# Cinema's Greatest One Hit Wonders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057 "2006-02-12T00:53:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/1 "2006-02-12T00:53:13Z")
Alright, this has to be defined first. Let’s say that actors / actresses who had a significant / major role in a picture and seemed on the verge of a break out but then whose potential never was realized. Doesn’t mean that they never played in another film nor even had a significant part in another movie but they didn’t reach that which everyone expected of them. O.K., for starters let’s go with \*\*Louise Fletcher \*\* of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Memorable to say the least and she won the freaking Oscar and then never was heard from again. I know she was in some bizarro horror, Martian-invasion film but her career never did materialize. At all. Choices number two, the supporting roles from Ferris Beuller. Sloan and Cameron (I don’t even know their real names –(AND NO IMDB’ing IN THIS THREAD) looked both like up and comers. I don’t recall ever seeing the girl again though she did a great job with Matthew Broderick and I know that the guy who played Cameron –who was like 30 at the time, right?- also was in Twister and Speed but didn’t seem to rise to the next level. O.K., that’s it for starters. Let’s say that success in TV land doesn’t count. What other One Hit Wonders movie style deserve to be on the list? ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/2 "2006-02-12T01:14:02Z")
**Derrel Maury** – Star of 1976’s _Massacre at Central High_ . Poised for breakout stardom, never got another starring role. **Rue McClanahan** – Starred in _The Rotten Apple_ in 1963 and was being touted as the next Marilyn Monroe (or at least Jayne Mansfield). Movie fame eluded her (though her TV celebrity speaks for itself). **Mark Lester** --Title role in _Oliver!_ in 1968; seldom seen since. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/3 "2006-02-12T01:15:54Z")
**Charlotte Burke** - Starred in the British psychological horror, _Paperhouse_. Never did anything else, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/4 "2006-02-12T01:19:29Z")
> [@want2know](#): > > **Mark Lester** --Title role in _Oliver!_ in 1968; seldom seen since. In that same vein, **Jack Wild** , who played The Artful Dodger in the same film and was poised to ride the crest of a major Teen/Seventeen/Tiger Beat wave of teeny-bopper idoldom, didn’t appear in a MAJOR motion picture in ANY role until Costner’s _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_, and then in a decidedly minor role. Can’t tell whether his time as a member of the H.R. Pufnstuf cast had anything to do with that or not… ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/5 "2006-02-12T01:28:55Z")
\*\*Carrie Snodgrass: \*\*She received an Oscar nomination for the title role in _Diary of a Mad Housewife_, 1970, but has never been anything but adequate since then. Usually she’s terrible. **Theresa Russell:** One of the worst actresses to draw breath, but she gave a stunning performance in _Straight Time_, 1978. \*\*Jaye Davidson: \*\*He owned _The Crying Game_, 1992, and received an Oscar nomination for his performance, but has been nothing but a joke ever since. **Crissy Rock:** One of the greatest performances ever captured on film was Crissy’s lead in _Ladybird Ladybird_, 1994. She’s done nothing of note since. **Bjork:** Her performance in _Dancer in the Dark_, 2000, is one of the most overwhelming and powerful performances of the last decade. She’s sworn she’ll never do another movie. And the greatest one hit wonder of all time, **Maria Falconetti**. Her performance as Joan in _The Passion of Joan of Arc_, 1927, is considered by some (me included) as quite possibly the single greatest acting performance in the history of film. Her only film. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/6 "2006-02-12T01:40:59Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > \*\*Carrie Snodgrass: \*\*She received an Oscar nomination for the title role in _Diary of a Mad Housewife_, 1970, but has never been anything but adequate since then. Usually she’s terrible. [And dead, moreover](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0811202/) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/7 "2006-02-12T01:59:40Z")
The “Ferris Bueller” actors you were thinking of are Alan Ruck and Mia Sara. They’ve both been working relatively steadily, although not as big stars. No, I did not look them up in IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/8 "2006-02-12T02:04:59Z")
I was thinking about Karen (Lynn?) Gorney the other day – she went from a role in “All My Children” to the female lead in _Saturday Night Fever_ to … nothing, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/9 "2006-02-12T02:06:55Z")
I hate to say this… But wouldn’t **Mark Hamill** and **Carrie Fisher** fall into this category? Sure, they’ve both kept busy. Acting on stage and in movies and (for Fisher) writing and such. But for a while they were some of the biggest things around. Part of a worldwide phenomenon that swept the world for six years. Then she was in The Blues Brothers and he was in The Big Red One but overall ‘movie stardom’ eluded them. Harrison Ford was the one of the big three who acheived true superstardom from those years. Admittedly, I think in Fisher’s case, having been raised to it she was less interested than Hamill (at least that’s the read I get). ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/10 "2006-02-12T02:14:41Z")
