off the screen for four years. (Then he had a serious car accident during the making of it.)

Norma Shearer's decision to turn down Mrs. Miniver.

R90 I'd actually say Joseph Gordon Levitt's mistake was wanting to be an "autor" when he had a good gig as a male lead. He had some great momentum with stuff like 500 Days of Summer or Don Jon, then he went into directing/producing where he's just not brilliant enough to make it.

Most of Marlon Brando's career decisions.

Joan C was a fool to turn down "From Here To Eternity".

Denise Crosby is in one of my favorite cult movies, Miracle Mile. She’s pretty terrible in it but it’s one of her better performances. She’s also awful in the original Pet Sematary and the Chucky rip-off Dolly Dearest. I’m not a Star Trek guy but the idea she thought she was too good for that show is laughable

The Cher Lori Davis infomercial.

R85 While all of Kim's recent shows have flopped, I don't think turning down Sex and the City 3/And Just Like That was a career mistake either. I know I at least respect her more for sticking to her guns and the negative reaction to the new show has at least somewhat proven her right to skip out. (Definitely a financial mistake on her part though)

[quote]Chevy Chase thinking he was hot shit and leaving SNL after the first season for a mostly-disastrous movie career.

This isn't true at all. Chevy Chase was huge in the late 1970s and 1980s. Those farces like "Foul Play" and "Seems Like Old Times" were hits at the box office, "Caddyshack" and the first National Lampoon movie are iconic, he was in "Fletch" and "Three Amigos" which were hits even if they're not very good or well remembered today.

Robert DeNiro by doing that horrendously unfunny piece of crap called "Dirty Grandpa". At least one of his Oscars should've been revoked from him just for starring on it.

R79 - I don't agree that All Night Long was a mistake for Barbra. I think she gives one of her best performances and has great chemistry with Gene Hackman. Hackman was also instrumental in getting her cast in something she had originally turned down. He had wanted her but settled for Lisa Eichhorn with whom he had an affair and then dumped and wanted her gone from the film. Jean-Claude Tramont was the film's director and the one married to Sue Mengers who was both Gene and Barbra's agent.

[quote]Okay, R21 wins!

I wouldn't call "Mame," as lousy as that movie is, and as bad as Lucy was in it, a bad "career decision." Lucy's career was winding down at that point anyway, She was in her 60s and still doing pratfalls on "Here's Lucy," a sitcom as awful in its way as "Mame" was. (Let's not even mention "Life With Lucy," which was just sad.) Lucy's post-"Mame" career would have been exactly the same had she never made that movie. A series of mediocre TV specials and a belated effort to do something "different and challenging" in the TV movie "Stone Pillow."

George Raft turning down High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, though the latter one may be a myth.

R89, Stephen Boyd was not actually nominated for an Oscar for 'Ben-Hur', although many people are surprised that he wasn't. It certainly could be argued that he was more deserving of the Oscar for Supporting Actor than his 'Ben'Hur' co-star Hugh Griffith, who ended up winning.

Need I say more?

It's remarkable how quickly the Joseph Gordon Levitt train fell off the wheels.

He was riding high in 2012 with key roles in "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Lincoln" as well as the lead in "Looper", while his 2013 directorial debut did very well considering it was about porn addiction.

He supposedly turned down "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Ant-Man" and "Godzilla" in favour of the "Sin City" sequel while he bet on major filmmakers who had seen better days: Robert Zemeckis and Oliver Stone, both of whom delivered noted box office disappointments.

Like his buddy Channing Tatum, he was also attached in front of and behind the camera to a comicbook property that he couldn't get a greenlight for: "Sandman".

By 2016, he was done.

He should have just said yes to Marvel. Audiences didn't even give him the credit for taking risks on the mid-budget film that supposedly everyone misses while Marvel actors get chance after chance from studios and financiers because there's always a blockbuster around the corner.

[quote]R61 She turned FOUL PLAY down and Goldie took the part and it revived her career.

Fawcett was also in negotiations to do COMA when she fled CHARLIE’s ANGELS, but ABC let it be known around town there could be legal ramifications for hiring a performer presently engaged in an existing contract dispute.

The film turned out to be a hit when recast with Geneviève Bujold (who certainly elevated the material.)

[quote]R94 Joan C was a fool to turn down "From Here To Eternity".

She didn’t turn it down, the producers eventually got sick of her demands and moved on down the list.

Johnny Depp making "The Rum Diary" had so many consequences for the rest of his life.

It even began the overpaid/box office failure narrative.

Melissa McCarthy working with her husband.

Lana Turner walking out on “Anatomy of a Murder”.

Lauren Bacall turning down “The Man With the Golden Arm”.

Both had issues with director Otto Preminger.

Lana insisted on a glamorous wardrobe for her character and Bacall wanted more money than Otto would offer.

Mia Farrow turned down True Grit, to make the awful John and Mary, and leaving Peyton Place to marry Sinatra did not endear her to Fox. Without Frank to shield her, she was forced to work off her old Fox contract, making a silly tv movie Goodbye Raggedy Ann. Moving to England didn't help, either.

I came here to mention Dan Stevens, who gave up DA to move to California and become a movie star, but it has already been mentioned.

R45, i Dont think Sophia Loren or Elizabeth Taylor made a mistake turning down Alexis in Dynasty. Both were old school stars who i dont see accepting the increasing camp trashiness of that role (which would have tarnished their reputations). Much as i think she is a lousy actress, Joan Collins made the role all her own.

Mike Myers doing The Love Guru when he welcome was clearly wearing out post-Austin Powers. Ended his lead career.

Lady Gaga and ARTFLOP

Yeah what about music.

Garth Brooks’ Chris Gaines album.

Billy Eichner - “Bros”

John Belushi playing Elizabeth Taylor playing Alexis Carrington

THAT is "MUST SEE TV" I SMELL EMMY!!

[quote]Fawcett was also in negotiations to do COMA when she fled CHARLIE’s ANGELS, but ABC let it be known around town there could be legal ramifications for hiring a performer presently engaged in an existing contract dispute.

This is the reason she was dropped from the movie "Foul Play" as well - the studio didn't want to take a chance with her while in a legal dispute with ABC / Aarron Spelling Productions. They replaced her with Goldie Hawn.

Timothee Chalamet in Wonka

R112, was Dan Stevens leaving Downton Abbey really that bad of a decision? He hasn't had a hit except for Beauty and the Beast (and even though he doesn't deserve any credit for that movie's success, a hit is a hit), but he has worked steadily since leaving the show. He isn't doing significantly worse than Michelle Dockery, who stayed with Downton through the entire series and remained mostly on television.

I can't imagine him emerging as a bigger star had he stayed. He was probably always meant for the level of career he has now, whether or not he remained at Downton.

Eve Plumb not playing Jan in the Brady Bunch Variety Hour. Had she appeared, it might still be on the air today.

Beanie, for turning down the lead in the "Orca" remake.

There was a proposal to remake the 1981 French thriller film "Diva" into an American film in the mid- 1980s, with Diana Ross as the unrecorded opera singer. Eddie Murphy's name was bounced around as the male courier who secretly tapes her, and gets caught into a scandal, involved with the mob. Ross, however, wanted the movie to be rewritten in a way in which the focus of the movie would be on her and her career, and she would be involved with the mob. That would be a whole different movie all together, and the producers tried to 'reason' with her for the writers to stick with the original French film. Ross wouldn't give in, as she wanted to be the 'star' not a 'costar' to Murphy . The project was dropped, Murphy went on to other box office hits in the 80s, and Ross' film career stayed dead. This could have revived her movie career, which was on a roll in the 1970s.

(A proposal later on with Whitney Houston as the star, a follow-up to 'The Bodyguard' , and Will Smith as her co-star, never got passed the 'idea' stages).

Great thread.

R120, perhaps you re right, but he left at a time and in a manner that i think angered fans and the producers, etc. His (perfectly legitimate) decision to move country was made rather bombastically and probably did not help his subsquent career.

WE BOUGHT A ZOO…

I’ll just leave this right here…

[quote] Doing annoying stupid commercials. Too many to name.

Actors make more money from these than from a movie sometimes. I wouldn't call that a bad career decision.

A lot of American A listers go to Asia to endorse products. Not only does it pay well, they don’t suffer from overexposure.

Roman Polanski asking Samantha Geimer's mother if he could photograph her daughter as part of his work for the French edition of Vogue,

Gina Carano (a) made a social media post mocking the trans community, then when called out (b) self pityingly compared herself to Jews killed in the Holocaust. Even if you think those are okay things to say, you understand why Disney would choose not to associate their brand with someone this tone deaf, gauche and creepy?

Yes Woody Allen did a commercial in Japan.

Speaking of tone deaf, gauche and creepy.

[quote]Gina Carano not keeping her shit views hidden. Now she's doing weird Hunter Biden movies

She was such a stupid bitch. She had a golden ticket with the Star Wars franchise and all that Disney $$$. She basically blew the job of a lifetime.

Harrison Ford’s Kirin Beer ad.

David Duchovny pretty much disappeared after he left X Files.

Did Duchovny ever make any successful films?

David Caruso did two films after leaving NYPD Blue - Kiss of Death and Jade - that were absolute garbage. Ruined his career until CSI Miami resurrected it nearly a decade later.

