# Actors who surprise you by the brevity of their career **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772 "2011-06-24T22:58:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 25, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/21 "2011-06-25T09:10:19Z")
Jon Paul Steuer had a pretty busy career until he left **Grace Under Fire** (a drunk Brett Butler reportedly flashed him and he was yanked off the set and out of show business). He had also played Worf’s son Alexander on **ST:TNG** and been in a few movies (including **Little Giants** , also featuring Sam Horrigan, the kid who replaced him as Quentin on Grace Under Fire). Seven young actors played Grace’s four kids over the years–including the ubiquitous Dylan and Cole Sprouse–and all but Steuer are still busy acting. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/22 "2011-06-25T10:16:21Z")
I wonder why [Carrie Henn](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001343/) never got more work. She was Newt in the movie Aliens, she never did any other acting after that. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/23 "2011-06-25T10:19:56Z")
Shia Labeouf. Oh, wait…dammit. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/24 "2011-06-25T11:03:36Z")
Chris Atkins. He starred alongside Brooke Shields in “The Blue Lagoon”. After that, he faded out. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/25 "2011-06-25T12:13:46Z")
Does Roger Rabbit count? You would figure after the success both critically and financially, they would have a number of sequels some 20 years later. But all there is was one cartoon short. How about Carrie Snodgress? She was nominated for Oscar/Golden Globe for the early 1970s movie “Diary of a Mad Housewife” (which is not available on DVD). But she got involved with Neil Young, had a son Zeke with cerebral palsy, dropped out of the business for a while When Sylvester Stallone was casting for “Rocky” he wanted her to play Adrian. She refused, saying there wasn’t enough money. Deanna Durbin was a very popular singing and film star in the late thirties thru mid 40s. But some of her attempts to play a more sophisticated role fail, she left the business at age 29 to get married (third time) and resisted every offer and all interview requests save one in the 60 years since. Durbin is mentioned in the Tom Lehrer song “Whatever became of Hubert Humphrey”? He had several comedy records in the mid 60s that were popular with more intellectual audiences but quit. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/26 "2011-06-25T13:02:03Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Does Roger Rabbit count? You would figure after the success both critically and financially, they would have a number of sequels some 20 years later. But all there is was one cartoon short. IIRC, the Warner Bros. catalogue of characters was not available for a second movie, and these were rather key to the success of the film. Marvel Comics actually produced a graphic novel adapting the movie, sans any of the Disney, Warner or other guest cartoon characters. The few people who bought it don’t remember it fondly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/27 "2011-06-25T15:26:17Z")
I wouldn’t be too hard on those who eschew a career in show business-sure there may be megabucks to be had, but you also sacrifice a lot to get there (starting with your privacy). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/28 "2011-06-25T15:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Does Roger Rabbit count? You would figure after the success both critically and financially, they would have a number of sequels some 20 years later. But all there is was one cartoon short. There were three cartoon shorts, and the graphic novel **krokdil** mentioned. I should also mention the sequel novel \*\* Who Plugged Roger Rabbit\*\* that Gary Wolf, author of the original novel, wrote (the sequel goes more with the film that the original novel). Reportedly, Spielberg wanted to make a sequel, but it wasn’t possible to get everyone to agree. I’m amazed that they ever got all those characters from different companies together in the first place. It wasn’t just Warner Brothers – Betty Boop and Woody Woodpecker were in there, too. Wikipedi has this to say: > [@](#): > > With the critical and financial success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Walt Disney Pictures and Steven Spielberg felt it was obvious to plan a second installment. Nat Mauldin wrote a prequel titled Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon, set in 1941. Similar to the previous film, Toon Platoon featured many cameo appearances with characters from the golden Age of American animation. It began with Roger Rabbit’s early years, living on a farm in the Midwestern United States.[27] With human Richie Davenport, Roger travels west to seek his mother, in the process meeting Jessica Krupnick (his future wife), a struggling Hollywood actress. Jessica is kidnapped and forced to make pro-Nazi Germany broadcasts, thus Roger and Ritchie must save her by going into Nazi-occupied Europe. After their triumph, Roger and Ritchie are given a Hollywood Boulevard parade, and Roger is finally reunited with his mother, and father: Bugs Bunny.[27] The film would have gone direct-to-video.[39] > > Mauldin later retitled the script Who Discovered Roger Rabbit. Spielberg left the project when deciding he could not satirize Nazis after directing Schindler’s List.[40][41] Michael Eisner commissioned a rewrite in 1997 with Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver. Although they kept Roger’s search for his mother, Stoner and Oliver changed the story to Roger’s inadvertent rise to stardom on Broadway and Hollywood. Disney was impressed and Alan Menken was hired to write five songs for the film and offered his services as executive producer.[41] One of the songs, “This Only Happens in the Movies”, was recorded in 2008 on the debut album of Broadway actress Kerry Butler.[42] Eric Goldberg was set to be the new animation director, and began to redesign Roger’s new character appearance.[41] > > Spielberg had no interest with the project because he was establishing DreamWorks, although Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy decided to stay on as producers. Test footage for Who Discovered Roger Rabbit was shot sometime in 1998 at the Disney animation unit in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; the results were an unwieldy mix of CGI, traditional animation and live-action that did not please Disney. A second test had the Toons completely converted to CGI; but this was dropped as the film’s projected budget escalated well past $100 million. Eisner felt it was best to cancel the film.[41] In March 2003, producer Don Hahn said “don’t expect a Roger Rabbit sequel anytime soon. Animation today is completely conquered by computers, and traditional animation just isn’t the forefront anymore.”[43] > > In December 2007, Marshall admitted he was still “open” to the idea,[44] and in April 2009, Zemeckis revealed he was still interested.[45] It is said that the original writers, Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman are currently writing a new script for the project. It is also said that the cartoon characters will be in traditional 2D, while the rest will be in performance capture.