If anybody is going to argue that biggest fame and fortune simply means salary + ticket sales, then hell, most actors would qualify. Worldwide population increase plus increasing global distribution, plus inflation, means actors today are paid more and seen more.
Consider Harrison Ford. He was 35 when he did Star Wars, and that was undoubtedly his breakthrough role. It was not, however, his highest paid at $650,000. He didn’t start getting $20,000,000 paychecks until The Devil’s Own, which is “late” for our purposes. But you’d be silly to think he qualified for the thread.
Now consider Alec Guinness. He was 63 when Star Wars came out, and it was one of his highest-paying roles and his most famous — however, he received less than a quarter of what Ford was paid ($150,000 + 2%). He shouldn’t qualify for this thread either; he was cast in Star Wars precisely because he was already famous.
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow]
If you define “coming late” as how close to the end it came, I don’t think anyone can top John Cazale.
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That wasn’t fame coming late, it was death coming early.
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
I remember wondering once if he had ever been young, because I didn’t remember ever seeing an old movie or TV show in which he didn’t look 80. Turned out there’s a good reason: he didn’t begin acting until he was 67!
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Chief Dan George- he was a construction worker, loading dock worker, bus driver, and a variety of other jobs before getting occasional work in western TV shows in his 60s. His his great fame came with Little Big Man. It was his first major role (though not his last), he was 71 when it premiered, and he was (deservedly so) nominated for an Oscar.
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