**Peter Ostrum**. I’m not sure I’ve got the name right; I mean the kid who played Charlie in the original _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_. As I recall, and without IMDb, that was his only film. He apparently decided he wasn’t interested in a film career and got a real job; did I read that he’s now a veterinarian? One could probably make an argument for post-_Home Alone_ **Macaulay Culkin** as well. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/11 "2006-02-12T02:25:35Z")
**Tom Hulce** - Nominated for an Oscar for Amadeus, hasn’t don’t anything of note after that. StG ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/12 "2006-02-12T02:29:27Z")
Klinton Spilsbury starred as the title role in **The Legend of the Lone Ranger**. It was to be his only involvement in a movie in any way. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/13 "2006-02-12T02:30:39Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > **Peter Ostrum**. I’m not sure I’ve got the name right; I mean the kid who played Charlie in the original _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_. As I recall, and without IMDb, that was his only film. He apparently decided he wasn’t interested in a film career and got a real job; did I read that he’s now a veterinarian? If you read it, you read correctly. Not a small-animal vet, either, but a James Herriott-style farm vet. They featured him in VH-1’s “100 Greatest Kid Stars” and he was also interviewed for the [Journal of the American Veterinary Association](http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/nov00/s110100g.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/14 "2006-02-12T02:32:22Z")
Their careers aren’t over yet, but I wouldn’t say Oscar winners **Marisa Tomei** and **Mira Sorvino** have shot into superstardom yet. And going back a few decades, look at **Shirley Jones**. Lead roles in three high-visibility musicals, an Academy Award for a dramatic role… and then, Shirley Partridge. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/15 "2006-02-12T02:34:09Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > The “Ferris Bueller” actors you were thinking of are Alan Ruck and Mia Sara. They’ve both been working relatively steadily, although not as big stars. Post-_Bueller_, Alan Ruck’s most famous work was probably as a regular on _Spin City_. He didn’t get top billing, obviously, but that show lasted for a pretty long time and was quite successful. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/16 "2006-02-12T02:34:11Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > The “Ferris Bueller” actors you were thinking of are Alan Ruck and Mia Sara. They’ve both been working relatively steadily, although not as big stars. > > No, I did not look them up in IMDB. Mia Sara…I just saw that name on a movie box today, but I can’t remember which one. I remember thinking I’d never heard the name before. This no-IMDBing rule is killing me! Speaking of child actors, through one of those random web-surfing things I yesterday learned that the kid who played Michael Banks in “Mary Poppins” died from some mysterious illness he contracted in India at the age of 21. There were virtually no obituaries about it at the time, and the Disney company didn’t even know he was dead for years after the fact. On the other hand, I know he was in more than just “Mary Poppins,” so maybe he doesn’t count. > [@minlokwat](#): > > Doesn’t mean that they never played in another film nor even had a significant part in another movie but they didn’t reach that which everyone expected of them. Does that mean they’re disqualified if they did, in fact, only make one movie? Renee Falconetti’s performance in “The Passion of Joan of Arc” has been called one of the greatest in history, but I believe it was her only screen role. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/17 "2006-02-12T02:34:39Z")
Paul Le Mat. Two lovely bits in _American Grafitti_ and _Melvin and Howard_ and then endless crap although he added a second Golden Globe for the TV movie _The Burning Bed_ then back to oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/18 "2006-02-12T02:44:14Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > **Tom Hulce** - Nominated for an Oscar for Amadeus, hasn’t don’t anything of note after that. > > StG He’ll always be \*\*Pinto \*\* from Animal House to me. So at least he had 2 highlights in his career. \*\*Carrie Fisher \*\* was great in Blues Brothers, Under the Rainbow, Great small role in Jay and Silent Bob Strike back as a nun. The Tom Hanks movie Man with one Red Shoe and she wrote Postcards from the Edge. Oh, she was good in when Harry met Sally too. Not a terrible career. She may have been the second funniest character in Blues Brothers and that is high praise indeed from me. (all from Memory only, so hopefully the titles are right). \*\*Diane Franklin \*\* had made a good start of a career with Last American Virgin and Better off Dead, what happened to her after this? **Deborah Foreman** made and even better start with Valley Girl, My Chauffeur, Waxworks and April Fool’s day (dual road playing her own evil twin) and I never saw her again. Jim ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/19 "2006-02-12T02:48:02Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > In that same vein, **Jack Wild** , who played The Artful Dodger in the same film and was poised to ride the crest of a major Teen/Seventeen/Tiger Beat wave of teeny-bopper idoldom, didn’t appear in a MAJOR motion picture in ANY role until Costner’s _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_, and then in a decidedly minor role. > > Can’t tell whether his time as a member of the H.R. Pufnstuf cast had anything to do with that or not… [Jack Wild](http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/where_are_they_now/42005) had a few subsequent movies to his credit, but nothing big. He also struggled with alcoholism before becoming a born again Christian. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057/20 "2006-02-12T02:49:05Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > He’ll always be \*\*Pinto \*\* from Animal House to me. So at least he had 2 highlights in his career. Three. He also voiced Quasimodo in Disney’s _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinemas-greatest-one-hit-wonders/344057.md?page=2)