# Actors / Actresses whose promising careers stalled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513 "2005-10-29T22:38:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/41 "2005-10-30T18:15:31Z")
Val Kilmer also suffers from his reputation of being one of the most difficult actors to work with in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/42 "2005-10-30T19:18:52Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > **Karen Allen** - She was ‘Boone’ in Animal House … She was Katy. ---
**Author:** ![malkabat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@malkabat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkabat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/43 "2005-10-30T20:33:39Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > She stalled for a number of years during her cancer recovery. Cite? I’ve followed her career for a good many years, and never heard anything about a bout with cancer. IMDB, Wikipedia and her official site mention nothing, and googling “cancer survivor Bernadette Peters” with and without quotes comes up empty as well. Not meaning to be contentious, just genuinely curious… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/44 "2005-10-30T21:39:29Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > She was Katy. Right you are. Boone was her boyfriend. I’ve never seen the big appeal of **Judge Reinhold**. He always struck me as being a good second-banana, comedy relief kinda guy. Great in a role like he had in _Beverly Hills Cop_, but not so good as a leading man. He’s a young equivalent of **Jeffrey Tambor**. I think he was screwed when they tried to get him to carry movies, and he couldn’t pull it off. His movies tanked, and once a leading man it’s hard to go back to comic relief. If this thread comes back ten years in the future, **Nathan Fillion** will make my list if he doesn’t break out and have a great movie career. He’s got more leading-man charisma than any actor I’ve seen in a long time. Put him in the right role, and he’ll knock it out of the park. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/45 "2005-10-30T21:43:41Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Val Kilmer also suffers from his reputation of being one of the most difficult actors to work with in the world. Yeah, considering his reputation, and the number of bombs he’s been in, I’m amazed that he gets as much good work as he does. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/46 "2005-10-30T21:55:35Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > Ray Liotta: He’s doen a lot of straight to video stuff after a strong beginning. For a while there he was doing a lot of good stuff - I really thought his work in **Narc** was excellent, for example. Haven’t seen him since then, though. His career comes in fits and starts. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/47 "2005-10-30T22:39:40Z")
> [@malkabat](#): > > Cite? I’ve followed her career for a good many years, and never heard anything about a bout with cancer. IMDB, Wikipedia and her official site mention nothing, and googling “cancer survivor Bernadette Peters” with and without quotes comes up empty as well. > > Not meaning to be contentious, just genuinely curious… My bad. My brain mixed her having cancer with another actress or her constant involvement with charities. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/48 "2005-10-30T22:59:11Z")
**Tatum O’Neal** , after she won an Oscar for her role in “Paper Moon” and was a co-Star of “Bad News Bears”, who would have guessed she would completely disappear for the next 30 years (due to drugs and bad decisions)? Not Momma Jimmmy’s Little boy. There was a late 80’s early 90’s moment that I a \*\* Julie\*\* Doc Hollywood and Mr. Saturday Night **Warner** had “it” and would be a star, maybe not Julia Roberts, but maybe like Sandra Bullock a few years back. \*\* Jennifer\*\* Flashdance\*\* Beal’s \*\* film future looked awful bright at one point. I would certainly guess that Mark Hammill post-1983 would be a bit more remarkable than it was ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/49 "2005-10-31T00:43:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > For a while there he was doing a lot of good stuff - I really thought his work in **Narc** was excellent, for example. Haven’t seen him since then, though. His career comes in fits and starts. He popped up in an episode of _ER_. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/50 "2005-10-31T01:01:39Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > [Nancy Allen] also suffered from getting divorced. Most of her major roles were in movies directed by her husband Brian de Palma. After their divorce in 1984, she only had one more big role (in _Robocop_ in 1987). True. SNL once ran a parody of a preview for a Brian De Palma movie (a Hitchcock rip-off called **The Clams** ) that featured the line: “Every year, Brian De Palma picks the bones of a great director so he can give his wife a job.” As for other once-promising careers that have stalled, a short time back there was a thread in Cafe Society about [Tim Roth](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000619/). For awhile, he was always on the short list of watchable British actors but, after 2001, he seemed to disappear. He has been more visible recently but it’s only been in supporting roles in a Jennifer Connelly thriller and _in a TV movie shown on Lifetime_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/51 "2005-10-31T05:33:33Z")
How about Kurt Russell? He’s basically been making movies his whole life (he got his first TV role at the age of six), he’s done credible work in comedies, dramas, and action movies, but he’s never been able to break out into the top tier. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/52 "2005-10-31T08:15:44Z")
