Probably not a new topic, biut I’m not sure how to phrase the search.
What actors or actresses were truly on the brink of or had the true potential of being the next Bogart, Tracy, Newman, Hanks, the next Colbert, Bergman, Hepburn (K or A) (or the Television equivalents thereof) but then, for whatever reason, lost it all, chose too many bad roles, fell out of favor, and became relegated to Lifetime MOW’s, and occasional guest-turns on the latest CSI or Homicide on the Streets spin-off (or whatever the hell these shows are called)? And, ftr, acting is acting, if you can make a living at it, bravo.
As I think it takes a good ten years for a career to truly “tank,” let’s try to add some perspective by naming actors who peaked around 1994 or before.
For a long time I feared that Ed Harris was going to fall into this “almost, but no cigar” category. I had admired his work for a long time before his name became synonymous with good supporting acting.
In the mid-90s I thought an actress named Megan Gallagher was going to become a television superstar, but nowadays, I’m not so sure.
Your choices?
Sir Rhosis
My choices of big names reflect only my tastes, I left off many who are no doubt finer actors in all regards.
Rutger Hauer. After his fantastic (IMHO) work in Bladerunner, I expected him to hit it really big. Instead, he ended up in a bunch of “Movies that HBO will only show late Saturday night/early Sunday morning” movies.
Perhaps a “kiss of death” indicator would be referring to an actor just starting out as ‘The New James Dean’. I believe each of these actors at one time or another was given that dubious distinction:
Geoffrey Horne
Lee Kinsolving
Christopher Jones
Michael Parks
Each of those 4 showed early promise but I’m sure the majority of you are saying “Who ???”.
Bruce Campbell. He had everything an action hero type could wannabe. I have no idea why he isn’t Action Hero Number One. It sure can’t be unwillingness to appear in a movie with a dumb script.
Lucy Lawless. After Xena she hasn’t done a hell of a lot. What, no roles for kickass babes who really look like they can kick ass? Or is she turning those roles down in droves? Even more to the point, Renee O’Conner … she was great in Xena, she’s had virtually no work since Xena – according the IMDB, a short film and currently in production on a role Lawless turned down.
David Rasche. He showed up a while back in an episode of Monk, but mostly has been spending his time starring in very forgettable movies. I mean, just look at this pile of junk. Talk about a one-hit wonder actor. Either the guy had the world’s worst agent, or couldn’t spot a decent script to save his life.
Kel Mitchell. Nickelodeon’s *Keenan and Kel * show was kind of crappy, but Kel showed he has excellent comic timing, and I really thought he’d go farther than he has.
Kel Mitchell. Nickelodeon’s *Keenan and Kel * show was kind of crappy, but Kel showed he has excellent comic timing, and I really thought he’d go farther than he has.
Edward Norton. Sure, he’s a Name and is definitely known to a good chunk of the public, but he’s nowhere near the same class as, say, Tom Cruise or Johnny Depp. But he should be. He should be what Jude Law is rapidly becoming. Not that he still can’t, but it’s just surprising that he hasn’t already.
He was also in a commercial for laundry detergent in the mid-'80s in NZ, where Sledgehammer was really popular - I’m pretty sure the ad was NZ only. He was, as far as I can recall, in a couple of Telethons here around the same time.
I used to love that show. In one episode he busted some perp, realised he had to be somewhere else fast, and handcuffed the guy to a car with instructions to “Beat yourself up!”
Chris O’Donnell seemed to be getting huge, then dropped off the face of the earth.
My big one, though, is Ryan Phillippe. He was just blowing up as the new it-boy in the late nineties, then completely vanished off the face of the earth.
I think that some of these guys are too “character actor” and I never thought they’d make it big. (I have a pretty decent—but not infallable—instinct for future stars. I pegged Jim Carrey and a whole lot of others I can’t even recall now as “stars” long before they were.) I never saw David Rasche as big star material, even though he’s great. Supporting character actor, sure, but not superstardom.
The one that I though would go places was Jeffrey Osterhage. (He was often in Louis L’Amour TV movies, playing the brother that wasn’t Tom Selleck or Sam Elliot.) Maybe he wouldn’t have been big on the big screen, but certainly, I thought, on TV. But he didn’t. Big disappointment. (I guess he wasn’t that good of an actor, but still, I was disappointed. He had the looks.)