Even when Caruso had a hit show with CSI: Miami, he still remained kind of joke based on his campy line readings of that show's bad dialogue. I'm sure he made a ton of money off of it, but it didn't quite restore his reputation.

And I haven’t seen Caruso since his show was canceled.

I agree with r120, I don't think leaving DA really hurt Dan Stevens

R120 I'm not certain Michelle Dockery wanted to be any more famous than she is?

Her fiancé, John Dineen, died of cancer aged 34 towards the end of Downton and she had a weird stalker.

1980s Faye in a Japanese commercial for the luxury department store Parco:

Michael Fassbender when he starred in the dreadful "Assassin's Creed" film.

I'm also thinking of Aaron Paul, who thought he could be a box-office star after "Breaking Bad" and ended up doing that shitty "Need for Speed" film.

When Laurence Olivier appeared in Polaroid commercials in the 1970s, one of his conditions was that they not be shown in the UK.

Duchovny's biggest gig after XFiles was probably Californication on Showtime which ended in 2014 after 7 seasons

^^^He can live off of the money that he made from that I bet, R145.

[quote] was Dan Stevens leaving Downton Abbey really that bad of a decision?

I think he left at least in part because Lord Fellows cannot write a script or plot a series to save his life (see also The Gilded Age), and I respect Stevens for that, but I do wonder if he regrets missing out on the payday for the 2 Downton films.

Of course, both films have casts of thousands, so the cash may be spread around rather thinly too…

Linda Blair and The Exorcist II.

John Gilbert probably could have bought himself out of his MGM contract or gotten released from it, instead of staying there with a "they're not going to get rid of me" attitude while he made lousy films at a time MGM was making some great films and had some great female stars they never co-starred him with.

Kevin Costner’s decision to inflict The Postman on the world (with himself as star/producer/director) was a career catastrophe.

I think in Compulsion (1959) Orson Welles refused to do retakes or post production, and his final speech had to be put together from various takes and small cuts.. Richard Fleischer, the director, felt if he had put in the work he would have gotten a supporting actor nomination or win.

r150 I never saw The Postman but to this day Waterworld remains the single worst piece of shit movie I have ever seen in a theater. It was excruciating.

Madonna deciding she could become and was one.

It wasn't really his decision but Henry Fonda lost the lead in the play, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? when his agent turned it down without consulting him, and singed him up for the film, Spencer's Mountain. He also turned down the lead in Executive Suite because he planned on starring in the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, Pipe Dream. However after months of vocal training, Fonda still wasn't able to sing to anyone's satisfaction.

*Executive Suite (1954) - the role was played by William Holden.

Bad plastic surgery is one of the very worst career decisions. Many have destroyed their faces and their unique looks and couldn't get the same level of work again.

[quote]r156 Bad plastic surgery is one of the very worst career decisions.

You just WATCH IT, little homosexual boy.

R156 - that's crazy talk

Diana Ross playing Dorothy in The Wiz (1978) It was her final film.

Richard Burton marrying Elizabeth Taylor. Before marrying her he was an admired, respected actor. After they married he lost his acting cred and became a tabloid celebrity. Quite a comedown.

After marrying Taylor, Burton was nominated 5 times for Best Actor for Beckett, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand days and Equus.

[quote] [R120] I'm not certain Michelle Dockery wanted to be any more famous than she is?

Not R120, but I think if Michelle Dockery could have done movies and/or something "more" than Downton Abbey, she would have. I think she's just very grounded and practical about money.

[quote]Richard Burton marrying Elizabeth Taylor. Before marrying her he was an admired, respected actor. After they married he lost his acting cred and became a tabloid celebrity. Quite a comedown.

Except he made "Becket," "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold," "Night Of The Iguana," "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf", "Taming Of The Shrew," and "Anne Of The Thousand Days" after marrying ET.

He also played Churchill in "The Gathering Storm." "Equus" was between marriages. "Wagner" was a 10-part mini-series with Vanessa Redgrave that was well-received and his penultimate film was "1984."

Yeah, he also did a lot of shit films in that period after the first ET marriage, but five of his seven Oscar nominations came after 1964.

Rob Morrow left Northern Exposure and didn’t do much after Quiz Show

Grace Kelly leaving Hollywood for Monaco.

It not only killed her career, r165, it actually killed her.

Geena Davis, Cutthroat Island

OP- I never understood why that LESBIAN quit that show to go quickly into obscurity.

ONJ following 'Grease' with 'Xanadu' and then following that with 'Two of a Kind'. Did she even read the scripts ? It's like she purposely wanted to end her movie career.

Going swimming

Going hiking

Going to LA

Going on a spiritual journey.

Dana Plato doing soft core in ‘Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill’. She should have followed Mrs Garrett to Eastland.

Crispin Glover almost kicking David Letterman in the head on national television and behaving like a freak. Career-DONE.

Yes because his career ended in the 80s. Ovah!

R176-Oh my, all those top-shelf projects.

Crispin Glover's career mistake was accusing Spielberg of pedophilia.

“Brainstorm”

Alec Baldwin on set with a loaded gun. Manslaughter.

Not going supporting.

Michelle Pfeiffer turning down the role of Clarice Starling.

Streisand turning down the lead role in "Splash" which made Darryl Hannah a star. Streisand thought the script was 'too silly'.

Streisand turning down the lead in 'Cabaret' which earned Liza an Oscar.

I never knew Streisand was offered "Cabaret"...WOW!! Barbra as Sally Bowles-Interesting??

She would have been good with Michael York, she loved her male co-stars!!Barbra

Streisand was offered many roles after 'Funny Girl' and 'Hello Dolly', which she turned down. Another one was 'Klute' which went to Jane Fonda. Streisand has joked (?) over the years that she gave Fonda 'her career' since Fonda won the Oscar for that role (I think Fonda got tired of that comment over the years, and asked Streisand to stop).

Fonda had already appeared in a dozen films prior to Streisand's debut in 1968s Funny Girl. Fonda was in hit films like Cat Ballou, (1965), Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Barbarella (1968) and was nominated for an Oscar for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) before Klute (1971).

I can see Barbra fucking Michael York& Bob Fosse at different parts of the day after filming..

2 control freaks trying to control the filming of "Cabaret" Fosse vs. Barbra...I would pay to watch that documentary.

[quote] Streisand turning down the lead role in "Splash" which made Darryl Hannah a star. Streisand thought the script was 'too silly'.

Streisand also turned down singing "Beauty and the Beast" (due to the lyrics). Celine Dion (and Peabo Bryson) ended up singing it. This was a pivotal song for Celine, IIRC. I actually like this song & think that Celine and Peabo sound great on it.

Lucille Ball turning down the Angie Dickinson part in Dressed To Kill. She even shaved her pussy for the shower scene, but changed her mind at the last minute.

Slumber parties with boys

Taika Waititi (a) staging that three-way for photographers while shooting a DISNEY movie. (b) publicly ridiculing his TLT VFX artists, (c) becoming Rita Ora’s official pimp.

[quote] Streisand also turned down singing "Beauty and the Beast" (due to the lyrics).

What???

She found the lyrics "finding you can change, learning you are wrong" offensive, because she will never change and thinks she is never wrong.

R186 - Streisand turned down 'They Shoot Horses...' and 'Julia', as well as 'Klute'. The quote about giving Fonda her career was from 2016 and came up repeatedly, afterward.

Like Barbra would've been believable as an expensive call girl in Klute. Fonda was a very attractive woman.

Barbra was a very expensive call girl in 'For Pete's Sake' (1974) and 'Nuts' (1987).

I think those two movies prove that Barbra is completely unbelievable as an expensive call girl, R196.

Remember Joe Queenan from Movieline? He reviewed Nuts and said something to the effect of "if women who looked like Barbra Streisand could get $200 for a blowjob, prostitution would be the most overcrowded profession in the country."

Joe Queenan doesn't know much about prostitution. Or women

Claire Danes turning down Titanic (though the movie is better for it)

R187, And Bob Fosse was majorly hung.

R196, And “The Owl and the Pussycat”.

[quote]R184 I never knew Streisand was offered "Cabaret"...WOW!! Barbra as Sally Bowles-Interesting

Wouldn’t having Sally be obviously Jewish RATHER alter the story, as WWII looms? That’s what Marisa Berenson’s character is for.

Katharine Hepburn agreeing to appear in “Love Affair”, her final film.

[quote] After marrying Taylor, Burton was nominated 5 times for Best Actor for Beckett, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand days and Equus.

But he never WON any of them. And that's because he wasn't well thought of as an actor anymore; he was just half of Liz and Dick.

R203, well they could have just played with the juxtaposition of the pretty Jewish girl and the NOT pretty Jewish girl, instead...

R205, Not True. He returned to Broadway after Elizabeth and gave a stunning performance In Equus.

He returned to Broadway WITH Elizabeth in Private Lives.

[quote]Katharine Hepburn agreeing to appear in “Love Affair”, her final film.

Like Katharine Hepburn was fretting about career choices as her life was nearing its end.

[quote] Not True. He returned to Broadway after Elizabeth and gave a stunning performance In Equus.

That was AFTER he detached himself from Liz. It did his career good to not be associated with her anymore.

{quote] He returned to Broadway WITH Elizabeth in Private Lives.

