Celebrities who were big in their time but are now forgotten

Chris Farley, both literally and figuratively

No one who loved Doris Day can ever forget her.

You may find this old, closed thread of interest.

Another old, closed thread but this one about 70s and 80s stars.

Reta Shaw

Pretty much anyone discussed on DL.

Devon Sawa

Aimee Lou Wood

Andrew McCarthy

Mia Sara

I AM "big"!

It's the infomercials that got small...

Oprah

Tiny Tim

Rona Barrett. And Jeane Dixon.

Hear, hear, R2. Hear, hear!

R13 Tiny Tim was HUGE! His marriage was televised...on the Carson show! It's sad that there is no bio-pic about the guy.

Shields and Yarnell. They owned Las Vegas like Siegfried and Roy but then disappeared...

Jean-Claude Van Gosh Darn

Chris Evans

Incidentally, I find it kind of funny that Bonnie Parker (1910-1934) aspired to become a famous actress and idolized '20s silent film superstars like Clara Bow, who is more or less forgotten today, but Bonnie & Clyde have become literary/cinematic archetypes and part of American folklore/lexicon.

Janet

Ronald Colman Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme Andrew Dice Clay Morton Downey Jr.

Red Skelton

Flip Wilson

Doris Day is not forgotten.

Not as long as i am alive to preach the word!!!

Mason Reese

You really can't compare a flash in the pan like Andrew Dice Clay to people who had decades of fame like Steve & Edie.

We can only hope that Doris "I knew her before she was a virgin" Day is forgotten.

Susan Dey.

Liberace

Ohhh. What’s her name….? You k ow the one I mean.

Fuck you, OP.

Dinah Shore and Perry Como. Julius La Rosa. Eddie Fisher Ruth Roman. Keith Andes. Jeff Chandler. Caesar Romero.

Carroll Baker.

Loni Anderson

Not completely forgotten. So far I’ve recognized every name posted.

Not sure if that validates their fame or just it’s just further proof that I’m older than dirt.

Wallace Reid

Kay Francis

^^^ that's Kay FWancis to those of us who love her best.

Anybody who thinks old movie stars are forgotten obviously does not watch TCM.

This TV channel has operated 24/7/365 for 30+ years with its sole mission to preserving the memories of even the most obscure films and their stars.

The thread linked by R4 is outstanding.

Helen Larson

R38

Exactly! That's how i know who Kay Fwancis is.

I do think it is interesting that a very select few old stars still retain their iconic status:

Chaplin... Marilyn Monroe... James Dean ... if you showed their pictures to the average college sophomore, chances are they would be recognized.

But other equally big stars - for example Elizabeth Taylor or Henry Fonda - would likely draw blank stares.

In general, TV fame is even more fleeting, with rare exceptions (the cast of I Love Lucy - including our beloved Viv).

Estelle Winwood.

Telly Savalas - a household name in the seventies, totally forgotten today.

Gay Test for Keith Andes:

View pic at the URLs and see if you can 'forget' Andes. The average man in the early 1950s was NOT built like this.

Keith Andes URL #2

Keith Andes URL #3. #2 looks like it doesn't work.

Roy Scheider.....utterly forgotten now

Booth Tarkington

People like Arsenio Hall. Very much A list of a certain time and place.

Emile Combes, Henri Bergson, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Lew Ayres, Kay Francis, Lauritz Melchior, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Storm Jameson, J.J. Thomson, Mainbocher

r47 Utterly

Philip Michael Thomas who played Detective Tubbs in Miami Vice.

Ann Jillian and Audrey and Judy Landers. They were on TV every five minutes in the 80s and are pretty obscure now.

Heather Locklear was huge back in the day but now only people of a certain age would know who she is.

All TV stars in their 60s will be unknown to MOST under 40s.

[quote]Reta Shaw

[quote]Roy Scheider

Were they household names?

Most people are familiar with Jaws, and kids still watch Mary Poppins and Pollyanna. Current audiences may not know who the actors are, but they still watch their work.

