Heard one of the ESPN talking-heads (Colin Cowherd) this week on the radio, talking about people who took years to find the right “fit” for them, and then they excelled at it. The only example I heard him discuss before I arrived to work, was Bill O’Reilly.
Say what you want about O’Reilly (personally, I think he seems like a douche), but you’ve gotta give him credit for finally finding what seems to be his “role” in life. After years of bouncing around local TV news, a stint on Inside Edition, etc., and now the guy’s got to be a multi-millionaire.
I was trying to think of a sports example, but the only one who came to mind was Steve Young - he bounced around the USFL for a couple of years, the lowly Buccaneers for a couple more, held a clipboard for Joe Montana for a few years, and then everything fell into his lap - and now you’d have to give him credit for being one of the top QB’s of the 90’s - and he’s in the Hall of Fame.
Any other examples come to mind of people who bounced around for years as “meh, they’re alright”, to all of a sudden - BAM! niche found, overnight-superstardom here we come?
I remember a documentary I once watched about David Bowie. Before Space Oddity, he had tried different characters with little success… he even released an album of songs for kids. And even after Oddity, which looked like a one hit wonder for him, it took him years to really make it with the Ziggy Stardust character.
Papa John Creach. Was a journeyman musician for most of his life, then, by chance, joined Hot Tuna at age 53 and because a minor rock star.
Scatman Crothers. He was a drummer in various house bands, and turned to acting in his early 40s. By the time he was in his 70s, he was a well-known face in TV and movies, and well-known voice in animated films.
Ted Nugent took over a decade to catch on. He started performing in 1958; his first solo album came in 1975.
Richard Farnsworth was acting much earlier in his career ( stuntman from 1937, acting credits starting in 1963 ), but also came to relative success in late middle-age.
Eh, isn’t the OPs idea pretty much the definition of the modern actor. They bum around scrapping together bit parts until a big break - or not. Like, 90% of actors fit the “bounced around” description.
Abe Vigoda didn’t have much of an acting career until he was 50 or 51. He auditioned for The Godfather, probably expecting to get a small role at best, and was cast in a major part. Then a few years later he got a role in the TV show Barney Miller:
The most interesting example in movies is the Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira. He began trying to make it in the film industry during the silent period. He didn’t really break through as a feature film director though until 1963. He has grandchildren in their forties who appear in his films. He’s now 105, and he’s still working:
Just to quote me from another thread, Jackie Earle Haley still stands out: he was a child actor best known for BAD NEWS BEARS; he was the right age to play second-banana when a twentysomething Dennis Quaid or Tom Cruise needed to excel in the leading-man “teen” role; he brought his pal along on a movie audition that worked out a heck of a lot better for ol’ Johnny Depp; he eventually found himself doing sitcom work and animation voice-overs and decided to call it a day.
A decade and change went by; as he puts it, “I was just working – driving a limousine and delivering pizzas. I was a security officer for a while. I was a furniture refinisher for a while – hated it. I just didn’t have the arms for it. I also hooked up with this videographer and started to crew for him. I would run sound, I learned how to grip. I even learned how to be a cameraman, all the time trying to get my own corporate video thing going.” And in his mid-40s he gets back into acting, and right off the bat his portrayal of a pedophile gets him an Oscar nomination, and suddenly he’s playing a costumed superhero and signing a multi-picture deal to star as Freddy Krueger.
He found his niche, but it was a long time getting there.
Lee Strasberg can’t really be called a late bloomer. His legacy will always mostly be as a teacher and director of the Actors Studio. But his screen acting all came in the last 8 years of his life.
Nielsen shows how fuzzy the definition of “late bloomer” is. He started acting at 22. He had a reasonably good career after that point. It wasn’t until he was 54 though that he was cast in the sort of role that he really fit best, and afterwards his roles were mostly the same sort of thing.
Elliott Carter started composing in his 20s but only found his own style with his Cello Sonata (age 40). One of the pieces that established him as a major composer was his Double Concerto for piano, harpsichord and 2 chamber orchestras (age 53). He wrote his first (and only) opera at 89 .
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