For the money. "Private Lives" was awful but people came to see it to watch the spectacle of Liz and Dick Together Again. But it was hell for him working with her. She was irresponsible and unprofessional.

I think he did HAMLET on Broadway while they were together, too?

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (Apr 09, 1964 - Aug 08, 1964)

Burton's marriages to Taylor lasted from 15 March 1964 to 26 June 1974 and from 10 October 1975 to 29 July 1976.

R163 He did a lot of shit films before marrying Taylor. The Sea Wife (with Joan Collins, who turned out to be a nun), Alexander The Great, The Bramble Bush, The Rains Of Ranchipur (a remake of The Rains Came, with Lana Turner), Ice Palace, and, arguably, The Robe, though it was a smash hit. He was kind of known for that.

Mary Louise Wilson for taking the role of 'Ginny Wroblicki' on One Day At A Time in it's second season.

According to her memoir, she A) Never watched television so she wasn't familiar with this comedy B) Never read any scripts from previous episodes, so she wasn't familiar with the tone of the show or its humor C) Didn't want to leave Broadway for LA because she loved being a Broadway musical theater actress, and had no desire to be on a weekly sitcom.

But her agent at the time told her to take the role - so she did. And hated every minute of it.

Tab Hunter decided to leave Warner Bros. when he was a big star, to freelance, which he later said was a big mistake. Warener Bros. just replaced him with Troy Donahue. TH had to support his mother, who had mental illness and underwent hospitaization and shock treatments. He had to take anything to make money, and within a few years was making crappy films. His career never recovered. Though he always kept working, and seemed to have had a happy life, anyway.

I love “Burton & Taylor” with Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter.

Streisand again - for leaving Jon Peter's management in the mid-80s and ending back up with Marty by the end of that decade.

When Peters took over as her manager in 1974, he propelled her to a new universe in stardom, making her act younger and hipper in her acting and music career . It was he who is credited with finding 'A Star Is Born' for her, and introducing her to a younger generation of movie and music fans, who never knew of her via 'Funny Girl', 'Hello Dolly' and 'On A Clear Day'; 'ASIB' becoming one of her biggest movie hits, and won her a second Oscar.

In her music career, he put her at the top of the charts with her string of top 10 hits and four number ones from 1976-1980 (in the 14 years prior to that, she only had one number one hit in 1974, and not many top 10 hits). Again, Peters knew how to open her up to a whole new generation of younger fans who weren't familiar with her 60s music. She still had hit albums after leaving Peters in the mid-80s (I think "Emotion" was the last album he was responsible for her) but her appearances on Top 40 radio and Billboard charts soon faded.

Just to be clear, the song, Evergreen, won her a second Oscar, not her acting in ASIB.

Some Barbra fans think her allowing Jon Peters to influence her career was her worst career decision. They split because neither he nor Sue Mengers wanted her to do Yentl. Peters wanted her to do the film of Evita thinking this would be a hit from the soundtrack with Barbra's recording even though she was too old to play Eva Peron despite how good she looked for her age.

Madonna - the Sex book and the American Life album

R218 Correction: BS did not win a second Oscar for ASIB or anything else.

Best Original Song

A Star Is Born "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" from A Star Is Born – Music by Barbra Streisand; Lyrics by Paul Williams

^ Oscars

R223 I know but I thought you meant a "second Oscar" for acting, the way you wrote it.

[quuote] He did a lot of shit films before marrying Taylor.

He didn't become joke fodder for comedians until he married her. His reputation definitely changed after he married her, and not for the better.

R220 - He stayed around as her manager until the end of 1984 / early 1985. His last project with her was her album "Emotion" , which didn't score high on the album charts, but sold very well in the long run - selling platinum by the end of December, 1984 (the album was released in October 1984). She then went with Sandy Gallin in 1985, and was back with Marty E. around 1988/89. By then, Peters became a Hollywood movie mogul.

So the peak of her career - arguably, the most successful years in music and movies - was under Peters from 1974 - 1984.

Gwyneth Paltrow - couldn't keep her mouth shut and she continued to blab away, sounding more elitist and tone-deaf with each comment. Now, she's one of the most disliked celebrities in Hollywood.

Gwynnie - the vagina candle

Bennifer - Gigli

Dana Plato: Getting fired from [italic]Diff'rent Strokes[/italic] for getting pregnant, trusting a crooked business manager with her TV money, and becoming a druggie fuckup.

By the time she did the softcore flick mentioned at R174, the only other work she could get was occasional parts in straight-to-video films. She also worked minimum-wage jobs and was allegedly a street hooker at her lowest point.

After her Oscar nom, Warner Bros. refused to loan out Carroll Baker for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Three Faces of Eve, The Devil’s Disciple, and The Brothers Karamazov.

She’d refused to do Too Much, Too Soon (amongst other trash) for this employer, and the studio was having NONE of it!

Katherine Heigl humbly withdrawing her name from Emmy contention (for "Grey's Anatomy") because she wasn't "given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination."

She was released from her contract and did commercials for ZzzQuil and Cat's Pride.

Courtney Cox for refusing Desperate Housewives

Marrying Prince Harry.

To R228, I agree with you, but I would typed "one of the most disliked& hated actresses-personalities". in the Continental USA!! Maybe Hallmark movie where she dies!!

Stop r234, not even related to the topic. For the umpteenth time.

[quote]Denise Crosby quitting ST. I saw her in a Z list horror some year back.

Denise, was she the oldest kid on "The Cosby Show"?

Wearing bib overalls on Password Plus

[Quote]But he never WON any of them. And that's because he wasn't well thought of as an actor anymore; he was just half of Liz and Dick.

Then why was Burton nominated 5 X between 1965 and 1978 and receive raves for his performances if he wasn't thought of as an actor anymore?

Richard Burton was just one of many to have received multiple nominations and no win.

If he had not died at 58 in 1984, he surely would have been awarded an honorary Oscar as Peter O’Toole and Deborah Kerr were, both multiple nominees.

[quote] Then why was Burton nominated 5 X between 1965 and 1978 and receive raves for his performances if he wasn't thought of as an actor anymore?

He didn't have the respect he once had. He and Liz were in the tabloids constantly; that didn't help his career any. One of his peers was Paul Scofield. In an interview some news person asked why de didn't do quality work like Paul Scorfield. Liz got really pissed off and railed at the interviewer but Burton just smoothed it over. By the way Scofield, who was never the star Burton was, won an Oscar. Why did Burton never win one? Becasue the whole Liz and Dick debacle, the boozing, the arguments, the bad movies, tarnished him.

Glenn Close and O'Toole were nominated for Oscars 8 times each, Burton 7 and Kerr 6 times without a win. Hilary Swank was nominated twice and won each time. Lee Marvin, David Niven, Charleton Heston, Adrian Brody, Louise Fletcher and Shirley Booth on some of the many actors who won Oscars on their first and only nominations.

R241😴

R241, Here is that interview where Elizabeth loses it.

What a mouthy shrew.

R244, You can hear Burton say “Elizabeth, pull yourself together”.

R221, the Sex book may have not been a commercial success but gave Madonna fame and visibility in a global scale. I think it was actually a very clever career move.

R244 - Good for her ! I'm glad she spoke up and pointed out the inaccuracies of what the interviewer was saying. Burton should have been happy she did that.

Helen Lawson doing that Gang Bang video.

R248, It was obviously a sore point with Elizabeth, but the interviewer was correct in pointing out how few and far between Paul Scofield’s screen appearances were.

Halle Berry doing CATWOMAN. Completely destroyed her post-Oscar career momentum. But Hollywood really did not know how to handle her after her win.

But we got a good acceptance speech!

“I never in my life thought I would be up here… I have a lot of people to thank, because you don’t win a Razzie without a lot of help from a lot of people.”

R242, I guess Glenn is....the biggest loser

[quote]Glenn Close and O'Toole were nominated for Oscars 8 times each, Burton 7 and Kerr 6 times without a win.

"It's an honor just to be nominated."

Even dressing as an Oscar won’t save you.

[quote]r231 After her Oscar nom, Warner Bros. refused to loan out Carroll Baker for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Three Faces of Eve, The Devil’s Disciple, and The Brothers Karamazov.

I have to go back to this, because Baker is so fantastic in “Baby Doll.”

Those first two roles especially would have really showcased her amazing talent. As it was, she slumped through a lot of undazzling stuff until she was recycled as a plastic sex bomb when Marilyn Monroe died, then took off to do Giallo trash in Italy for a decade.

It really is a great loss that she didn’t get the right roles at the right time.

Liza Minnelli starred in a string of high-profiled box-office flops after winning the Oscar for 'Cabaret'.

'Lucky Lady', 'New York, New York', 'Rent-A-Cop', etc. Her only box office hit after the Oscar was 1981's "Arthur" which she co-starred with Dudley Moore. Her follow-up in the 1988 sequel was a bomb, though.

Julian Sands - Time to climb Mt. Baldy!!!

R257, And let’s not forget this bomb.

R259 an absolutely terrible film. I was glad when Miss Bergman got offed by the taxicab.

Cher doing these infomercial after winning an Oscar

Hey I may be fat but my hair is fabulous.

What happened to Lori Davis ?

You could have had a convincing answer from Vic Morrow but you would have had to hurry.

Lori still has a website.

