# Actors you were sure would make it big, and they didn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194 "2013-12-26T03:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/81 "2013-12-28T10:36:56Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > How about The Outsiders. > > Of the seven “Outsiders” the star of the movie, C. Thomas Howell, had the least impressive career, while the guy with the smallest role in the movie, atom Cruise, went on to be one of the biggest movie stars of all time. quark Cruise had an even smaller role. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/82 "2013-12-28T14:12:43Z")
Ha! So nerdy, but I laughed out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/83 "2013-12-28T14:59:33Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Matthew Mcconaughey. He is busy fixing that though. If he didn’t make it big, then I don’t know what definition of “big” we’re using here. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/84 "2013-12-29T05:53:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > My pick would be Bruce McGill. I remember seeing him back in _Animal House_ (playing D-Day) and thinking he’d be the guy who would go on to be a major star. But while he’s had a solid career he never rose out of the supporting level. D-Day was your choice for future success? Really? > [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Speaking of Animal House: Tom Hulce. What happened? An Oscar nomination? > [@AuntiePam](#): > > Viggo Mortenson, maybe? He’s had a couple starring roles since then, the horse movie and the one where he was nekkid. One of which got him an Oscar nominaton. I know Oscar noms don’t actually mean superstardom, but it’s still pretty big. > [@epbrown01](#): > > Like I said, he’s successful, but I wouldn’t say he’s the biggest action star right now for several reasons: I seriously doubt he’s getting $20m/picture plus points of the gross like the top guys do/did that indicates you’re bankable, he doesn’t have a franchise role like _Rambo_ or _The Terminator_, and I don’t think he’s even near the point where he can pick up a script, say “I want to do this” and everyone makes it happen, regardless of any misgivings. If he’s not the biggest action star who is? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/85 "2013-12-29T06:36:38Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > [A companion thread to this one about actors’ breakout roles](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711343). > > Christopher Jones from **Wild in the Streets** , 1968. Good looks and extreme charisma – I was sure he’d be a mega-star. IMDB’s bio cites a rocky childhood and personal problems. He hasn’t had steady work for years. How is he even supporting himself?? He left acting and turned down lucrative offers to return (including a couple from Tarantino) to concentrate on being an artist and dad. He took good care of the money he made from acting so he was financially independent. It was a totally voluntary choice he discussed in a few rare interviews, and his paintings are very respected. Stephen Dorff is one I thought would go A-List. He has talent, looks, and had some high profile well reviewed roles early on, but his highest profile gig in years has been e-cig commercials. Rupert Graves was one of the most beautiful teens/20-something’s ever and a decent actor. He should have been much bigger than the one note Hugh Grant. He still works in decent roles (most recognizably probably on _Sherlock_ and is still cute in his 40s but is no longer breathtaking and never became A-list. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/86 "2013-12-29T07:27:28Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > If he’s not the biggest action star who is? As mentioned earlier in the thread, I’d put Vin Diesel and Jason Statham ahead of him. To be a _top_ action star you need a franchise (ideally more than one), a production company, and top money. Diesel makes as much, has at least two franchises (F&F, Riddick, and I suspect he could get another XXX made if he chose), and a successful production company with music and game subsidiaries. Jason Statham gets the bucks, has the franchises (Transporter, Crank, there could be another Parker in the offing), and is associated with the Expendables franchise, but isn’t producing his own films yet (and likely won’t - the Brits don’t seem to). Johnson is still a hired gun - no franchises and a failed production company (run by his ex). The guys 20 years ahead of them that you could name (Arnie, Stallone, Willis) have/had all these elements, though I think Willis is working more as a hired gun now; his production company produced Die Hard 5 but not 6, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/87 "2013-12-29T07:41:03Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Stephen Dorff is one I thought would go A-List. **He has talent,** looks, and had some high profile well reviewed roles early on, but his highest profile gig in years has been e-cig commercials. Has he? No range, from what I’ve seen. Always playing the same “too cool for school” character. Then again, same thing could be said of some A-Listers. Speaking of good looks, a few years back it looked like _That thing you do_ actor Johnathon Schaech was going to hit it big. It never happened. Same could be said about Tom Everett Scott, come to think about it. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/88 "2013-12-29T08:37:19Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > quark Cruise had an even smaller role. D 'oh! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/89 "2013-12-29T11:07:32Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Harry Hamlin was big in “LA Law”. > he hasn’t been big since then. He’s on Mad Men, or at least he was last season. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/90 "2013-12-29T17:22:56Z")
