On the flipside: I saw him in “A Fall of Eagles” where he played Lenin. This was while TNG was running. Very odd.
There’s a difference between people who will always be known for a role and people who couldn’t get other roles because of a memorable role. Patrick Stewart will certainly always be known as Captain Piccard, but if anything this has helped him land roles like Professor X, which has made him additional millions. That’s the other thing, his fame from Star Trek translates into much bigger paychecks.
Although personally, whenever I see him as Captain Picard I think “Isn’t that the guy who played Locutus? Where are all his metal implants?”
I’m thinking John Wayne in The Conqueror…
Or did you mean figuratively?
Haven’t watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, have you? I think the people who enjoy that movie, even though it’ll only be a fraction of the number of people who went to see Titanic, will find Winslet’s role in ESotSM far more memorable.
Anson Williams is also producing and directing, I believe. And Marion Ross had a couple of great roles on Gilmore Girls, as well.
Lately, she’s playing an embittered grim reaper/meter maid (later police officer) on the cable series Dead Like Me and doing okay. Actually, I think she managed to avoid typecasting from A Different World because she gave her character such an exagerrated accent, distancing herself from that character.
Of course, that didn’t help Andy Kaufman, but he was kind of a jerk.
Plus the recurring role of Drew Carey’s mom. In fact, many of the people listed in this thread didn’t have their careers killed by a specific role; rather some of them were cast as specific characters and then it was later revealed that they didn’t have much range beyond that character. Even then, if there’s money to be made in playing the same basic character over and over, some limited actors were still financial sucesses. I’m lookin’ at you, John Wayne and Steven Seagal!
Shatner didn’t spend that much time out of the spotlight. He had 8 TV roles in the next four years after Start Trek, starred in a movie with Angie Dickenson (“Big Bad Mama”), then got his own TV series, “The Barbary Coast” which lasted a couple of seasons. Lots more TV appearances before the first Star Trek Movie (plus voice work in the animated series), then after that he had the long-running and popular “TJ Hooker”.
Shatner has always had a pretty solid career. Not A-list movie star stuff, but journeyman TV actor stuff.
Now he’s got what looks like another hit series with “Boston Legal”. He’s pretty good in it, too. Won an Emmy last year.
How about Roger Moore? Sean Connery pretty much managed to leave Bond behind, but that’s because he was a good enough actor to do so. Roger Moore, on the other hand…
I thought he did a great job as Charlie Van Doren in Quiz Show
I’ll give you this one, but didn’t some of the actors try to catch lightning in a bottle twice with the short-lived AfterMash? That may have led to the stereotyping. Although the guy who played Col Henry Blake didn’t too very much after he left MASH.
And I didn’t know Rosalind Chao was in Diff’rent Strokes! She’ll always be Keiko O’Brien to me.
Although, I think Matt LeBlanc has pigeon-holed himself. At least the other Friends actors have gone on to other projects, and Jennifer Aniston is not doing too badly in the movie biz.
Hey! McLean Stevenson went on to do the tremendously popular and well-written Hello, Larry!
Okay, I concede your point…
And the RACSO (Oscar spelled backwards) goes to-
Jessica Walter for her slicer-dicer role in “Play Misty For Me” with Clint Eastwood.
Rent it for Halloween.
I think Tom Baker pretty much killed his career after being the most memorable Doctor Who. Last I saw of him was the fat, camp Elf king in Dungeons And Dragons. Hopefully that movie killed a lot of careers - and yes, Jeremy Irons, I’m looking at you.
As much as I love him and worship his brilliance, Bruce Campbell will always be Ash. Brisco runs a close second.
I’ll still see him in anything he does, however.
Jean Hagen’s brilliant performance as the tone-deaf Lina Lamont in Singin’ In the Rain seems to have done her career little good.
An’ I cyiiiiiiiiint stained 'im!
i read somewhere that Patrick Stewart’s first ad-lib line on camera as LoB was;
“I am Locutus of Borg, have you ever considered owning…a Pontiac?”
I have a feeling that despite her best efforts to the contrary, Sarah Michelle Gellar will always be Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I hope to God that despite her best efforts to the contrary, Eliza Dushku will always be Faith the Vampire Slayer. 
Tom Baker must make shitloads off voiceover work, as well as being a regular guest star on any number of British Sunday night dramas. He’s currently doing the voiceover parts for Little Britain, and is hilarious. Apparently he’s well funny in real life too.
I pray for the day when him and Brian Blessed do a film/program together. And possibly fight each other. Shit, i’m going to make a film just so I can cast them two fighting each other in it.
I second the nomination of BELA LUGOSI: he was a fine actor (though hampered by his thick hungarian accent)…the Dracula role was all he had. He was a pathetic character…never made real money, and was broke by the end of his life. Boris Karloff managed toget acting roles into the 1950’s…not sure how he wound up fianancially. And Lon Chaney Jr. had a tragic life.
I gues it doesn’t pay to be a monster! Still, it is hard for me to understand how ANy actor who makes it to the movies can wind up poor…if you save and invest your money, shoul;d have something when the agents don’t call anymore.