:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:
Maria Falconetti’s performance in The Passion of Joan of Arc moved noted critic Pauline Kael to say it “may be the finest performance ever recorded on film.” Falconetti never made another film.
This must have happened with many a silent film star. Theda Bara was retired at age 41 and Clara Bow at 28, although with Clara Bow there was both illness and legal trouble.
Did Carrie Fisher have too many tiny appearances/cameos to count?
Jo Ann Pflug would also qualify (original MASH movie)
What about Jan Smithers? I can’t remember the last time I saw her in anything.
And, now that I think on it, I haven’t seen Harry Anderson in anything in a while, either.
He and his wife settled in New Orleans and opened a shop and a bar, although they moved to N. Carolina after Katrina. If he got residuals from “Night Court”, he’s pretty much set for life. Acting can be a stressful career, constantly worrying about when your next job is going to happen. I’d imagine that if you’ve had a success that ensured that you’d never have to worry about money again (assuming you managed things reasonably well), why bother?
A writer?! Sure, she wrote later, but that wasn’t quite what she was doing shortly after exiting films.
Michael Schoeffling: played Jake Ryan in 16 Candles, hasn’t worked since 1991.
Frank Jasper: played Brian Shute in Vision Quest. Hasn’t worked since 1993. He’s some sort of New Age-y practitioner in California.
I heard he married into a bit of money too.
I’d heard he’d hung around after Katrina and tried to help the city get back on its feet, but the crime and local government’s corruption finally got to be too much.
I went to middle school with Isaak!
Wil Wheaton, child star of Stand by Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation, is now a husband, father, and author – and has an open, well-written blog (WWdn: In Exile).
Gene Hackman
He still acts, though. He was on Numb3rs last season, and while he seems to be more sanguine over whether or not he gets a part, he does still go to auditions and readings.
Michael St. Gerard was a very hot young actor who was famous for two things: playing Link Larkin in the original John Waters Hairspray movie and for playing Elvis in a dozen other projects (Great Balls of Fire, Elvis: the Series, Quantum Leap, others- in short, he looked a lot like a young Elvis.
He gave up acting in his early 30s to concentrate on the ministry. Though white he’s now a youth minister at a black church in Harlem.
He still sounds black, though, right?
Oh, another one: Liesel Matthews. Played the lead role in The Little Princess, Harrison Ford’s daughter in Air Force One, appeared a few years later in some movie I’ve never heard of, then poof! No more movies.
Of course, she’s filthy stinking rich, so it’s not like she needs the gigs. And she’s in her early 20s, so she’s got time to resume her career.
Damon has only made one movie with Scorsese (The Departed), which Pesci wasn’t in. You may be thinking of The Good Shepherd, directed by Scorsese-regular Robert DeNiro but which Marty himself had nothing to do with.
Source: Gene Hackman - Wikipedia
My bad! I’m only a casual reader of his blog, and I wasn’t aware that he’s still taking parts.