I’m unfamiliar with most of the names in this thread, and I was born in 1977. I started looking people up and some were born in the 1800s.

[quote]Rona Barrett. And Jeane Dixon

In a Golden Girls dream sequence, Jeane Dixon told Rose that Lady Di and Brooke Shields would star in a Broadway musical; that’s all I know of her.

[quote]Shields and Yarnell

[quote]Ronald Colman

[quote]Eydie Gorme

The name sounds familiar.

[quote]Red Skelton

The name sounds familiar.

[quote]Mason Reese

[quote]Julius La Rosa Ruth Roman. Keith Andes. Jeff Chandler.

I know Ruth Roman as Loretta on Murder She Wrote.

[quote]Wallace Reid

[quote]Estelle Winwood

[quote]Booth Tarkington

[quote]Emile Combes, Henri Bergson, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Lew Ayres, Kay Francis, Lauritz Melchior, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Storm Jameson, J.J. Thomson, Mainbocher

Helen Lawson is a popular name on DL, but I don’t know who she is.

That's OK, son. Now tell us, are you a power bottom? Coinslot or rosebud?

Glenn Close

George Clooney

Julia Roberts

Tabatha Coffey - one of the biggest names from reality TV. And then she faded back into oblivion.

Nancy Grace, thankfully.

With YouTube, no one is forgotten.

I never thought I'd be watching the Perry Como Show in the year 2025.

Myrna Loy aka Nora Charles in The Thin Man. One of the greatest movies ever.

I think everyone knows who Doris Day is. Like everyone knows who knows who Rock Hudson is.

Now Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who were about as big as anyone could ever be I'm not so sure.

Tuesday Weld.

Lorna

Susan Powter

Farrah Fawcett is sadly on the edge of this status.

Demi Moore

Georgie Jessel

[quote]Myrna Loy aka Nora Charles in The Thin Man. One of the greatest movies ever.

What are you talking about?

There are people who love classic movies. Those great Hollywood films of the Golden Age of American cinema will NEVER be forgotten.

On YouTube, mere 3 minute CLIPS of "The Thin Man" have 10s of thousands of views.

There was a thread here a week ago about a "forgotten" 1947 film "The Red House" with Edward G. Robinson.

It has nearly 850k views on YouTube. People are still interested.

Fred Flintstone

I wish I could remember one.

R54: We're better off not knowing about Heather Locklear.

r71 gay men of a certain age are one thing, but these old stars are really not known anymore to the general public.

I’ll never forget Andrew McCarthy.

[R-9] Believe me, I’ve tried to forget Andrew McCarthy. But I can’t. Look at that punim !

Im Irish and Doris Day movies were always shown on irish and uk tv, which we watch. They are still shown regularly; the Rock Hudson films are on regularly. Calamity Jane is up there with Oz in our eyes: Secret Love is a fan favourite. She would be most peoples, of certain generations, most popular golden age star this side of the pond. Bette Davis, Judy, Cary Grant, Gene Kelly and Marilyn were the most popular.

[quote]Roy Scheider.....utterly forgotten now

R47 Except every time JAWS is viewed.

[quote]Georgie Jessel

I'm in my 70s and I remember seeing him being interviewed by IRV KUPCINET in Chicago. Who remembers either of them?

[quote]Susan Powter

R67 Was she the white haired diet or exercise queen? She was HUGE at one time but I can't remember what she was pushing.

Jennifer Lawrence.

Connie Selleca

Betty Hutton, though she burned out quite quickly compared to some mentioned here.

Faye Dunaway.

Jenny Jones -- Her show was on for 4 years before it, 8 years after it, yet the only thing anybody remembers is "the murder show."

Morton Downey, Jr.

Barbara Parkins

Dorothy Lamour

Wayland Flowers

R52 Do you remember the interview he gave during the first season of Miami Vice?

Bragged how within a year he’d be an EGOT winner and he’d be the biggest star in Hollywood.

Within a year of Miami Vice’s cancellation he was forgotten, never to be heard from again.