I don’t know, I think Russell was in the top tier there for a few years. Movies like Executive Decision, Tango and Cash, Tombstone, Backdraft, Escape from New York… Not all of them were good, but they were all marketed with his starring role being a major selling point. For a while there, he could carry movies. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/53 "2005-10-31T14:41:49Z")
**Jeannie Tripplehorn**. In the early 90’s she had a lead role in two highly sucessful films, Basic Instinct and The Firm, and then came Waterworld. Looking at her [IMDb](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000675/) filmography, I can only identify Mickey Blue Eyes and Very Bad Things out of the 15 or so roles she has had since. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/54 "2005-10-31T14:52:57Z")
Savion Glover. After wowing everyone with [Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk](http://www.noisefunk.com/index2.html) he just faded. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/55 "2005-10-31T15:28:20Z")
In terms of quality rather than quantity I’d add Whoopi Goldberg to the list. She’s capable of exceptional work and deserved the Oscar for _Ghost_ (though not as much as for _Color Purple_), but the vast majority of her work for the past 15 years has been lucrative but totally forgettable schlock. Surely there’s a script out there for a woman of her talents to shine in. Black actresses in general run into a lower glass ceiling than most: Cicely Tyson is one of the most brilliant talents in the business and she always seems relegated to playing maids or made-for-TV melodramas. Such a pity. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/56 "2005-10-31T15:29:07Z")
> [@wonder9](#): > > My two favorites from the 80’s, early 90’s seem to have run up against some kind of wall. [Christian Slater](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000225/) was HUGE after Heathers but after a few other movies, you just don’t see him in good parts. And [Val Kilmer](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000174/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dmFsIGtpbG1lcnxmdD0xfG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=1;ft=22;fm=1) too. Although I think his might have been a more self-determined choice. He shows up in really edgy, out-of-the-mainstream stuff like Wonderland and The Salton Sea. Christian Slater seems to have taken a nosedive after “Broken Arrow” just barely cleared its budget domestically, and “Very Bad Things” didn’t turn a profit. Of course, one could argue that him taking those roles in those movies were already part of the nosedive. Val Kilmer had a great run up until “Heat”. Then came the big-budget flops, “The Island of Dr. Moreau”, “The Ghost and the Darkness”, “The Saint”, and “At First Sight”. That’s a lot of flop movies in a row for one actor to have top billing in. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/57 "2005-10-31T15:57:08Z")
I thought of another one - **Elizabeth Shue**. She was everywhere as a teen and early twenty-something - Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Back to the Future series, Cocktail - and then in her first “adult” role she was nominated for an Academy Award for “Leaving Las Vegas”. After that, not much. She did “The Saint”, which bombed, and she’s been in a few good films since, but not as a leading figure. Come to think of it, her brother Andrew hasn’t been seen sice “Melrose Place”. I have a theory - as with Jeannie Tripplehorn, acting with Tom Cruise makes anyone look good, and then they get big leading roles and find that they really aren’t that good at all. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/58 "2005-10-31T15:59:21Z")
If I had been a bettin’ woman in 1967 (instead of 6 years old 🙂 ), I would have wagered the farm that Scott Wilson would have been a _superstar_. Check out his 1st half-dozen or so films - [http://imdb.com/name/nm0934113/](http://imdb.com/name/nm0934113/) In The Heat of the Night In Cold Blood - as killer Dick Hickock The New Centurions The Grissom Gang The Great Gatsby Obviously, he’s had a great career since as a solid character actor, but I get the chills every time I see him in “In Cold Blood” and “The Grissom Gang”. I don’t know why the time wasn’t right for him. I think he’s amazing. VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/59 "2005-10-31T16:07:05Z")
I’ve always thought that everytime **Peter Scolari** watches an episode of _Bosom Buddies_ he breaks down and sobs “It could been me! It shoulda been me!” On a slightly more serious note, I always thought **Julia Duffy** was a lot better actress than she was given credit for, and could have made the jump into legitimate movie roles. Maybe never a big star, but a successful and credible player. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513/60 "2005-10-31T16:21:54Z")
Rachel Ward was in _Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid_ and _The Thornbirds_, and we all thought, holy crap, a beautiful actress who can really act and doesn’t have a whiny, shrill voice! Cool! … and then she just sort of drifted off into second-banana parts, except for a few (And the Sea will Tell)… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-promising-careers-stalled/328513.md?page=4)