Cher is my all-time number one, but this is still hilarious thirty years later.

[Quote] the interviewer was correct in pointing out how few and far between Paul Scofield’s screen appearances were.

Was that by choice or was Scofield not offered many film roles? BTW Brando often considered one of America's greatest actors never returned to the legitimate stage after he started in films nor did Streisand.

R265 Thanks for the link. The website looks like it hasn't been updated since 2003. Can't believe she's still in business !

R266 Thanks for the memories ! I remember when that first aired on television - I couldn't stop laughing !!!

[quote] Was that by choice or was Scofield not offered many film roles?

I think he preferred the theater. Plus, he was no sex symbol, no flashy film image and he must have known that. He was immensely talented, though. He really deserved his Oscar.

Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest."

If only they had given that bitch of an actress an Academy Award nomination where it ought to have been.

Dunaway was a true blue, serious actor star with 3 Oscar noms and 1 win under her belt that fateful day she accepted the Mommie Dearest job.

And then the laughter stopped.

[quote]Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest."

A bad decision for her, decades of camp heaven for little homosexual boys.

R272, Anne Bancroft was set to star, but she left the project.

Gary talked her out of it.

r5 funny enough, tho, many of the cast (and ds9) appeared in soft core porn... well, it's possible they thought they were basic cable tv movies. They'd just remove the porn part and sell it to local stations, even with the porn cinemax was more hardcore.

even with box office bombs, she made more than she ever would had she stayed a regular on ST:NG. Albeit, she might have been able to make it into films.But higher likelihood her character would have been inevitably killed off for Data's growth or an operatic she slept with my twin brother, Lore.

And really, the whole affair with Data was kind of cringe.. lesbianish woman banging rainman because the dick was too good.

speaking of.

Christina Ricci in "Pumpkin"

Bancroft was too old. She was pushing fifty at the time.

Richard Burton wanted to come to Hollywood, be a movie star. From the beginning, people were saying he was more interested in fame and money than in fulfilling his talent as an actor. He starred on stage in Hamlet and Henry V after becoming a movie star, as well as other plays (not many), and some quality films (not really that many, either). I don't think marrying Elizabeth Taylor had anything to do with him selling out. His worst career decisions were some of the movies he chose to do, but he became a well-liked star, anyway, and had several Oscar nominations.

True r273. And yeah, it may not have been the original plan, but damn, talk about immortal!

Pauline Kael declared that Faye Dunaway gave "a startling, ferocious performance," adding, "Dunaway brings off these camp horror scenes—howling 'No wire hangers!' and weeping while inflecting 'Tina, bring me the axe' with the beyond-the-crypt chest tones of a basso profundo—but she also invests the part with so much power and suffering that these scenes transcend camp." (Wikipedia)

I agree.

^ In 1981 the New York Film Critics Circle named Glenda Jackson Best Actress for Stevie and Faye Dunaway (Mommie Dearest) and Diane Keaton (Reds) were runners-up.

Streisand delaying 'The Normal Heart' in 1995 (as producer, director and star) to work on 'The Mirror Has Two Faces' . Larry Kramer never forgave her, and dragged her through the mud. He didn't understand that she hit middle-age and had to prove to the world she was still a 'sex symbol' and 'The Normal Heart' wasn't going to be sending that message.

Her rationale was that she would first make a commercial movie and then do one that was not commercial. But it didn't work out that way. Also I think her meeting James Brolin changed everything for her so that she lost some ambition.

[quote]Her rationale was that she would first make a commercial movie and then do one that was not commercial.

Yes, but she started working on TNH after she made her commercial movie 'Prince of Tides'. 'Mirror' was strictly a vanity project to boost her ego and sense of 'beauty' at age 54.

"Listen, honey, now that I'm getting dicked by James on the reg...the only gays I care about seeing work in the mall under my house. "

R284, And to earn me my only Oscar nomination.

Streisand turned off boatloads of gay fans by dragging her feet on The Normal Heart. Of course, many of them drowned while waiting.

Old King Charles III with the Gin Blossom nose and the slaggy old side piece wife, letting his mother die.

It's just as well Streisand didn't do the Normal Heart because the 2014 version was great.

I know Julia Roberts is hated on DL and I've never been a big fan of hers either, but she was wonderful in the Normal Heart. Very earnest and heartfelt performance.

R290-I was in that group scene with her in the movie. It was her first day on the film and she was a fucking wreck before shooting and after.

Don't forget Chevy had hits with the Vacation movies. Foul Play was a favorite of mine.

All of the SNL actors who left for other projects/film careers that didn’t pan out. Unless they were tired of Lorne Michaels being a dictator.

Ann Sheridan turning down "Mildred Pierce" after Bette Davis passed on it Barbara Stanwyck was unavailable for it.

R294 None of them were right for it.

r295: Stanwyck would have been fantastic.

R296 No, she wouldn't have taken Veda's shit for five minutes.

"I wonder what would happen if I saw how fast this car can go..."

--Anne He he

"Emergency brake, schmemergency brake!"

Bette Davis moved to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in the early 1950's - not long after she did All About Eve and The Star (Oscar-nominated for both). She wanted to be a wife and mother, join the PTA, etc. She only did a handful of movies the whole decade - she did TV, instead, and theater. Her career never really came back totally from this. Same with her husband at the time, Gary Merrill. But you can't blame them for wanting to have a life.

When I turned down the role of Blanche du Bois to become a Vogue model

r300 Bette Davis didn't age well either, the cigs and booze did a real number on her looks. By the mid-50s she got prematurely aged and haggy-looking. That also had an impact on her career.

That cross eyed [italic]cuntesan[/italic] Mrs. Irving Thalberg turned down “Mrs. Miniver” because she didn’t want to play the mother of grown children.

Dumb bitch. She made this shit bomb instead:

R302 Yes, aging impacts an actress's career, but the thread is about career decisions. She semi-retired when she moved to Maine. Back then most actors lived in Los Angeles. You couldn't take jets across the country, flights were long and had refueling stops. The train took three days. Portland was 3,000 miles away and had no airport, and there was no interstate highway there at the time. She isolated herself.

R304 lots of big actors lived on the East coast and flew to Hollywood to make movies. It was her choice not to fight for more star vehicles

Not a huge impact but what about Julie Andrews sulkily refusing her Tony nomination because her musical didn't get THE RESPECT she EXPECTED?

Her decision to quit Warners was a bad one. It was over being forced to Beyond the Forest but she still had years to go on her latest contract. But then she may not have been able to do All About Eve.

R305 "Lots" of big actors? Were they Hollywood stars? Can you name any? The main one I can think of is Montgomery Clift, and his decision to live in the East was considered unusual. Also, it was New York, not Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where I've been, since my family used to go on vacation near there. Back then it probably had 5K people.

R305 It's all related. She semi-retred to raise a family (she said this, it's in her memoir), she moved away from Hollywood, so, yes, she refused to fight for more star vehicles, since she wasn't interested at the time.

Lots of actors lived on the East Coast. Katharine Hepburn lived in NYC and CT.

R310 Hepburn had a house in Turle Bay, NYC, her family's house was in CT but she didn't live there in the 1950s, usually - she rented houses in Los Angeles for most of her film career from the 30's - 60s. She lived with Tracy on George Cukor's property in LA. Here she is skateboarding in LA.

*Turtle

Hepburn spent most of her time on the East Coast from the 50s onward. The big stars could live anywhere they wanted, it was the working actors who had to live in LA. This is still true today.

R313 In the 50s, many stars made several films a year. The vast majority of them - John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz, Frank Sinatra, Jose Ferrer, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, William Holden, Charlton Heston, Danny Kaye, Jennifer Jones, Cary Grant, Dick Powell and June Allyson, Judy Garland, etc. etc. lived in Los Angeles or in Southern California.

Yes but they also had homes in other states

Jennifer Lopez becoming JLo.

“I didn’t know that bitch was black!”

A certain little party one night in Benedict Canyon.

Practice, practice, practice!

R315 Like, what states? Where were these homes?

Madonna…acting.

JFC r320 give it a rest.

Peter Bogdanovich's attempts to make his girlfriend, the talentless Cybill Sheperd, into a movie star with godawful movies like "Daisy Miller" and "At Long Last Love."

R323, If at first you don’t succeed . . .

She was also in Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show," R323.

[quote] She was also in Bogdanovich's "The Last Picture Show,

I know that. She was just eye candy in that movie. She had no acting talent.

Evelyn Keyes wouldn’t sleep with Harry Cohen at Columbia Pictures and he coldly warned her, “You’ll never be a bigger star than you are now.”

“And I never was,” she wrote.

Didn't she take her tits out in "The Last Picture Show"?

Better her than me.

Stanwyck did want to do MP…but Crawford had just signed a long term contract with Warners and Stanwyck was freelancing. Plus Crawford was an ambitious cunt and she was determined to get the job, no matter how. I wouldn’t be surprised if she sucked someone off to get the part.

Bette denied in interviews that she was ever considered for “Mildred Pierce”.

Kyle MacLachlan turned down what became Charlie Sheen's role in Platoon to do Showgirls. I can't think of a bigger disaster.

R332, Platoon was released in 1986, while Showgirls was released in 1995. How the heck did he turn down one role for another one nearly a decade later?

