# Actors who suddenly stopped acting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954 "2008-07-10T05:57:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/41 "2008-07-10T20:30:06Z")
[QUOTE=Interrobang!?] Jennifer Runyon – probably most famous for her small part in _Ghostbusters_ as the favored subject of one of Bill Murray’s psychic experiments. Or for being on _Charles in Charge_ 1.0. I had a huge crush on her in my early adolescence. Per IMDB, she [hasn’t worked since '93](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0001690/), when she did _Carnosaur_. [/QUOTE] If your career trajectory went from _Ghostbuster_ to _Carnosaur_ (with a made-for-TV Brady Bunch reunion movie in between), you’d get out of the business, too. What’s next, looping dialog for porn actresses who whistle on their S’s? A straight-to-video _Murder, She Wrote_ prequel? _Dancing With the Stars_? How low do you want this poor woman to sink? Too bad, though, definite babe. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/42 "2008-07-10T21:11:44Z")
Hey, now. Her trajectory started with _Up the Creek_. _Ghostbusters_ is just the zenith. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/43 "2008-07-10T22:03:41Z")
**Ruby Keeler** was a major star in the 30s, but quit when she married her second husband. **Louise Brooks** was a big silent film star who pretty much left films in the 30s (she wasn’t getting good parts and didn’t like Hollywood) to become a writer. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/44 "2008-07-10T22:06:07Z")
[QUOTE=Linty Fresh] A lot of the SNL crowd. Chris Farley, John Belushi, Phil Hartman. What? [/QUOTE] I was going to do this with Natalie Wood but I see there I don’t have a monopoly on testeless. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/45 "2008-07-10T22:07:34Z")
The guy who played Oliver in the musical film version is now a chiropractor. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/46 "2008-07-10T22:09:23Z")
From the responses so far these strike me as the best examples: **Phoebe Cates** **Doris Day** - she quit at age 50, but probably would have quite five years earlier if she hadn’t have needed to do the TV show to clear some financial obligations **Deanna Durbin** **Bridget Fonda** **Greta Garbo** **Grace Kelly** **Jennifer Jones** , although she was in _The Towering Inferno_ in her 50s **Yvonne Lime** **Michelle Meyrink** **Rick Moranis** , although apparently he still does voices **Leonard Whiting** James Cagney, Cary Grant, and Randolph Scott were already in their 60s when they quit (Cagney was in his 80s when he did _Ragtime_). ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/47 "2008-07-10T22:10:14Z")
Charmian Carr. Played the incredibly beautiful Liesl in The Sound of Music, did two TV shows and that was it. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/48 "2008-07-10T22:13:16Z")
And **Louise Brooks** and **Ruby Keeler** , those are good ones. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/49 "2008-07-10T22:13:45Z")
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Took a bit of a pay cut, I’m told. Wayne Rogers Lisa Gerritsen ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/50 "2008-07-10T22:18:21Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Arnold Schwarzenegger. Took a bit of a pay cut, I’m told. [/QUOTE] By the time Schwarzenegger left acting he already had enough money (and managed it intelligently enough) to not need movie pay cheques. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/51 "2008-07-10T22:36:30Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] Michelle Meyrink (_Revenge of the Nerds_, _Real Genius_, _Nice Girls Don’t Explode_) reportedly felt Hollywood was too fast-paced and went on a three-month hiatus, which subsequently became permanent. [/QUOTE] It’s amusing to think of the girl who played Jordan (based on a real person nicknamed Tigger) would find Hollywood “too fast-paced”. Also, [Deborah Foreman](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0286033/) hadn’t done a film since 1991’s “Lunatics: A Love Story” (which is actually a lot better than it sounds). She’s spent her time making custom painted furnature and becoming a yoga instructor. But then she had a [small part in a film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756621) in 2008! “Oh, 'cause I’m 19, I’m brilliant, I’m hyperkenetic…guys are a little afraid…possibly if I stopped to think about it, I’d be upset.” ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/52 "2008-07-10T22:38:18Z")
How about Shirley Black, aka Shirley Temple? Per IMDB she was born in 1928 and her last movie was 1949, although she did a little TV around 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/53 "2008-07-10T22:39:13Z")