What an asshole.

Dennis James.

[quote] Until 1976, he had appeared on TV more times and for a longer period than any other television star. Alternately referred to as "The Dean of Game Show Hosts" (along with fellow emcee Bill Cullen) and the "Godfather of Gameshows", he was the host of television's first network game show, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry (1946).

Beyoncé.

I'd argue that Day is better-remembered than a lot of stars from that era

Doris Day was a superstar and as such she will never be forgotten. Younger generations of course won't know who she is but she will live for a long time in the history of Hollywood.

Jackie Gleason

Anna Mae Wong

R54 Very true. There were so many stars like that in the 80s and 90s. You couldn’t call them B list because monoculture had become so popular but not exactly permanent legendary status typical of most A list stars.

Boris Karloff.

Linda Gray, Linda Evans and Victoria Principal

Cybil Shepherd

Billy Dee Williams

Natalie Ambruglia

Did anyone mention Janet Jackson? She had a few hits decades ago and now nobody even knows who she is.

Karloff was never big--always a character actor. The Frankenstein films were a blip in his film history and made by an small inferior company at the time (Universal).

He was a star character actor. And he's probably better known today than a lot of stars from that era, due to stuff like The Grinch

Gloria Swanson

Victoria Principal (except here)

Bea Arthur (except here)

Charlotte Rae (except here)

Liberace

Tammy Lauren

Kaleena Kiff

Pamlyn Ferdin

Bea Arthur is still very well known because of the Golden Girls. People in their twenties know that show.

George Raft

Gloria Swanson is eternal!

LeeLee Sobieski The Keach Brothers

Why can’t I remember to hit “ return” twice?

Boris Karloff is still big. It's the pictures that got small.

Richard Geico or whatever his name is. Real dark white and greasy looking fuck 🔥

Rachel Zegler

taytay

Leo & Lance

R116 You old whore.

Katy Perry. What a loser.

M

Carrol O’Conner, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers.

Cast of Welcome Back, Kotter (except John of course).

Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Bob fucking Hope.

Bob Hope was a huge star for decades, he was on television constantly. It's funny how quickly he faded from public consciousness.

Bob Hope is gone. Estelle Getty is on GenZ tshirts.

Time is fickle.

The late Gilbert Gottfried used to snark about Bob Hope on his podcast and it was always very funny.

Charlotte Church

Paul Lynde, and for that matter, the entire "Hollywood Squares" stars.

Comedians who were big seem to not last as long as actors for obvious reasons. Those comedians of the 40s, 50s and 60s were larger than life but only people into older media knows them.

All of them, OP. All of them.

[quote] Except every time JAWS is viewed.

Plus All that Jazz and The French Connection.

Paula Abdul. Katy Perry will suffer the same fate.

The Marx Brothers seemed immortal. Does anybody under 50 know who they are?

Bing Crosby is not forgotten because of White Christmas (song and film).

Gloria Estefan.

W. C. Fields.

[quote]Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Bob fucking Hope.

[quote]Bing Crosby is not forgotten because of White Christmas (song and film).

Yes, Bing's original rendition of "White Christmas" gets played every Christmas, as well as his duet "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" with David Bowie.

Also, the stage version of WHITE CHRISTMAS gets mounted annually by schools/colleges and community/regional theaters.

Same with SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (speaking of Gene Kelly) and the movies are always watched for inspiration.

Sophie Tucker

Humphrey Bogart--he had a post-death resurgence in interest during the 60s and 70s, but has been long forgotten, although "Casablanca" has not. he was an A-lister for much longer than most of tehnames that have been thrown-out so far.

Kay Francis and Constance Bennett were major movie stars in the 1930s, as famous as Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. They've been totally obscure to the general public for decades.

Of course most of these once-huge stars draw blank expressions from people who don't watch old movies, but who cares about them? Fuck 'em.