He's a time traveler

R333 I don't know why I remembered it that way. I looked it up and he turned it down because he didn't want to be in a violent film, I guess I was remembering people making fun of him for turning that down and then eventually ending up in one of the most notoriously panned films ever.

Timmy Chardonnay doing Apple spots. Makes her look so desperate for a hit.

Kyle MacLachlan should've had a better film career after "Blue Velvet." But three years later, he was doing series television, albeit the critically lauded "Twin Peaks."

R337, both were David Lynch productions and Twin Peaks was a huge cultural sensation that made MacLachlan a star, for a brief moment. KM is pretty limited as an actor and Lynch knew how to use his lack of affect. If any choice hurt KM it was Showgirls, but by then he had lost momentum and he was going to rely on secondary roles, television and Lynhc projects to sustain his career.

Kyle had a fucking nice ass

R322 Sure, tell me to give it a rest, not the person who keeps arguing with my original post. Of course. Always.

Jennifer Jones choosing to do Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969) has to rank among the worst career decisions of a major star. Even a star who's a little past her prime. She has lines like, "I made thirty stag films and never faked an orgasm!" The movie is trash! Maybe she thought she could capture the youth audience, or be hip to the 60's zeitgeist. The movie is a disaster.

(Watch the trailer!)

Clark Gable doing "The Misfits." He did it for the money but it definitely was not worth it. John Huston directed it and he made members of the cast and crew do dangerous, strenuous stunts in extremley hot weather. Marilyn Monroe was mentally ill and addicted to pills and getting her to work was like pulling teeth. Filming had to be shut down at some point because she was out of commission due to her illnesses. The waiting in hte severe heat was driving Gable nuts; he would volunteer to do tough stunts just to keep busy. The stress and strain of doing that movie (which turned out to be a mediocre one) affected Gable's health. Shortly after filming was over he suffered a heart attack and died. Gable smoked and drank but no doubt if he had never had to endure the horror of making "The Misfits" he would have lived longer.

And in the end, the movie’s a fucking BORE!

God, those wigs Marilyn Monroe wore in "The Misfits" were awful.

Barbra was never considered for Cabaret.

R343, Clark Gable left an estate worth $10,000,000.00, in 1960 dollars.

He did not make “The Misfits” for the money.

What was that website posted a while ago that actually had solid information about stars considered for different films? These claims from not starting dot com sound off the wall:

—————

Ursula Andress was considered for the role of Sally Bowles.

Julie Andrews was also considered for the lead role.

Ann-Margret Considered for the role of Sally Bowles.

Warren Beatty : When this movie musical was in it's early planning stages, Warren Beatty was proposed for the role of the bisexual gigolo, Brian.

Julie Christie: In the early planning stages of this movie musical Julie Christie was proposed to play Sally Bowles, opposite her then-boyfriend Warren Beatty.

Faye Dunaway turned down the lead role.

Jane Fonda was reportedly considered for the lead role.

Anita Gillette, who played Sally Bowles on Broadway, lobbied hard to get the part.

Jill Ireland was offered the lead role, but her husband Charles Bronson rejected the offer.

Glenda Jackson was also considered for the lead role.

Gene Kelly : Turned down the chance to direct the movie version of the Kander-Ebb musical set in Berlin.

Shirley MacLaine Considered for the role of Sally Bowles.

Barbra Streisand turned down an offer to do the film.

Brenda Vaccaro was reportedly considered for the lead role, but Liza Minnelli was a huge star and was cast.

Billy Wilder: The great director turned down the chance to helm the movie version of the sardonic hit musical set in Berlin.

Natalie Wood Reportedly considered for the lead role.

One of the few unwise pieces of advice Gary Morton ever gave Lucille Ball was to turn down the part of Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

She would have won the Oscar, and she regretted not doing that film for the rest of her life.

[italic]Nick, Honey… waaaaaaaa!

[quote] He did not make “The Misfits” for the money.

They offered him a shitload of money and he couldn't pass up such an offer. Doing that movie was the worst decision he made in his life.

R352 Gable didn't want to pass up the offer, and it wasn't because of the money. It was a script by perhaps the most admired American playwright of the time, Arthur Miller, directed by John Huston, co-starring Marilyn Monroe, who in that era was bigger at the box office than Gable, plus great actors Monty Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter. It was a prestige project such as Gable hadn't been involved in for many years. It wasn't a cash grab.

[italic]And it was still a boring piece of shit!

I don't think The Misfits is boring. I think the problem - for me anyway - is that it gets too aimless/pointless and depressing in the last third. I really like it up until then. Sometimes I'll watch it because I like the first part so much. It's always such a let down, because it goes nowhere.

Gable was never better, really - Clift is great, Monroe is touching and excellent until she gets annoying later on. Wallach and Ritter are wonderful too. I'm not saying it's a great movie, it's not.

Full frontal, r128.

John Cusack. Was being leading man material. Now is doing movies like Nic Cage and Comic Cons. Not sure what happed to him. Was horrible to Neve Campbell when they were engaged.

But the decision, r357?

Mary Tyler Moore’s last TV appearance on Hot in Cleveland. I think she and all the others wanted to honor Valerie Harper who everyone thought was at death’s door (she ended up outliving Mary by a year-and-a-half.). We didn’t need to see frail and blind Mary like that!

[quote]Mary Tyler Moore’s last TV appearance on Hot in Cleveland.

Yes, her career really suffered from her making a TV appearance when she was near death. It was a terrible career decision.

She was fine on the show, given her condition at the time, and given that we knew it would be her final television appearance, Obviously accommodations had to be made. (She's only seen sitting.) I thought it was great to see her one last time with all of her former co-stars. And every one of those women is dead now.

R360, This is hard to watch.

Dan Stevens is fine. He's become a chameleonic character actor which means he'll still be around 20 years from now.

Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon in "Cold Pursuit". That flop immediately ended any chance Vergara had at being a movie star and it killed Witherspoon's comeback momentum right after she'd just gotten an Oscar nomination. Since then, it's been strictly TV and now a rom-com with Ashton Kutcher.

R362, Wrong temperature. It is "Hot Pursuit." It made $50M.

As opposed to "TAR," with its AA-nominated actress and $10M Box Office. Or "To Leslie," with its AA-nominated actress and $27K Box Office.

r363 And *just* like that...their Hot Pursuit had turned their careers cold.

Patrick Duffy leaving Dallas expecting to become a big time movie star. Only to come limping back to Dallas a year later, destroying some good storylines and characters, and undermining its credibility.

R363 haha, Hot "Shit" Pursuit is 8% on RT, and it bombed at the BO as it cost 40m to make

Demi Moore doing Striptease, which was a hit but got terrible reviews. Followed by flops The Scarlet Letter, The Juror, and G. I. Jane.

R366, I actually couldn't care any less. Haven't seen, nor will see, any of these movies, hot, cold, or lukewarm.

But making a bad decision is not quite the same as making what seems to be a perfectly fine decision, only to find out that the public will disagree.

To use r367: Demi should have foreseen that no movie titled "Striptease" was going to garner critical raves.

I think Timothee will regret "Wonka." (The title alone is execrable.)

Linda Fiorentino, who after a spectacular career start and huge critical acclaim decided to be difficult and piss off enough people that her career would flame out within five years. And, funnily, she was in "Jade" with David Caruso.

(R369) She had a really bad reputation as being a cunt. Nobody wanted to work with her.

Fuck you wergins.

r369 The Last Seduction was not her "career start". She had already been around for about a decade.

[Quote] Courtney Cox for refusing Desperate Housewives

I can't really picture Courtney on DH. But she was perfect for Cougar Town.

I remember Michelle Rodriguez saying on Ellen she was offered the chance to be on DH but chose Lost instead. A wise move since i could never see her pulling off a housewife.

Madonna appearing on the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Probably not a career killer, exactly, but Colton Haynes leaving Teen Wolf when he and it were only two years into fame seemed like a bad decision, but then he's the king of bad choices, despite getting pretty far anyway. (I guess the moral is, make any choice, don't just while life away in your backwater town.)

[quote]Demi should have foreseen that no movie titled "Striptease" was going to garner critical raves.

Not really, a title doesn't determine the quality of a movie.

r374 This thread is about actors.

Kate Hudson turning down the Mary Jane role in “Spider-Man.”

Jennifer Aniston letting Brad Pitt do "Mr & Mrs. Smith".

R376, Wait until "Wonka."

I should have told Johnny.

Travis Fimmel doing the Warcraft movie.

Katherine Waterston doing those Fantastic Beasts movies, and that Alien prequel/sequel. Watching her and Olivia Wilde in those small, thankless, nothing roles in Babylon while Margot Robbie, who broke through around the same time, was starring confirmed that their 15 minutes are long over.

R368: I don’t want to jinx anything but let’s just say I hope Bones & All and Wonka is a one-two combo for him.

I feel like just recently Glen Powell thought Top Gun 2 would carry his movie Devotion and it was a total flop.

Natalie Wood going out that night on November 29, 1981 on a boat.

[quote] Natalie Wood going out that night on November 29, 1981 on a boat.

Well, and getting so drunk and argumentative on the way there she was thrown out of a restaurant along with her husband.