I can’t believe that this is post 52 and nobody’s mentioned Joe Pesci. Basically decided while still getting big paychecks and big roles “I’m rich, I don’t wanna do this any more… so I won’t.” He made a short cameo as an aging mob boss/worry-wart grandpa in that Matt Damon/Martin Scorcese movie (whose name I can’t recall and don’t feel like googling), but otherwise that’s it for about the past 8 or 9 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/54 "2008-07-10T22:45:11Z")
Ali McGraw was still doing pretty well when she stopped. She even turned down the role of Natalie Jastrow in _War and Remembrance_ (great part, big paycheck, and she’d originated the character) and yet took a part in a [Gunsmoke movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107062/) in which she played a character called “Uncle Jane”). Having seen her recently on an interview I was stunned to see on imdb that she’s 70 years old! (Doesn’t look it.) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/55 "2008-07-10T23:30:43Z")
[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya] I was going to do this with Natalie Wood but I see there I don’t have a monopoly on _ **testeless** _. [/QUOTE] (emphasis added) I’m so sorry to hear it! ☹ Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/56 "2008-07-10T23:35:07Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] Robert Donat won a Best Actor Oscar in 1939 for _Goodbye, Mr. Chips \* and largely was forced to retire after that because of asthma. [/QUOTE] Sorry to disagree, but although he had to turn down a lot of action pictures, he did do 10 more films after Chips right up until his death in 1958. He would only work in England_, though, so many of them weren’t popular here. \*His last film was Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which might have been filmed at least partly outside of England. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/57 "2008-07-11T00:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Peter Billingsley. And he (along with the aforementioned Anthony Michael Hall) sure did grow up nicely! He was in _The Breakup_ because he’s fairly good friends with Vince Vaughn. He’s been involved mostly on the other side of the camera, as a director and producer, although he HAS been acting occasionally, as well. [/QUOTE] Most recently, Peter Billingsley co-produced and played a small part in _Iron Man_. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/58 "2008-07-11T01:22:48Z")
[QUOTE=Roderick Femm] Sorry to disagree, but although he had to turn down a lot of action pictures, he did do 10 more films after Chips right up until his death in 1958. He would only work in England\*, though, so many of them weren’t popular here. \*His last film was Inn of the Sixth Happiness, which might have been filmed at least partly outside of England. Roddy [/QUOTE] That was why I put “largely.” An actor of his success and stature would have had a huge career if not for his illness. I should have said it curtailed his career, not that he retired. I’m sorry. ETA: on the way home I was thinking about Dolores Hart, star of King Creole with Elvis and Where the Boys Are, who made about 10 movies and then ditched the business for the convent. She’s now Rev. Mother Dolores Hart but retains her voting membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/59 "2008-07-11T02:16:42Z")
**Raymond Griffith**. He was a top silent comedian – just slightly below Agee’s big four\*, and some critics (e.g., Walter Kerr) put him at that level (it’s hard to say, since many of his films have been lost). But he walked away from films as soon as sound came in. It wasn’t really due to illnesss, but he had lost his voice many years before and could only speak in a whisper. He went into film production at age 36. \*Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and Langdon. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954/60 "2008-07-11T02:26:21Z")
Maureen O’Hara. She did _return_ to acting for a while, but from 1973 (when she was still very much in demand) to 1991 she made no movies, and it was by choice. Ironically, what brought her back was John Candy’s doggedness in wanting her to play his mom in _Only the Lonely_ and her meetings with him. She found him charming and thought “well, it’s a good role- why not”. She was devastated when he died a few years later. Since _Only the Lonely_ she’s acted occasionally- once every few years, nothing in quite a while though. She’s in her late 80s now (and very very wealthy) but last time I saw her she was still beautiful. (She also grew up in an “Irish only” home- English is her second language.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-suddenly-stopped-acting/455954.md?page=4)