Totie Fields

Mabel Normand

I was talking with two of my co-workers who are in their twenties (I'm in my forties) and we got on the subject of WWII movies. I mentioned one of my favorite WWII movies is The Great Escape, which they had never heard of. Then I mentioned Steve McQueen and they both gave me blank stares, they had no idea who Steve McQueen was. I explained that he was a huge movie star back in the day and very famous.

R139 Look What’s Happened to Mabel!

R140, I had a similar experience recently when a few 20- & 30-something co-workers and I had lunch in Chinatown (LA) and one of the guys was accosted by a homeless person, prompting me to quip, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." That drew blank stares. When I mentioned the '70s classic film starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, nobody knew who they were.

Wow r142. I would think Jack Nicholson would be known to people regardless of their age. That's crazy.

Totie was pretty big until they started whittling her down.

R136 is that cunt Mayo Methot.

My Swiss French college students rarely know David Bowie.

R143, Well, Jack's last film role was 15 years ago, and apparently, these young whippersnappers don't watch anything older than ten years. I thought maybe mentioning Jack's association with the Lakers would at least jog their memories, and finally one guy did say, "Oh, okay. That old guy."

Noel Coward, Laurence Olivier, etc.

Robert Young - Father Knows Best/ Dr. Marcus Welby.

R127 for the WIN!

These two.... Kidding!

[quote] Robert Young - Father Knows Best/ Dr. Marcus Welby.

and "SANKA IS REAL COFFEE!!!!"

[quote]Celebrities who were big in their time but are now forgotten

If they're forgotten how should we know? We're not clairvoyant.

Richard Harding Davis

Anita Gillette

Paul Williams

Brett Somers

Karen Valentine

[quote] Karen Valentine.

I had to wipe that dumbass smile off her face.

Dorothy Provine, my first crush.

Charo

R122- Bob Hope was NEVER 👎 funny.

Delta Burke

Maybe to the taste of today's audience, R159, but it's a bit condescending to summarily dismiss his longstanding appeal to earlier generations.

R161- My father who was born in the late 1920’s said years ago that he never thought Bob Hope was funny.

I don't doubt that, R162, but it's also the case that Bob Hope was hugely successful for a long time. He was one of Woody Allen's comedy idols.

[quote] Bob Hope was NEVER 👎 funny.

R159 You're an idiot.

Jan & Dean

Here's someone mentioned upthread who was never funny and is deservedly forgotten: Red Skelton. The epitome of cringe.

Chad & Jeremy

Peter & Gordon

God bless, R166.

Kim Bassinger

I was molested in Room 222

Rudy Vallée

He was a HUGE box office star ⭐️ in the 1940’s along with Judy Garland but he’s largely forgotten now-

Mickey Rooney

Ferrante and Teicher

Dick Van Patten

And his offspring

The Captain and Tenille, Tony Orlando and Dawn. Annette Funicello. Victoria Principal.

Tootie Fields

Evel Knieval. Dick Haymes. Dave Garroway. Alida Valli. Erin Fleming.

Ernest Hemingway

My Dad delivered papers to her dad.

R172 Poor Mickey Rooney, he peaked at 17 and then it was all the way down from there. His disappointment and desperation soon turned into anger that he was never able to turn off.

R179 is smoking that good stuff.

Rooney got 4 Oscar nominations (lead and supporting) from age 19 to age 60. He got an Emmy in the 1980s (for "Bill") and he got 4 other Emmy nominations. He got a Tony nomination in 1980 for Sugar Babies. Also got a couple of Golden Globes, and a few other awards and nominations. Not bad for someone who peaked at 17.

Nonetheless, R183, he definitely gave off bitter vibes the latter part of his life.

Rooney had long droughts and periods where he did drek. He had a horrible sitcom that lasted 13 weeks during the 60s. He was awful in "Breakfast in Tiffany's". He also made movies that were never released. Sugar Babies was probably perfect for the kind of over the top mugging that passed for acting in his later years. Sad about how he was treated by his last wife.

Whoever starred opposite James Dean in Rebel without a Cause

Most Golden Age of Hollywood stars are unknown today.

