# Forgettable, Mediocre Actors and Actresses Who Were Nevertheless Successful **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445 "2016-01-17T21:51:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/61 "2016-01-18T21:05:28Z")
Channing Tatumn has to be the poster boy for this. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/62 "2016-01-18T21:05:53Z")
I recently watched the movie **The Gift**. After it was over, I looked up the guy that played the villain (and who actually wrote and directed the movie) to see if he had ever written or directed before, convinced that I had never seen him act before. Not only had I seen about ten movies with him in them\*, he was in the movie **Black Mass** which I had just seen about two months previously. And I didn’t remember him at all. \*Uncle Owen in the Star Wars Prequels, Tom Buchanan in the DiCaprio remake of Great Gatsby, Ramses in that Exodus movie with Christian Bale, the dad in The Odd Life of Timothy Green, a soldier in Zero Dark Thirty, etc ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/63 "2016-01-18T22:45:16Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’d argue that Matthew Lillard is a memorable guy with genuine talent. Maybe you’re thinking of [Damian Lillard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Lillard). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/64 "2016-01-18T22:55:11Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I’d have to take issue with you on Melanie Griffith. Her Academy Award for best actress disqualifies her as mediocre and forgettable IMHO. She was nominated for an Oscar, but never won one. She got a Golden Globe for _Working Girl_, a movie I didn’t care for. I thought she was credible and solid in _Nobody’s Fool_, but she had far more flops than good movies. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/65 "2016-01-18T23:03:46Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I recently watched the movie **The Gift**. After it was over, I looked up the guy that played the villain (and who actually wrote and directed the movie) to see if he had ever written or directed before, convinced that I had never seen him act before. > > Not only had I seen about ten movies with him in them\*, he was in the movie **Black Mass** which I had just seen about two months previously. And I didn’t remember him at all. > \*Uncle Owen in the Star Wars Prequels, Tom Buchanan in the DiCaprio remake of Great Gatsby, Ramses in that Exodus movie with Christian Bale, the dad in The Odd Life of Timothy Green, a soldier in Zero Dark Thirty, etc Joel Edgerton, BTW ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/66 "2016-01-18T23:11:24Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’d argue that Matthew Lillard is a memorable guy with genuine talent. yeah, when I read his name I immediately connected him as the guy who played Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo movie, and he pretty much nailed it. A memorable performance. I can’t remember much else about him, or about the Scooby-Doo movie, but he does broad comedy just fine. I would never have thought of Freddie Prinze also being in the movie as the handsome Scooby, but he was there. Forgot about him. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/67 "2016-01-18T23:43:24Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > I think that is because she is kind of “quiet” in her personality. > > Another similar actress to this is Juliana Margoulies. Have to vehemently disagree with this. Unless you meant that her skill gets overlooked because of her demeanor. Margulies turns in very solid work on _The Good Wife_, and had some fantastic scenes as Carol Hathaway on _ER._ > [@salinqmind](#): > > Being a miserable old crank, I would say MOST of today’s crop are unremarkable in looks or talent. They are successful because they are in whatever is put out there for the public. Jennifers and Jessicas and Kates, all get mixed up in my feeble mind, as do all those musclebound bald action heroes and men in tights. Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Anniston, Natalie Portman…I realize I’m picking on the women here too much, but the men, I hardly remember their names. They are all OK, I guess. I just don’t get the enthusiastic groupies who rave over them. But, that’s the way it goes. After all, QVC and HSN make a mint selling cheap blue topaz - ‘look at that Londonderry Blue from our exclusive mine! For Valentines Day, anniversary, birthday, mothers day - she will love to get this fabulous ring.’ Yawn. Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper…OMG I forgot the KING: Channing Tatum! BLAH! Well, Natalie Portman is a Harvard grad who’s co-authored two papers in peer-reviewed journals, so she’s got something to fall back on if need be. I think she’s pretty good. She was probably the best actor in the Starbucks Wars prequels…though that’s a pretty low damned bar. > [@kunilou](#): > > Bill Paxton > > Remember him in Twister? No, you remember Helen Hunt and a lot of CGI. > > Remember him in Apollo 13? Just like his character, he was left behind. > > Remember him in Independence Day? Oh, wait. That was Bill Pullman! Nitpick - Paxton’s character wasn’t the one left on the ground. He played the lunar module pilot; Gary Sinise was the astronaut who was pulled from the mission. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/68 "2016-01-18T23:53:52Z")
> [@Salad\_Smell](#): > > The entire generation of late-nineties teen actors: Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard, Ethan Embry, Tara Reid, the entire casts of the “American Pie” movies, etc. It was a bumper crop of uniquely forgettable, uninteresting, no-talent bohacks that had a surprisingly long tail. I want to except Alyson Hannigan from that list. Her character had only one memorable scene/line, but she _ran_ with it. * * * January Jones. Why, oh why does this non-descript hack get work? She has ONE facial expression, vacuous with a side of constipated. She’s not even terribly pretty, and figure-wise, she’s a stick with boobs. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/69 "2016-01-19T00:16:41Z")