Barbra turning down The Merry Widow to be directed by Ingmar Bergman. She said in a documentary on Bergman that she envied Elliott Gould being directed by such a master. She didn't like the script's second half and Bergman refused to do a redraft. Also maybe she would have not met Jon Peters who created a wig for her For Pete's Sake which she made instead.

R388, How about remarrying Robert Wagner?

Montgomery Clift agreeing, after much arm twisting and begging from Liz Taylor, to go and make Raintree County. It all went downhill from there…especially Monty’s car.

R391, Would Monty have been better than Brando if he had lived to make “Reflections in a Golden Eye”?

R392The movie that looked like they shot it through a urine sample?

R392 ^

Contrary to what my film studies profs believed in the 1970s, Ingmar Bergman’s shit did indeed stink and Barbra made the right decision.

I had to see “The Touch” in one of my classes and it was not a good move for Elliot.

Meg Ryan regretted turning down "To Die For". It would've been a great chance to shake up her image and show real range, thus giving her career more longevity.

"Ultimately, I think Meg felt she wasn’t really ready for a departure like ‘To Die For’ at that time. It was edgy and not really her image. But I know she regrets passing it up. I know this because she was on the Cannes jury that voted for my [2003] film ‘Elephant’ and told me, ‘I should definitely have done ‘To Die For.’" - Gus Van Sant

R396 yeah but what if she had been terrible in it - a distinct possibility? Then it wouldnt have helped her career at all.

Sometimes people don’t take risks because they’re wrongly too risk adverse; other times it’s (smartly) because they know their limitations.

Meg Ryan was smart to stay in her Rom-Com lane. She didn't have the range for anything else.

I worked with Sven Nykvist on one of his last films, which turned out to be a trainwreck. He was struggling with dementia the entire shoot.

R399, whose last films? Was Nykvist or Bergman struggling with dementia?

I can't stand Meg Ryan.

Jussy Smollett, going out for a tuna sub and faking that hate crime. And then still continuing to lie about it.

Viola Davis's worst career decision will be bitching about Woman King being shut out of the Oscars.

R403, Especially after she just won a Grammy and is now an EGOT.

Tina Turner turning down the role of Shug in The Color People to play Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome instead.

[Quote]I had to see “The Touch” in one of my classes and it was not a good move for Elliot.

and it was an even worse move for Bergman.

[Quote]Barbra turning down The Merry Widow to be directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Didn't Barbra already play the merry widow in Hello Dolly?

It's so funny to think of Meg Ryan playing a role Nicole Kidman played, as Kidman post-To Die For hasn't done many comic turns and any attempt Ryan has done at a serious drama have failed. I would say though that if you told me before To Die For was released that nearly 30 years later Kidman would still be (relatively) relevant in Hollywood and Ryan would have disappeared, I would have been surprised.

[quote] Natalie Wood going out that night on November 29, 1981 on a boat

How is getting drunk and being on a boat a "career move?"

Heather Locklear's decision to have that one extra drink.

R409, It ended her career.

Will Smith going on stage at the Oscars and slapping Chris Rock over a mildly amusing and slightly distasteful joke.

R397 The role in To Die For wasn't exactly difficult (for any competent, attractive actress of the right age). Van Sant wouldn't have offered it to her if he didn't think she could do it.

R412 True but was it a "career decision"?

R414 some people do think it was staged.

Another Meg/Nicole parallel is In The Cut. Nicole was supposed to star but wasn't able to do it in the end (she still stayed on the project as a producer) so Meg got the role. I'm one of the few (though it seems to have gone through a bit of a reevaluation recently) who's always liked the film and think she's very good in it, botched facework and all.

R411 Death usually ends someone's career.

R417, Not really. Some stars experience an upsurge after they die.

Bogart, Marilyn, Elvis, James Dean, etc.

I think Meg did In the Cut before she changed her face.

R418 Hello? I don't know what you call that, but not a career. You need to be alive and having the career to...have a career.

Tl;dr

Has anyone mentioned Julian Sands’ choice to go hiking, yet?

You don’t get it, do you R420?

The role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films was written with the actor Tim Roth in mind, and he was offered the role in the films. He turned it down for the Mark Wahlberg relative flop Planet of the Apes. He's lamented the decision many times over. It probably cost him tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

I heard he turned it down because he just did Planet of the Apes and didn’t want to do another movie that required a lot of time spent in hair/makeup (even though Snape was basically just a wig) because of the extensive ape costume he had to wear for PotA.

Rickman was good, but Roth would have been just as good or better. And his age would’ve been closer to the age Snape should have been, and he would’ve looked like a contemporary of Gary Oldman and David Thewlis (Black and Lupin) and not 20 years older like Rickman did.

I loved his asshole character in Rob Roy and I think his Snape would’ve been just as mean. Shame he turned it down.

James Caan turning down One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I think he did Rollerball instead. It worked out great for Jack Nicholson, but I could see Caan doing a great McMurphy. I bet that was his big career regret.

Has anyone mentioned Bette turning down Misery & Sister Act?

Bette would have been awful in Misery

Faye Dunaway not completing Masterclass, her comeback

Au contraire, r427

^perfect

Andre Braugher quitting Homicide. I don't know -- maybe he's happy because he was a success on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. But his role on Homicide was one of the meatiest roles on TV. His departure scuttled the series eventually and also cut short what would have been a great career as a dramatic actor, just as serious drama was entering a golden age on TV.

Bragger did 6 seasons of Homicide, which ran for 7. It’s not like he pulled a Caruso.

Melissa Gilbert publicly threatening her kids with “Getting the Shit Bra” when they got home was, in retrospect, unwise.

"Career decisions"? I don't care about any damn career!

[quuote] , It ended her career.

Everybody's career ends when they die. It's DEATH, not a career move. Although some celebrities are in such bad shape near the end of their lives their death is sometimes called "a good career move."

Some times a death is the best career's move.

Amy Locane's reasoning that drunk driving is not a big deal.

Craig Bierko is the idiot who turned down Matthew Perry’s role in the pilot of Friends.

[quote]R437 Amy Locane's reasoning that drunk driving is not a big deal.

I think her career was basically over by the time she pulled that little stunt.

Locane was incredibly pretty, but really had no talent (or even mystique) to build on. She should have gotten onto a soap and stayed there.

I don’t know why Rebecca Gayheart’s career wasn’t ruined by running over and killing a little boy in 2001.

Turning down Harry Potter is incredibly stupid. A lot of films and shows are bets, but these were insanely popular books by the time the movies were underway. They were a sure thing.

Winona Ryder for leaving scripts laying around in her house.

[quote] Denise Crosby quitting ST.

What?

What is ST?

Star Trek. She left The Next Generation during its first season saying it did not challenge her (to be fair the show had a less than stellar first season). She might have over-estimated her thespian skill and her limited Star Trek role might have been perfect for her acting abilities.

Bette Davis always said her worst career decision was turning down the lead in Come Back, Little Sheba. Whenever she said this I always thought she sounded clueless. I can't picture her playing the part - or maybe I can and I don't want to.

Monica Keena leaving Dawsons Creek because she missed her boyfriend.

R447 is that seriously why Monica left DC?

R427 Bette Davis, on the other hand, might have been good in Misery.

Billy Porter is doing the remake of Misery, playing Annie.

Winona Ryder stealing all that shit.

[quote]What are some of the worst career decisions of actors?

Premature death.

[quote] Premature death.

Premature death is not a "career move." A career movie is a choice an entertainer makes that doesn't turn out well. Death is not a fucking career move!

[quote]A career movie is a choice an entertainer makes that doesn't turn out well. Death is not a fucking career move!

A lot of deaths are due to bad choices.

[quote]A lot of deaths are due to bad choices.

And with that brilliant observation, this thread has officially gone off the rails.

[quote] Tina Turner turning down the role of Shug in The Color People to play Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome instead.

I liked Tina Turner in Mad Max. It established her as a bad ass, IMO.

The trivia section at IMDb (which isn’t fact checked) says Chaka Khan was offered the role of Sug Avery. Not everyone dreams of an acting career, but it’s odd to think of someone established in the entertainment industry turning down an opportunity like that.

If anyone on DL would have taken the part, why wouldn’t a famous singer??

Tina probably made the right choice for her by turning down TCP. I don’t think she had the ambition for becoming a dramatic actress.

Timothy Hutton, passing on Risky Business to make a trash movie with Lumet.

Timothy Hutton, who passed on Bull Durham to make Torrents of Spring.

Timothy Hutton, passing on The Shawshank Redemption to do nothing.

R459 Timothy Hutton, for marrying Debra Winger.

R459-"Q & A' is an underrated, highly entertaining and intelligent Sidney Lumet movie that just happened to have Timothy Hutton in it.

R461 I was referring to “Daniel,” the other Lumet garbage he made.

Q&A was years later, and a better film.

Don Johnson apparently turned down Die Hard. Matthew Modine turned down Top Gun, thought ti glorified the military too much.

it, not ti

Not being emancipated.

I wonder if Denise Richards regrets doing the Bond movie. Sure, she was never an acting juggernaut, but she was pretty good in both Wild Things and Starship Troopers. But then she got absolutely skewered in the reviews for ‘The World is Not Enough’ and was never taken seriously again.

Everything decision Natalie Wood made after Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was pretty bad.

It’s sad that Barbara played a prostitute twice. She is a piece of work.

She even wanted Sophie’s Choice, despite being too old and completely wrong for the part.