Edward Furlong, the kid from Terminator 2. I thought with his looks and intensity, he would become a modern day James Dean. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/91 "2013-12-29T17:26:34Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > You mean Betty Thomas, of course, who has gone on to direct movies (The Brady Bunch Movie, etc.). Yup. Your username was appropriate forms when I made the post. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/92 "2013-12-29T17:53:36Z")
Re Viggo Mortenson: > [@Yookeroo](#): > > One of which got him an Oscar nominaton. > > I know Oscar noms don’t actually mean superstardom, but it’s still pretty big. I concur. I do consider him “big”. I suggested him in response to a post asking whether any of the LotR stars had made it big. I don’t know what Mortenson did before LotR, but it’s the first time I noticed him, and he made an impression. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/93 "2013-12-29T19:03:12Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I concur. I do consider him “big”. I suggested him in response to a post asking whether any of the LotR stars had made it big. I don’t know what Mortenson did before LotR, but it’s the first time I noticed him, and he made an impression. I first remember him as the SEAL instructor from _G.I. Jane_ and as Lucifer in _The Prophecy_, and then realized he was one of the Amish guys in _Witness_. So glad they went with him as Aragorn instead of the wimpy looking Stuart Townsend (who doesn’t seem to make an impression, since I’ve seen some movies he’s apparently been in, but I can only recall him in _The Queen of the Damned_ and _The League of Extraordinary Gentleman_). ETA: And _TQotD_ and _TLoEG_ don’t deserve repeat viewing. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/94 "2013-12-29T19:05:23Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I concur. I do consider him “big”. I suggested him in response to a post asking whether any of the LotR stars had made it big. I don’t know what Mortenson did before LotR, but it’s the first time I noticed him, and he made an impression. I still think of him as Lucifer from [The Prophecy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114194/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_32). Man I loved that movie, and Mortensen was a great Satan. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/95 "2013-12-29T19:22:48Z")
Dana Olsen from “Making the Grade”…he’s Heeeelarious. He’s got all of Tim Matheson’s smarmy charm, and very good comic timing. Then he got almost nothing. Julianna Rose Maurirello from “Lazytown”. I mean, I’m sure she gets work, but I thought she’d at least have the profile of Miranda Cosgrove. Sorry, I missed the opposite of this thread. Ashley Judd in her ST:NG appearance made most of the cast look like third-graders. I knew she’d be big. another similar thread would be “What the??..what happened? I mean where did you go and why did you stop working?” The poster child would be Deborah Foreman. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/96 "2013-12-29T21:41:16Z")
I’m not sure what definition of “big” some of you are using. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/97 "2013-12-29T22:00:57Z")
**Erin Grey** –played in the TV show _Buck Rogers_–unbelievably hot. But few roles later. And\*\* Mary Tyler Moore\*\* should have had a better career. True, 2 great TV classic series, that went on for years. But every movie role she got was in a picture that turned out to be a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/98 "2013-12-29T22:25:07Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > **Erin Grey** –played in the TV show _Buck Rogers_–unbelievably hot. But few roles later. > > And\*\* Mary Tyler Moore\*\* should have had a better career. True, 2 great TV classic series, that went on for years. But every movie role she got was in a picture that turned out to be a dog. The only movie I can think featuring her is Ordinary People which was quite a success. which leads us to maybe Timothy Hutton as a candidate for this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/99 "2013-12-29T22:28:05Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m not sure what definition of “big” some of you are using. 😕 I don’t know but I think the aforementioned Clancy Brown has been big enough. Not only is he iconic in Highlander and Shawshank Redemption, has a nice role in Starship Troopers and all the voice work…he’s got to be one of the most universally liked actors around. I’ve never heard of anyone who doesn’t like Clancy Brown. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/100 "2013-12-29T22:55:17Z")
It’s a thankless supporting-actor role, but look at everything Thomas F. Wilson (a) got asked to do, and (b) completely _nailed,_ in the BACK TO THE FUTURE films. Heck, just look at what he’s called on to do in BTTF II alone: he’s convincing as the stooped and bitter seventysomething growling at his dimwitted-but-cocky teen self to spark a change from _“George McFly’s emasculated houseboy”_ to the exposition-heavy role of _“sneering blackmailer with lots of money and a ready gun”_ – and danged if he isn’t always an expressive guy with good comic timing throughout. Back then, I wouldn’t have guessed his IMDB since: he’s the coach, he’s the cop, he’s the coach, he’s the cop, he’s the coach, he’s the cop, he’s the coach, he’s the cop… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194.md?page=6)