[46] However, in 2010, Zemeckis said that the sequel will remain 2D and live-action sequences will be filmed, just like in the original film, but the lighting effects on the cartoon characters and some of the props that the toons handle shall be done digitally.[47] Also in 2010, Don Hahn, who was the film’s original associate producer, confirmed the sequel’s development in an interview with Empire magazine. He stated, "Yeah, I couldn’t possibly comment. I deny completely, but yeah… if you’re a fan, pretty soon you’re going to be very, very, very happy”[48] At first, Bob Hoskins claimed he would not be reprising his role as Eddie Valiant, because he said in an interview: “In order to act with cartoons, you got to be able to bounce off the walls like a cartoon. I’m too old for that now.”[49] However, Hoskins later changed his mind and said that “I’m 67 years old; I’ll look like a cartoon at that point. If they do it, I’m in”. [50] > **[Who Framed Roger Rabbit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit)** > > Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf. The film stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Stubby Kaye, and Joanna Cassidy, along with the voices of Charles Fleischer and an uncredited Kathleen Turner. Combining live-action and animation, the film is set in an alternative history Hollywood in 1947, wher... ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/29 "2011-06-25T15:56:39Z")
Savion Glover. Scored freakin’ big time in Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk, has done very little since. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/30 "2011-06-25T16:11:13Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I wonder why [Carrie Henn](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001343/) never got more work. She was Newt in the movie Aliens, she never did any other acting after that. That was discussed in one of the commentary tracks on Aliens. She and her parents just decided not to pursue acting. Also, Carrie was on one of the other tracks and mentions that to this day she gets teased by friends about the “they mostly come out at night, mostly” line. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/31 "2011-06-25T16:23:20Z")
How about Chris Tucker? From '98 on, he’s only bothered with three enjoyable blockbusters: RUSH HOUR, and RUSH HOUR II, and RUSH HOUR III. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/32 "2011-06-25T16:23:35Z")
The one who springs to mind is [John Cazale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cazale), who appeared in just 5 films before his death, each of which was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. He’s probably the great unsung actor of the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/33 "2011-06-25T16:27:42Z")
I would say that Mark Hamill would count in my opinion, as after staring in three of the biggest movies of all time, he never followed up with any major roles of note, certainly nothing close to the caliber of the Star Wars movies. (That doesn’t mean that he NEVER acted again, but realistically, he was a huge star from the SW trilogy, and then…) ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/34 "2011-06-25T16:28:05Z")
Danny Lloyd, who played Jack Nicholson’s son in “The Shining.” He did one other movie afterward and then pretty much disappeared. Interestingly, according to his IMDB page, Stanley Kubrick was pretty protective of him on set, and he didn’t even know it was a horror movie until he saw it a couple of years later. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/35 "2011-06-25T16:29:17Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I would say that Mark Hamill would count in my opinion, as after staring in three of the biggest movies of all time, he never followed up with any major roles of note, certainly nothing close to the caliber of the Star Wars movies. > > (That doesn’t mean that he NEVER acted again, but realistically, he was a huge star from the SW trilogy, and then…) He’s had a pretty successful voiceover career, and is probably one of the biggest stars in that field. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/36 "2011-06-25T17:20:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Mia Sara](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000214/) and [Claudia Wells](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0920148/) > [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Phoebe Cates and Pam Dawber both should have plied their craft more than they did. Mia Sara and Phoebe Cates both cut back on their acting roles because they wanted to spend more times with their families. > [@elfkin477](#): > > And Daryl Hannah and Minnie Driver and…what the hell happened to Leelee Sobieski? For a brief time she was an it-girl, and lately, just like Daryl and Minnie, you’ve never heard of 75% of the movies she’s in. Daryl Hannah is apparently crazy. I’m sure we’ve all heard the Catwoman story dozens of times by now. But Leelee Sobieski is an interesting case. She was NEVER a big star and most of the movies she’s been in are either terrible (The Wicker Man, 88 Minutes) or B-grade cheeseball stuff that’s pretty fun (Joy Ride, Deep Impact, Night Train). Basically, she was hyped to the heavens because she appeared in her underwear in Eyes Wide Shut making “Fuck me” eyes at Tom Cruise. Oh yeah, she was 13 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/37 "2011-06-25T17:37:49Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Daryl Hannah is apparently crazy. I’m sure we’ve all heard the Catwoman story dozens of times by now. That was Sean Young. Daryl Hannah had a relatively successful career: a fairly big star throughout the 80’s, fewer roles in the 90’s, a minor comeback with the Kill Bill films, and now she’s pretty much where you’d expect a rather mediocre actress who’s passed the age of 50: doing B movies and TV films. A more or less typical career arc. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/38 "2011-06-25T18:05:16Z")
Michael O’Keefe also had a regular role on _Roseanne_ as Laurie Metcalf’s husband. He was married to Bonnie Raitt for a while as well. Bridget Fonda is an actress whose career seemed to get abrubtly abbreviated. Her career was going strong, she was getting a lot of work in big movies (and doing _good_ work), then she just vanished off the face of the earth. The last thing I remember her being in was _Jackie Brown_. I don’t think her career was waning or anything, and she hadn’t aged out. It was like she just decide to quit the business. Too bad, because she was a really appealing actress. She had that hot but approachable vibe to her. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/39 "2011-06-25T18:06:19Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Michael O’Keefe also had a regular role on _Roseanne_ as Laurie Metcalf’s husband. Which prompted John Goodman to bounce a basketball off his head while riffing on SANTINI. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/40 "2011-06-25T18:09:26Z")
I’m disappointed that Hayley Mills didn’t keep making movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772.md?page=3)