Judi Dench and Ian Mckellan, tow highly respected, accomplished actors, taking roles in the execrable movie "Cats." I suppose they were well paid, but you would think they would know better than to embarass themselves by wearing ridiculous cat costumes in a stupid movie that is righlty considered one of the worst of all time. Actually, everybody who was in thaqt movie made a bad career move; Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Rebel Wilson, etc.) but you would think Dench and McKellen would have had better sense.

On their defense r469, the problem was the disturbing CGI, that's post filming

Vivien Leigh played a prostitute in Walerloo Bridge. Jane Fonda won an Oscar playing a prostitute.

Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Jones both won Oscars for playing prostitutes.

Gloria Wondrous was a MODEL!

MGM saw to [italic]that.

Michelle Pfeiffer turning down too many plum roles with big directors and doing a bunch of middlebrow shit. After The Age of Innocence, the quality of her projects really plummeted. I can understand doing Wolf since it was Nichols/Nicholson and Dangerous Minds was a hit, but after that? Woof. She really didn't take full advantage of the window that she had.

[quote] Don Johnson apparently turned down Die Hard

This could have been interesting. He definitely has good comedic timing , was arguably a bigger star at that time, and certainly better looking.

R474 completely agree. Ultimately she wasn’t someone who likes to take risks and those are the actors who leave the best legacy. And she’s an interesting and dynamic enough actress to have pulled most of those roles off well.

[Quote] Everything decision Natalie Wood made after Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was pretty bad.

She was offered Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) but was asking $450K and price herself out of the film. Though I'm not sure she would have been able to carry the film like Snodgress who was excellent.

r15 Sharon Stone doing Basic Instinct 2 wasn't a career decision. She was sued into doing it (after taking the money and thinking she could cleverly get out of it.) She got $14 million. That is likely more than she made in the ten years that preceded it from acting work. (she is worth money in advertising but even that requires staying out there).

r385 You're writing like Powell had some say over how Devotion was released. That's the studio's job. He's an actor. He did Top Gun and his agents found him another role that paid the bills. He's not a household name.

Ann Bancroft turning down The Exorcist.

Though her career certainly took off in the 70s, Jane Fonda passing on Bonnie and Clyde to do Barefoot in the Park and turning down Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist.

R472 So did Jane Fonda (Klute), Kim Basinger (LA Confidential), Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity), Susan Hayward (I Want to Live!), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite), and Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry). Charlize Theron's character in Monster was sort of a prostitute, too.

[quote][R472] So did Jane Fonda (Klute), Kim Basinger (LA Confidential), Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity), Susan Hayward (I Want to Live!), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite), and Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry). Charlize Theron's character in Monster was sort of a prostitute, too.

R472 actually mentioned Shirley Jones. And R471 mentioned Jane Fonda.

[quote]Anne Bancroft turning down The Exorcist.

Give her some credit. She did have the good sense to turn down "Mommie Dearest."

I think Anne Bancroft was pregnant and The Exorcist wouldn't wait for her. She had wanted a child for a long time so she wasn't going to give that up.

How was giving up The Exorcist "the worst career decision" of Anne Bancroft? Is this a joke?

Glennie not getting her movie of "Sunset Boulevard" off the ground 20-25 years ago, although I'm sure she tried

Just as well, there's only one Norma Desmond and it's me, me, me!

R486 But she did get Albert Nobbs, which was equally dear to her heart.

Madonna's continuing decision to act in movies after she failed like 100 times at it.

[quote] Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest."

I disagree. I man, it did kill her career but people still talk about that performance today. People also talk about Faye's performances in Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde and Network. Who even cares about any of the middlebrow films Meryl was in?

R490 It's convenient for Faye to blame that movie for killing her career.

Realistically, she got older and she didn't really change with the times. Also, she was more and more solidified as one of the great raging bitches of Hollywood, and people got sick of working with her.

Why be screamed at by this diva when you could just as easily cast the gorgeous and grounded Jessica Lange, or the ever-versatile Debra Winger, or the bitchy-but-punctual Shirley MacLaine?

[quote]R491 Why be screamed at by this diva when you could just as easily cast the gorgeous and grounded Jessica Lange, or the ever-versatile Debra Winger

Dunaway’s peers were Fonda, Christie, Bergen, Weld, Welch, Minnelli, Ross, etc. They weren’t up for the same roles as Lange (10 years younger), Winger (20 years younger) and that whole crowd.

R491, good point. She just aged out and people were sick of her diva attitude. But she was great while she lasted.

Not career decisions on her part, but Jane Fonda being talked into or eventually deciding to do "They Shoot Horses, don't they?" and "Klute" meant Faye didn't get these roles.

Angela Lansbury turning down "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", while likely not affecting her career trajectory very much, denied her what would turn out to be that great screen role she always felt she missed out on and regretted never having.

Angela Lansbury had a great screen role in "The Manchurian Candidate" and should have won a supporting Oscar for her indelible performance.

Yes because Debra Winger (only 14 years younger by the way) was so stable and easy to work with! At least Faye was beautiful.

Lange was (and is) no picnic either.

R488, As was that television movie about the dyke in the military.

R496, But then Patty Duke would have died Oscarless.

I agree Angie should have won for The Manchurian Candidate, a performance for the ages.

Its a pity she never got considered for meaty roles like Catherine in "The Heiress" or Martha in "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" Nothing against Olivia or Liz but Angela would have been magnificent in both.

Angelina Jolie walking away from both Silver Linings Playbook and Gravity.

Sissy Spacek passing on Terms of Endearment to look after her child. There are nannies.

Faye also made some questionable choices after Mommy Dearest. I doubt Supergirl was great for her career.

R503, How about “The Temp”?

R504 or me!

R501 Angelina certainly would have been more convincing age wise than JLaw.

R503 probably not, but Supergirl is a so bad it's good movie imo.

R504 I was the only thing great about that movie, and you could glimpse peen in my swimming scene!

[quote]but Supergirl is a so bad it's good movie imo.

And it had Hart "I deserved a bigger career" Bochner.

Wayne Rogers leaving MASH.

Lansbury had her moments but she also is mediocre in some things. She was 7 years at MGM and they never thought she was worth building up as a star who could carry films. That's no surprise to me. I don't actually think she was right at all for The Heiress, she didn't have the meekness. Yet she was somewhat too prim for Virginia Woolf. Bette Davis could have ripped into that one.

Angela was great in The Manchurian Candidate but losing to Patty Duke was no robbery. Duke was remarkable. Ditto Davis and Bancroft in lead actress both were terrific. Cuckoo's Nest might have brought Lansbury an Oscar as it did for Fletcher.

Ally Sheedy doing that robot movie “Short Circuit” followed by that horrible “Maid to Order” movie. Those two movies pretty much killed her career.

R509 they didn't grow her because they did t thi k she was hot enough to be a leading lady, not that she wasn't a good actress

R509, Angela Lansbury landed a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for "Gaslight," her first film role with MGM. The following year, she nabbed her second Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Right from the start, she was relegated to secondary/supporting roles, so MGM had no desire to build her up as a leading lady. This might have had something to do with her looks, which always read as older than her years.

R511 and yet that crazy old bitch Beverly D’Angelo is still working.

R514 "working" is generous.

Molly Ringwald would have been great in the Laura Dern role in Blue Velvet. That was a dumb move by her mom. If she turned down Ghost--wow. That would be beyond stupid. The role Demi Moore played in that film was so undemanding! Molly couldn't have gone wrong. That's sad. I don't think she was right for Pretty Woman, though.

BTW, what Roseanne did on Twotter was a PR stunt. The executive who had her fired, a black lady whose name escapes me, was eventually fired for that mistake. The show was going to focus on race issues, so Roseanne's post was not from the heart: It was a dumb attention getter. She is a funny woman. Talented. Taht show might've been great. ABC should never have fired Roseanne Barr. Their subsequent punitive action proves it. But believe whatcha want. ; )

Tarantino wrote Bruce Willis' role in Pulp Fiction for Matt Dillon but Dillon pissed off Tarantino by saying he wanted to "sleep on it" instead of immediately saying yes. Apparently he wanted to play Travolta's role as well. He should've just immediately said yes.

Streisand after The Way We Were made a bunch of WTF decisions. Maybe commercially they were successful, but the quality was mostly dreadful. She should've never let Jon Peters take control.

She was dickmatized r518.

R511 Blue City, with Judd Nelson, around that time, was also a flop. She did do Only The Lonely a few years after those two, with John Candy and Maureen O'Hara, which was a good film.

I believe Short Circuit was a hit, so I don't think it affected her career. Maid to Order and Blue City on the other hand...

[quote]R517 Tarantino wrote Bruce Willis' role in Pulp Fiction for Matt Dillon but Dillon pissed off Tarantino by saying he wanted to "sleep on it" instead of immediately saying yes.

I can’t imagine him in that role.

That was all of the Brat Pack kids, though. They never found success after John Hughes, or after 40, unless you count some awful Chuck Lorre show about a manwhore in Malibu.

At least Mare Winningham got an Oscar nomination before she vanished.

Famous Climber Alex Honnold (star of "Free Solo") lived in a van for years, one fitted out with a stove and a bed, but he spent half his life in Yosemite National Park, and when he wasn't there he was at some other campground or at the base of some rock formation. He has a house and a girlfriend now, but apparently still spends long stretches of time out in the van, where the climbing is.