If you did one of those Late Show surveys on the street, the majority would have no idea who John Wayne was let alone people like William Holden, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Erroll Flynn, or countless others were.

Marlon Brando might still be known because people still talk about The Godfather.

James Dean and Marilyn Monroe are likely, as well.

Even DLers would be hardpressed to know Rula Lenska, who by the way is apparently only 77 and still alive.

R187 I actually think John Wayne is the only one people would know. You don’t consider him an icon?

Do the youngins know about Charo?

Even young people have heard of Dean and Monroe

R186 Natalie Wood is forgotten?

R187 Yes, Rula Lenska! Now there was a STAR!

Slim Keith, Marietta Tree, Barbara Hutton

[quote]Even DLers would be hardpressed to know Rula Lenska

It would actually astonish me if there was any DLer who'd never heard of Rula Lenska. Turn in your card now!

Since Jimmy Stewart is on TV every Christmas in It's A Wonderful Life, many younger people seem to know who he is.

Most seem to know who Frank Sinatra is, not sure if they've actually seen him in anything. And they know who Lucille Ball is. And Audrey Hepburn. And Judy Garland. And Julie Andrews, since they still watch The Sound of Music. Possibly Henry Fonda, from 12 Angry Men, and Gregory Peck, from To Kill a Mockingbird.

R185 and others-Mickey Rooney was offered the role of Archie Bunker in the late 1960's but turned it down. Thank goodness. I don't feel he would have been nearly as good in the role as Carroll O'Conner was. I also heard that Jackie Gleason was considered for the role of Archie Bunker- he would have made a good Archie Bunker but not as good as CO was in the role.

[quote]Rooney got 4 Oscar nominations (lead and supporting) from age 19 to age 60. He got an Emmy in the 1980s (for "Bill") and he got 4 other Emmy nominations. He got a Tony nomination in 1980 for Sugar Babies. Also got a couple of Golden Globes, and a few other awards and nominations. Not bad for someone who peaked at 17.

He's also the voice of Tod in Disney's THE FOX AND THE HOUND, which I think still pretty beloved.

Art Linkletter

Linda Gray and Stephanie Powers

Elizabeth Montgomery

Linda Evans and Linda Gray

Linda Gray and Linda Gray.

Connie Selleca, Robert Ulrich, Randolph Mantooth, Gil Gerard, Richard Hatch.

Dan Haggerty (Grizzly Adams)

Michael Ontkean

Michael Cole

Ken Kercheval

Steve Kanaly

Dirk Benedict

Ben Murphy (Alias Smith and Jones)

Erin Gray

Tony Musante

Bob Uecker

Paulette Godard

Ross Hunter

David Brenner

Cheryl Ladd

Pam Dawber

Jill St. John

Jan Smithers

Yvonne Craig

Corinne Calvet

The under-appreciated Donald O'Connor.

Nan Kempner and Pat Buckley

Jesus

If only, r209.

Jesus is forgotten, but his name is used by hateful fake Christians who have no idea who he was or what he stood for.

Dixie Carter and Delta Burke

So forgotten that it took 213 posts to remember Will Rogers, who was huge before his untimely death.

As a few others have noted, "the Wavishing Kay Fwancis." . I'm sure the script writers had fun with her dialouge.

Zasu Pitts

Fatty Arbuckle

Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, Louise Beavers, Keye Luke, Frances Dee, John Boles, Clive Brook, Leo Carillo (now remembered as a beach. As is Will Rogers.)

Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon, Percy Kilbride, Rudy Vallee, Edna May Oliver, Joseph Schildkraut, Louis Calhern.

Robert Hays.

Doris Fucking Day???

Her last work as an actress was 57 years ago, 51 years before she died. And she worked in films that have almost no meaning today. Of course she's forgotten.

Eva Tanguay, who was basically the original Madonna at the turn of the last century. She was a huge star.

I don't care.

