Sure–by people who’re addicted to TVLand. For the rest of us, she’s remembered for a whole lot more. Another bad example.
:dubious:
They were different characters?
Maybe if you saw it when it first came out in theaters…
But I’ve seen her several times, in other roles, and while she seems familiar, I don’t automatically think of her as the Nurse whenever her face pops up on screen.
I’ll give you Patrick Stewart, though.
A piece of dung would never shit a piss drunk sergeant with a loaded .45.
I agree. Off the top of my head (no IMDB), he did the voice of Joker in Batman: The Animated Series* and was Christopher Blair in the later Wing Commander games. I’ll admit that my first thought for Hamill is as Luke Skywalker, though. Looking at his IMDB listing, he indeed has done a lot of voice acting.
Actually, I had no idea he was in some of the cartoons I actually watch. The Hobgoblin in the early-mid-90s Spider-Man cartoon, for example. Or that he did one of the voices in Crash Bandicoot 4 (though I never played much of that game because it sucks so badly.)
Sideshow Bob?
I put Mark Hamill in the same boat as Billy Zane (the short-tempered, insanely jealous, and quite possibly mentally ill Caledon Hockley in Titanic), in that while he’ll always be remember for his one big role, he was never talented enough for another one anyway. For the record, Hamill’s settled very comfortably in his role as a voice actor for a long, long time, and Zane’s been in all kinds of minor roles since Titanic. Just two guys who had their moment in the sun and then settled back into their niche.
I’m going to nominate David Schwimmer. He should be grateful that he made so much money and has some directing skills, because his acting career is over. It didn’t help that the character he played for nine years wasn’t just so distinctly neurotic, but also annoying, if not downright unlikable, for a lot of viewers. I’d be shocked if he ever did so much as dinner theater again, much less a new TV or movie role.
Well, I wouldn’t say it ruined his career, but 99% of people will remember Alec Guiness as Obi Wan Kanobi, despite his many other memorable roles. Actually, looking at his IMDB listing, I see he had less than a dozen role after Star Wars, so maybe it did kinda kill his career.
If not Tom Hulce, what about F. Murray Abraham as Saleri?
Although he’s had a few memorable roles afterwards (like HG Wells in “Time After Time” and Caligula in “Caligula”) Malcolm McDowell will forever be known as Alex in A Clockwork Orange (I always think of him as Mick Travis, personally, but I’m talking about the majority of people).
Or there’s also Keir Duella as Dave Bowman in “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
So true. Back in the late 80’s I was working in East Lansing Michigan. Curry was in town as part of a touring production of some 1920’s musical. He did a live radio interview that I heard. The gist of it was that no matter what kind of production he’s in, be it movie, TV, or the stage(he IS a fine singer!) the first thing people ask about when an interview starts is TRHPS. The interviewer was a bit embarrassed, because after congratulating him on his current production, the very next thing he’d asked about was the movie.
<mini-hijack>
If you can ever get an opportunity to see the PBS broadcast of Hulce in “The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket” – do!
</hijack>
Actually, now that I think about it, how about everyone involved in Star Wars except for Harrison Ford?
I’d always heard that he killed his career by being a major-league asshole.
There are a lot of good, journeyman actors whose careers may be defined by one memorable performance, but that’s not the same as having their careers killed by it.
Then there are a lot of bad actors who managed to get one memorable performance, but settled back to their previous level after that. I don’t think that’s the same thing, either.
There are a few good actors I can think of whose career was rudely interrupted by one unforgettable performance.
Tony Perkins after Psycho
Faye Dunaway after Mommie Dearest
I don’t know if Jaws “killed” Robert Shaw’s career (he died three years later) but I don’t think any of his later roles came close.
And it’s too soon to tell, but I’m willing to bet that Halle Berry’s ship sailed with Catwoman.
Nah, Kenny Baker’s been getting lots of work. Big roles.
Maybe it did. He sure did hate the role, either because he found the movie stupid, or because of its impact on his life, or both.
Or the even frostier “Kai Winn” from DS9.
Both, I believe. In My Name Escapes Me: The Diary of a Retiring Actor*, he talks about a little boy came up to him and told him he had seen the “Star Wars” movies at least a hundred times. Alec asked the boy if he would do something for him [Alec]. The boy agreed and Alec said something like, “Don’t ever watch those movies again.”
*[sub]At least I think that’s where I read that little antidote. I read the book a few years ago.[/sub]
Didn’t hurt James Earl Jones. And look again at Carrie Fisher: After she stopped being a cute teenager, she got respect for writing (Postcards from the Edge is good on anybody’s resume). And Natalie Portman sure looks like she’s making good career choices.
And it’s not the role, it’s the actor. LeVar Burton’s career could have been stalled by the hugeness of Kunta Kinte, but he went right on to an even bigger career staller, and followed it up by directing other Trek spinoffs. I bet he has a third ur-role in him. And I never thought Djimon Hounsou would attract interest after Amistad, but he has.
That “Reading Rainbow” nearly killed him! 
Walter Koenig was typecast after *Star Trek * (the cute one! Teehee!), but to plenty of us he’ll always be Bester from Babylon 5 (the evil one! Teehee!).
And I’ll always remember Ned Beatty as being from Homicide: Life on the Street.