# 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:** 5
**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, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/81 "2016-01-19T18:28:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > 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. I stand corrected. Still, there are only five nominees in any given year. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/82 "2016-01-19T18:30:12Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Geena Davis. My wife and I have marveled repeatedly at how good her agent must be. I always confuse her with the equally forgettable Minnie Driver. Took me ages to remember her name too - eventually found her using the search term “english actress square face” because I couldn’t remember anything she’s been in. Turns out she was in: Good Will Hunting Goldeneye Grosse Pointe Blank Sleepers Hard Rain Which surprised the hell out of me. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/83 "2016-01-19T18:39:42Z")
> [@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. But he was _supposed_ to be a hammy actor in that one: a man so overdramatic, he refers to himself in the third person while in character as his TV-show-sleuth persona helping to solve the very murder he committed: he’s playful and he’s vain and he’ll say something unconvincing and _call himself out for saying something unconvincing,_ and he’ll explain away incriminating evidence and thank the appeased investigator for sounding like he meant it – the one thing he’s _not_ is forgettable. (Plus, I figure he deserved all those awards playing Denny Crane: an over-the-top and eccentric self-promoter of a showman whose every stunt may or may not reflect that he’s sinking into dementia? He’s memorable, and _perfect,_ in the role.) ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/84 "2016-01-19T19:08:02Z")
I would nominate Larry Hagman-a pretty mediocre actor who always seemed to find work. His role as “JR” made him millions. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/85 "2016-01-19T19:12:45Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Jennifer Tilly > > Melanie Griffith > > While they both had one or two roles where they didn’t completely suck, they practically define mediocre-but-successful. Have to disagree on Jennifer Tilly. I don’t know what it is about her…but she grabs my attention every time I see her. Melanie Griffith on the other hand…I can’t tell you one movie she’s been in because I can’t be sure if it is her or Meg Ryan…who is equally as forgettable. In the same mind of thought as Meg Griffith and Melanie Ryan, I could have sworn that Michael Cera played Zuckerberg in The Social Network. Nope. Apparently the guy that played Zuckerberg is also in the Superman vs Batman movie. In the trailer I was very happy for Dr Spencer Reid that he was in a big movie. OK so it’s not him either. I looked the actor up after seeing the trailer because I thought the “Clark Kent meet Bruce Wayne” portion was so bad it made me almost not want to see the movie. Still can’t remember his name. ---
**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, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/86 "2016-01-19T19:16:19Z")
> [@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. :smack: You’re right. She was always barging in on him at work as if they were still married. ---
**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, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/87 "2016-01-19T20:13:52Z")
> [@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. I remember that Columbo. It was horrible. I disagree that every guest star was bad, but a lot of them were truly awful. Still, Shatner, no matter what you think of him, is not what the OP is looking for because he sure as hell is not forgettable. He’s so iconic and famous they got another mediocre actor to spoof him in a really good movie that spoofed the Star Trek phenomenon. ---
**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 19, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/88 "2016-01-19T20:57:17Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > I always confuse her with the equally forgettable Minnie Driver. Took me ages to remember her name too - eventually found her using the search term “english actress square face” because I couldn’t remember anything she’s been in. Turns out she was in: > > Good Will Hunting > Goldeneye > Grosse Pointe Blank > Sleepers > Hard Rain > > Which surprised the hell out of me. Also a couple of rom-coms: the forgettable _Return To Me_, opposite David Duchovny (she plays a transplant recipient who gets the heart of Duchovny’s beloved wife; they meet and fall in love, natch); and the slightly better _Circle Of Friends_, a dramatization of a Maeve Binchy novel, opposite a young Chris O’Donnell. Jeeze, do I need to get a life. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/89 "2016-01-19T21:56:57Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > I always confuse her with the equally forgettable Minnie Driver. Took me ages to remember her name too - eventually found her using the search term “english actress square face” because I couldn’t remember anything she’s been in. Turns out she was in: > > Good Will Hunting > Goldeneye > Grosse Pointe Blank > Sleepers > Hard Rain > > Which surprised the hell out of me. Circle of Friends, Return to Me,… ETA: I need to get a life AND read the most recent posts. Return to Me forgettable? I love that movie. The old men who dote on Minnie Driver are so sweet. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/90 "2016-01-19T21:59:22Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Circle of Friends, Return to Me,… See… so forgettable they slipped your mind between reading the post above yours and beginning typing 😛 ---
**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 19, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/91 "2016-01-19T22:30:08Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Circle of Friends, Return to Me,… > > ETA: I need to get a life AND read the most recent posts. Return to Me forgettable? I love that movie. The old men who dote on Minnie Driver are so sweet. Well, it’s Carroll O’Connor and, IIRC, Robert Loggia, so…yeah. But I think _Circle Of Friends_ was better. I still think, “Man, she’s waaay too skinny” whenever I see her. She was also in a series on cable with Eddie Izzard, playing a couple of con artists who pretend to be a wealthy, upper class family. ---
**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 19, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/92 "2016-01-19T22:34:03Z")
I have to disagree on Geena Davis and Jennifer Tilly. Tilly’s got that baby-doll voice and a face and body made for the cover of a fifties pulp magazine: “Rough Detective Magazine: The Bombshell Wore Nothing!” She was fricking PERFECT in “Bound” as the gangster’s moll who hooks up with Gina Gershon’s butch lesbian. The voice alone makes her memorable, and her face and body are memorable too, though those might be hormone-assisted memories. As for Geena Davis, she is memorable to me because of her face: the cheekbones are so prominent, the chin so sharp, the nose so pronounced, that she looks like her features were carved. A sort of unhuman perfection to them, if you will. Plus, she did a fine job as the decent rural hardware store owner’s wife in “Beetlejuice” and also in “Earth Girls Are Easy.” Maybe her problem is, she should stick to comedy. ---
**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 19, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/93 "2016-01-19T22:58:17Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > Have to disagree on Jennifer Tilly. I don’t know what it is about her…but she grabs my attention every time I see her. Her sister _Meg_ Tilly did a decent job, but has done nothing of note since _Agnes of God_ in 1985. The only film I’ve seen where _Jennifer_ Tilly didn’t absolutely suck was Woody Allen’s _Bullets Over Broadway_, where he managed to keep her from lapsing into baby talk at every opportunity. ---
**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 20, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/94 "2016-01-20T01:18:12Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > No, his wife at the start of the series That would be Fay Furillo, played by Barbara Bosson. Who BTW was HSB co-creator Steven Bochco’s wife. ETA: ninja’ed ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/95 "2016-01-20T02:26:02Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > That would be Fay Furillo, played by Barbara Bosson. Who BTW was HSB co-creator Steven Bochco’s wife. > > ETA: ninja’ed I guess there’s a special place for actresses like Barbara Bosson and Majel Barrett. I don’t understand why I don’t put Rita Wilson in with them. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/96 "2016-01-20T03:03:08Z")
> [@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. Julia Stiles had a very long, successful non-descript career being Jason Bourne’s…whatever…unpaid intern? Sort of like Moneypenny but without any sexual tension. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/97 "2016-01-20T03:51:52Z")
Old Leo D. Brad Pitt Haydn Christensen (I’d sooner have Erika) Brook Shield ---
**Author:** ![bb49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@bb49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bb49)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/98 "2016-01-20T04:01:43Z")
No one has mentioned Sandra Bullock? Has she been forgotten, and rightly so. I must admit to going to see that space movie of hers a year or two ago, and people said she was finally in a serious movie. I’ve even forgotten the name of it, but I do recall wasting a couple of hours of my life. I’m no different than any other guy in that I like heavy breathing from a woman, but she was non stop heavy breathing. Just another turnoff in bad movie starring a forgettable actress. And then there’s those Baldwin brothers. Every damn one of them. ---
**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 20, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/99 "2016-01-20T04:10:03Z")
Sandra Bullock is anything but forgettable. ---
**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 20, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445/100 "2016-01-20T05:05:08Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Julia Stiles had a very long, successful non-descript career being Jason Bourne’s…whatever…unpaid intern? Sort of like Moneypenny but without any sexual tension. Julia Stiles was VERY good and VERY memorable in “10 Things I Hate About You.” Great movie too, best remake of “Taming of the Shrew” I’ve seen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/forgettable-mediocre-actors-and-actresses-who-were-nevertheless-successful/743445.md?page=6)