Who was the woman who played Captain Furillo’s wife on _Hill Street Blues_? Her. I’ve even seen her on other things too, but she’s not memorable enough for me to know her name and not interesting enough for me to look her up, Is there a better fit to the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/70 "2016-01-19T00:39:36Z")
Ooh, I have a good one – Michael Cera. He had a brief period of lead roles an seems to have retreated into complete obscurity. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/71 "2016-01-19T01:23:16Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Who was the woman who played Captain Furillo’s wife on _Hill Street Blues_? Her. I’ve even seen her on other things too, but she’s not memorable enough for me to know her name and not interesting enough for me to look her up, If you’re talking about Furillo’s love interest whom he married in a quickie ceremony before a judge, that would be Joyce Davenport played by Veronica Hamel. FWIW, I’ve always thought she was attractive, though not spectacularly so. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/72 "2016-01-19T01:41:18Z")
No, his wife at the start of the series ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/73 "2016-01-19T04:12:37Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I want to except Alyson Hannigan from that list. Her character had only one memorable scene/line, but she _ran_ with it. Not to mention, she’s known for playing Willow in Buffy and Lily in How I Met Your Mother. The rest of the cast are either only known for American Pie or, as is the purpose of this thread, actors who keep popping up but are never remembered. Though maybe add John Cho to the exceptions list, even if he’s just a minor character. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/74 "2016-01-19T12:32:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I looked up the guy that played the villain…convinced that I had never seen him act before… This is really the defining er, definition. I recently watched the Jude Law \*Alfie \*and halfway through he met up with a blond character and it took me several scenes before I realized it was Sienna Miller, despite knowing full well before the movie began that it was the role that brought her to prominence [sic]. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/75 "2016-01-19T16:51:40Z")
> [@DrForrester](#): > > Shatner - He can’t do it all - act, sing, dance. He’s had a powerful career for 60 years, for no particular reason. Shatner was perfectly good as James T. Kirk. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/76 "2016-01-19T17:07:50Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > No, his wife at the start of the series He was divorced at the start of the series, but Barbara Bosson played his ex-wife. In any case, it’s surprising how few of the cast of **Hill Street Blues** were successful afterwards. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/77 "2016-01-19T17:14:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > He was divorced at the start of the series, but Barbara Bosson played his ex-wife. In any case, it’s surprising how few of the cast of **Hill Street Blues** were successful afterwards. Barbara Bosson was married to HSB creator Steven Bochco, which may or may not have contributed to getting a lead role. In anty case, whatever chance she had at maintaining stardom was pretty much undone with the disaster known as [Cop Rock.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098772/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/78 "2016-01-19T17:37:28Z")
Geena Davis. My wife and I have marveled repeatedly at how good her agent must be. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/79 "2016-01-19T18:14:25Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Shatner was perfectly good as James T. Kirk. He was perfectly good as TJ Hooker, too. For that matter, in his earlier TV appearances on shows like _The Scary Door_, he was no worse than any of the other actors (e.g. James Franciscus, Robert Duval, Charles Bronson, et. al.) in their early appearances. Shatner did turn in some really so-bad-I have-to-look-away performances as a guest star on other people’s shows in the 1970’s. I recently watched the episode of _Columbo_ where he played a murderous actor. He wasn’t just bad. He was coked-to-the-gills bad. The thing is, every guest star on _Columbo_ (and similar shows) was that bad. Patrick Mcgoohan was, arguably, so bad that TV as a technology should have been scrapped lest something like his performance happen again. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/80 "2016-01-19T18:24:02Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > He was perfectly good as TJ Hooker, too. For that matter, in his earlier TV appearances on shows like _The Scary Door_, he was no worse than any of the other actors (e.g. James Franciscus, Robert Duval, Charles Bronson, et. al.) in their early appearances. Shatner did turn in some really so-bad-I have-to-look-away performances as a guest star on other people’s shows in the 1970’s. I recently watched the episode of _Columbo_ where he played a murderous actor. He wasn’t just bad. He was coked-to-the-gills bad. The thing is, every guest star on _Columbo_ (and similar shows) was that bad. Patrick Mcgoohan was, arguably, so bad that TV as a technology should have been scrapped lest something like his performance happen again. I’ve seem some good performances from Shatner in the **Naked City** , too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445.md?page=5)