It makes sense to have a vehicle you can live in, if your profession or lifestyle calls for you to spend lots of time in campgrounds. Safer and more comfortable than a tent, and no fiddling with tent stakes!

R524 Wrong thread?

R523, but Ally Sheedy had a career before John Hughes. She was in “Wargames’,” the Sean Penn movie “Bad Boys,” and the Rob Lowe movie “Oxford Blues.” She had talent, but she made bad career moves.

R502, Sissy Spacek would have been terrific in Terms of Endearment and it may have helped her extend the momentum she had after her Oscar win for Coal Miner's Daughter. That said, her choice to put family first (including moving out of Hollywood to a farm in Virginia during the peak of her career) likely contributed heavily to her still being married to the same man for 50 years and their kids seeming so well adjusted.

Helena Bonham Carter dropped out of the Oscar-nominated lead role in Breaking the Waves at the last minute, though she graciously says Emily Watson was better in it than she would have been.

Marsha Mason was one of several actresses who passed on Norma Rae, but in her case it was at the insistence of her then-husband. She says Neil Simon did not like her going away on location and strongly preferred that she work on his projects exclusively, which also led to her turning down the chance to read for Faye Dunaway's role in Network.

Isabelle Adjani, Adrian Lyne's first choice for the female lead in Fatal Attraction, turned the part down because she was heavily involved in pre-production duties on Camille Claudel. This was unfortunate because she had everything that was needed for a Hollywood crossover career (looks, talent, fluency in English) but never found the right vehicle and stopped having US representation after her son with Daniel Day Lewis was born.

[quote]That was all of the Brat Pack kids, though. They never found success after John Hughes, or after 40, unless you count some awful Chuck Lorre show about a manwhore in Malibu.

R523 Rob Lowe and especially Tom Cruise, needless to say, have been very successful. Emilio Estevez was in the Mighty Ducks franchises (hugely successful) and the Young Guns franchises, as well as directing.

[quote]Marsha Mason was one of several actresses who passed on Norma Rae, but in her case it was at the insistence of her then-husband. She says Neil Simon did not like her going away on location and strongly preferred that she work on his projects exclusively, which also led to her turning down the chance to read for Faye Dunaway's role in Network.

For which I, for one, am most grateful.

R529 Mason would’ve been wrong for both parts. Those two characters were flawlessly cast as they were.

Well it really wasn't her decision because at the time she was under control of her managers, but they made Patty Duke turned down the lead role in the film A PATCH OF BLUE, if she was allowed to accepted the role I wonder what her film career could have been 🤔 Patty Duke herself turn down the role of Elaine in THE GRADUATE. I read that she turned that role down because she wanted to work on her marriage. But if she accepted the role how great would it have been for her to reunite with Ann Bancroft👍

Ally turned down the role in Falcon Crest that Kate Vernon got. She could have worked with Lorenzo Lamas, and possibly married him!!

R532, who would cast Bancroft and Duke as mother and daughter? There's less than no resemblance!

No, if Duke has been cast they'd need to cast a short blonde as Mrs. Robinson, so now I'm imagining Debbie Reynolds in the role...

June Allyson r533…

R534 They offered me that Depends campaign first. Lotta money, too! Just one problem: I don’t shit my pants!!!

There's a resemblance between Katherine Ross and Anne Bancroft?

R536 what's the resemblance they both have dark color hair?

R537 And that's it.

[quote]R532 Ally turned down the role in Falcon Crest that Kate Vernon got.

Ally Sheedy?

R539, No, Rose, Ally McBeal.

R540 I, too, was wondering who "Ally" was supposed to be. June Allyson?

Ally McGraw?

Speaking of who… Elle Fanning as MacGraw??

Ally Walker?

Muhammad Ally?

Ally Oop?

Ally ally oxen free, Rose!

Michelle Phieffer turning down Silence of the Lambs

r40, her abusive , controlling hubs forced her to quit. sad

I read that Sherry Stringfellow’s mother had died and she basically couldn’t go on with the show’s pace. And she agreed not to do any more TV work for the remaining 2 years on her contract, so that seems to be in good faith.

I kind of love that the show’s (male) producer was enraged by her leaving. Hollywood hates a woman who decides her own fate.

R550 Did you expect him to be happy about it?

R548, that was probably a good thing. I can’t see Michelle in the Clarice Starling role. For one thing her attempt at southern accents is not good. Did you ever watch “Dangerous Minds”? I thought her southern accent in that movie sucked. Her Long Island accent in “Married to the Mob” was spot on, but I can’t see her successfully pulling off the accent of a girl from West Virginia.

R552 Plus Jodie runs rings around Michelle as an actress in that type of role.

Lesbians probably have better running/track skills.

Agree that Foster was better in the role than Pfeiffer would have been. Pfeiffer was too beautiful, too vulnerable, she would have seemed totally out of place in the FBI.

But Foster is very believable, because she plays Clarice as someone who is not only doing her damndest to NOT look vulnerable.... but who HAS to damn well never look vulnerable. FBI trainees can't seem to be vulnerable!

I read a blind item that said the grim subject matter wasn’t what scared Pfeiffer about SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - it was Orion Pictures’ inability to pay her usual salary.

R556 Well Michelle was at her box office peak then but as others have said she was so wrong for the role. Aside from Jodie Foster the only other age appropriate actress that could have played Clarice as well as Foster was Jennifer Jason Leigh.

when judy garland took all those drugs

wHeN jUdY gArLaNd tOok AlL tHoSe dRuGz

[quote]when judy garland took all those drugs

I don't think her career status was what she had in mind at the time.

Was Tim Hutton up for the role of Andy in Shawshank?

R561, No, but Buck was.

Gwyneth deciding to become Goop.

[quote] Yeah, he also did a lot of shit films in that period after the first ET marriage, but five of his seven Oscar nominations came after 1964.

He never won an Oscar and God knows he should have. I think he would have won one if he hadn't married Taylor. After he married her he lost a lot of respect; he left his wonderful wife Sybil for homewrecking Liz Taylor. It really did harm his reputation.

Despite doing shit films for money Burton never turned down a quality film when it came to him: 1984, Equus.

R565 And I never got a fucking Oscar for my efforts!

[quote] He never won an Oscar and God knows he should have. I think he would have won one if he hadn't married Taylor. After he married her he lost a lot of respect; he left his wonderful wife Sybil for homewrecking Liz Taylor.

R564 And yet they gave homewrecking Liz Taylor and Oscar for a film co-starring Burton.

Not knowing what to keep in DMs or therapy sessions

R564 he was never the front runner for the Oscar in the 60s. This, more than anything, doomed his chances. He was a front runner in 1953 and 1978, long before and after his dealings with Liz.

So his marriage to a two-time Oscar winner doomed his chances of winning an Oscar...because the Oscar voters disrespected the fact that he was married to...a two-time Oscar winner?

Early in his career, Burton was being hailed as the next big acting great since Olivier, having successfully starred in numerous Shakespearean plays onstage and prestige productions on film. When he hooked up with Elizabeth Taylor, though, he became a permanent tabloid fixture, and Liz and Dick's exploits--the scandalous affair, the wasteful extravagance, the expensive jewelry, the hedonistic lifestyle, the drunken fights, etc.--overshadowed his film career. Some of his earlier supporters were disappointed that the great Burton wasn't being more selective with his film choices nor performing to their expectations.

Some people blame Liz for "ruining" Richard Burton's career with her fame and self-indulgence, but his performances probably would have gone sharply downhill even if he'd never met her. The man was an alcoholic who'd take any role for a paycheck before he met her, and after he dumped her. Is that how an actor grows within their talent, by making crap films and destroying brains cells in their spare time? It is not!

R569, One could say that Elizabeth’s Oscar for WAOVF was to acknowledge both of them, much like Hepburn’s Oscar for GWCTD was an acknowledgment of both her and Spencer Tracy.

I always loved that Taylor was smart enough to skip the Oscars the year she won for Virginia Woolf, because she knew she would win and Burton would not.

R574, Both Burton and Taylor won the BAFTA Award in 1967 for their performances in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”.

R571 That's only half true. Before Burton ever got together with Taylor, he did less than great movies like The Rains Of Ranchipur, with Lana Turner and Fred MacMurray, and The Sea Wife, with Joan Collins. The Bramble Bush, Ice Palace...he was already being accused of squandering his talents - almost as soon as he became a Hollywood star.

R575 We said a REAL AWARD!

I don't remember supermarket tabloids in the US until the 70s.

was Photoplay considered a tabloid?

Blythe Danner - giving birth

R579 I think it was considered a "movie magazine." Like Modern Screen, Screenland, etc.

Photoplay could have some tabloid-style stories. I was reading some 1950s editions online and one had an article Judy Cracks Up!

About Judy Canova, R581?

You're tellin' I!

R578, There was Confidential from 1952 - 1978.

Sean Hayes bringing a play about Oscar Levant to Broadway.

Whether it's a bad career decision remains to be seen, R586

Trying to blackmail powerful execs to make my bland piece of ass happen

R586, The reviews in Chicago were good.

Kim Darby's decision to reinvent herself as teen heartthrob Justin Bieber.