Florence Lawrence

Mae Marsh

Blanche Sweet

Helen Twelvetrees

Heidi Bohay

Norma Desmond

R221, you should check out her film The Thrill of it All. It was written by Carl Reiner. It’s a spoof on TV commercials, Madison Avenue and celebrity. It’s hilariously funny. At one point, her character looks into the camera and says I’m a pig!

While most everyone over 25 still remembers Joyce DeWitt, I have a sneaking suspicion that Jenilee Harrison has been forgotte by many if not most of the public.

With good reason, R228.

David Caruso

R77 Mentioned Secret Love by Doris Day. She continued to record almost up to her death a few years ago. A great animal rights activist, a great actress and singer. She's not forgotten.

Clara Bow, Edna May, Florence Lawrence

I am MANGO! 🥭

R218 couldn't imagine anyone but me knowing the names of those amazing character actors.

Kay Francis AKA The Wavishing Kay Fwancis

Danielle Brisbois?

Yesterday Carroll Baker was 91 years old.

Six years ago at the Friars Club.

White Christmas is still a holiday classic. A must watch at Christmas for many people who were not around when the film opened so even if they don't know their names they would recognize Danny Kaye, Vera Ellen, Rosemary Clooney, and Mary Wickes. 'Oh yeah he/she was in White Christmas.'

Born in 1931, R237, she’s now 94.

Breakfast at Tiffanys is still an enormously popular romcom(which I bet an enormous number of young women force their boyfriends to sit through) so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people remember Rooney for his Mr. Yunioshi which in an interview towards the end of his life Blake Edwards admitted he regretted. Also Mad World is another old classic which he might be remembered for along with Merman because of that film and the still popular Airplane.

You would not believe how many vlogs there are of young people watching old movies and they always include Sunset Boulevard. There are also lot of vlogs of young people discussing this movie. So even if young people don't know who Gloria Swanson is they know her face because people had faces then. And they still find that ending very powerful and creepy. They get totally her over the top madness which they could find funny but don't.

There was an old silent film star actress whose name I don't remember who said after seeing it 'None of us floozies was that nuts.'

Janet Jackson.

Sean Young

Grock

Lillian Russell

Anna Held

Alice Nielsen

Pauline Hall

Della Fox

Our Sister, The Incomparable Hildegard

Roland Winters.

R220 Doris Day's career didn't end in 1968 with her last film, she then had a popular TV series that ran 5 seasons, from 1968 to 1973.

Mrs Patrick Campbell.

Nora Bayes

Eli Wallach

R247: That's still an awfully long time ago. Other than a few queens and perhaps a few dog lovers, she's forgotten.

R251 She only just died in 2019, and when she died it was news. We're not talking about Kathryn Grayson or Jeanne Crain.

Her TV show is still seen on the old-TV channels. I'm assuming more people than old queens and dog lovers watch it--and her movies on TCM. Day was a major star , one of the biggest in the world, known to millions. Not the nobody has-been you seem to want to portray her as.

Linda Gray and Victoria Principal

Janice Dickinson was ubiquitous in the early 2000s and then just vanished.

Now she’s barely even biquitous.

Although she had long left Hollywood, both in real life and career-wise, Day still kept getting film offers. She had been offered the lead in Albert Brook's Mother and in 2015 Clint Eastwood wanted her for a film.

So forgotten that it took 256 posts to get to Jack Benny.

Henry Winkler and Ron Howard are practically unknown. Younger people might know Ron is a director, but WTF was Opie?

Henry Winkler won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy (Barry). And hasn't the popularity of the Andy Griffith Show spanned the many generations?

Apologies if this was posted. My Dad sold newspapers to her Dad here in Cincinnati.

Dennis Morgan was a big Warner Brothers star in the 1940s. Made quite a few "buddy films" with Jack Carson. Retired in the mid-1950s, Nobody knows who he is today.

I dont think younger people have any interest in history or curiosity past their own phones much to our detriment. I grew up reading and watching old movies. A world of knowledge is available yet they don't use it.

John Tesh.

George C. Scott.

Maybe not totally forgotten, but he was really big, considered one of the great actors of his time, and now who ever even talks about his performances?