# Actors and actresses you're suprised didn't become bigger stars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195 "2010-01-16T14:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/101 "2010-01-21T17:35:44Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Huh? Did anyone in [2001: A Space Odyssey](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/) go on to fame and fortune? A starring role in a Kubrick film is as good, for most actors, as entering the Witness Protection Program. That’s what my friend Sue Lyon was telling me the other day… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/102 "2010-01-21T17:43:45Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > [Noah Taylor](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0852965/). > > When I first heard that “the guy who played David Helfgott in _Shine_” had been nominated for an Oscar I said “Oh yeah - the one who played him as a teenager, right?” Er, no. And not to begrudge Geoffrey Rush his accolade but I thought Taylor had acted rings around him, an opinion confirmed when I later saw him in _Simon Magus_. I agree completely. Thing is, Taylor had a MUCH more difficult role to play than Rush did. Rush had the luxury of just adopting a certain tone of voice and a set of mannerisms, and staying with them the whole movie (just as Dustin Hoffman did in “Rain Man”). Rush did a perfectly fine impersonation of David Helfgottt, but that’s NOT the same thing as good acting. If it were, Rich Little should win an Oscar every year. Mind you, I think Geoffrey Rush is a superb actor who has given admirable performances in many films. I don’t mean to insult him at all. I just find it sad (though typical) that he won the Oscar for a role that wasn’t really all that challenging, while Noah Taylor was NOT rewarded for a perfornace that required much more range and much more effort. Noah Taylor reminds me, though… as good as Daniel Day-Lewis was in “My Left Foot,” I thought Hugh O’Connor, who played the young Christie Brown, was even better. I know he’s been a working actor since then, but I’m a bit sad he never earned stardom. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/103 "2010-01-21T18:25:09Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > So many 70’s and 80’s tv pin-up dolls never went anywhere: Linda Carter (Wonder Woman,) Farrah Fawcett-Majors (Charlie’s Angels, heck all of them,) the actress who played Daisy Duke, and Heather Locklear spring to mind. (Yes, before you mention all the success she’s had on TV, she’s never been the star of the original cast. She’s always been brought in to rescue poor ratings on another show.) 😕 If I’m reading you right,you’re saying that, because Heather Locklear is considered enough of a draw that she has been recruited, _multiple times_, to help a show that was failing–and that she _succeeded_ in doing so. And, somehow, that makes her less a success than the stars of the series whose shows she had to save? ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/104 "2010-01-21T18:31:35Z")
> [@john\_b\_2](#): > > Yup, it was LISA Bonet. My mistake. At least she has “The Cosby Show” re-run money rolling in for the rest of her life. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/105 "2010-01-23T04:14:04Z")
> [@BKReporter](#): > > It also probably didn’t help that Ryan O’Neal had (and apparently still has) a reputation for being a giant douchebag. Hmmm…douchebag…yeah, sure, I’d go ahead and put that in the debit column… hh Oh, speaking of O Brother Where Art thou, I also thought Timothy Blake Nelson was going places. If he did, he forgot to tell me. hh ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/106 "2010-01-23T04:27:45Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Oh, speaking of O Brother Where Art thou, I also thought Timothy Blake Nelson was going places. If he did, he forgot to tell me. Well, he’s had 30 projects since then, which is 30 more than I’ve had, including **The Incredible Hulk** (to be fair, a lot of us thought that would be a bigger deal; we don’t hold that one against Edward Norton or Tom Roth, do we?) and a recurring role on **CSI**. He also has some movies in the pipeline, and who knows how they’ll do? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/107 "2010-01-23T05:15:05Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Oh, speaking of O Brother Where Art thou, I also thought Timothy Blake Nelson was going places. If he did, he forgot to tell me. He’s a director who occasionally acts. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/108 "2010-01-23T05:35:20Z")
I thought Bridget Fonda really had it going on back in the 90’s, both in terms of acting chops and straight up hotness, then she just disappeared off the face of the earth. It wasn’t a slow fade, either, she just vanished. The last thing I remember her in was _Jackie Brown_. It wasn’t like her career went south, she just stopped working. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/109 "2010-01-23T05:39:51Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > He’s a director who occasionally acts. Well, alrighty then! hh ---
**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:** [January 23, 2010, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/110 "2010-01-23T07:08:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I thought Bridget Fonda really had it going on back in the 90’s, both in terms of acting chops and straight up hotness, then she just disappeared off the face of the earth. It wasn’t a slow fade, either, she just vanished. The last thing I remember her in was _Jackie Brown_. It wasn’t like her career went south, she just stopped working. Actually, her career did kind of go south which is likely one reason why she stop working. I think her last good part was in **A Simple Plan** (that was after **Jackie Brown** wasn’t it?). Then, she appeared in **Lake Placid** and that flop turned out to be toxic to the career of everyone concerned except for Betty White. It wasn’t long after that that she married and decided to retire to raise a family. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/111 "2010-01-23T16:02:15Z")
Okay, for the longest time I thought John Cusack was going to be a huge star in the same vein as those that do indie movies and big blockbusters. But somewhere along the way, his script choices have seem to let him down and now his acting (to me) isn’t as solid as it once was. Not really sure what happened, but I hate that (thus far) he’s missed his shot at super-stardom. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/112 "2010-01-23T16:17:43Z")
There’s a way to spot the big upcoming stars who will disappear off the face of the earth. That little Q&A page on the inside of the Parade Magazine in the Sunday paper? The kind of thing your grandma reads so she’ll have something to chat about when the topic of show biz comes up? There is always someone writing in “who is going to be just HUGE in show biz”. They’ll answer - “Joe Blow is going to knock your socks off in Bada-Bing, in theaters in June.” A couple years later, Joe Blow is a faint memory. I don’t know how Parade Magazine picks 'em - psychics, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/113 "2010-01-24T15:42:57Z")
Fred Ward. Liked him in Tremors and Tremors 2 and anything else I’ve seen him in, which hasn’t been anything big. Always hoped for more for him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195.md?page=5)