# Great actors who've whored themselves out in bad movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690 "2009-12-10T03:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/41 "2009-12-10T15:46:22Z")
Too late to nominate Christopher Walken, the first one I thought of. However, there are some actors that really should have the nominating committee reject their application: Jeremy Irons - ham Nicholas Cage - cheese Gary Busey - Oscar nominations mean nothing. Marisa Tomei and Mira Sorvino actually won Oscars, which should indicate their relative worth. Frank Sinatra - ineligible; only a two (or three) scene cameo as a favor to his good friends Dino Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. So that leaves: Michael Caine Jon Voight Christopher Walken F. Murray Abraham Robert DeNiro Sir Anthony Hopkins Sir Sean Connery (whom I think benefits more from a good director and his charisma rather than being a “great” actor) Sir Laurence Olivier Honourable Mentions to: Walter Matthau Groucho Marx Sir Alec Guiness Dame Helen Mirren And the award goes to… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/42 "2009-12-10T15:50:39Z")
All the good replies are taken (there are plenty of others, but you’ve got just about all of them). I’ll just mention **Donald Pleasence** , who has knowingly been in lots of bad movies. Reportedly, when asked why, he replied “I hear voices.” “Voices?” “Yes – my bank, my mortgage company, my restaurant…” For my money, Donald Sutherland is the worst of these. I’ve been dragged unwilling to two movies simply because the man was in them, and they were both movies squarely in this category, so I have a visceral dislike for the man when he does this. In one film ( **Gas** from 1981) he never even appears in a scene with any of the other principal actors. He clearly came on the set one day and did all his lines by himself. In fact, considering the quality of the film, I’d be willing to bet that he made up his own lines on the spot. > **[Gas (1981) ⭐ 3.2 | Comedy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082440/)** > > 1h 34m | R ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/43 "2009-12-10T15:50:44Z")
How about John Malkovich in [Con Air](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118880/)? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/44 "2009-12-10T16:07:42Z")
JFTR are there any great actors who _haven’t_ made bad movies? I’m hard pressed to think of any. I guess there’s [John Cazale](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001030/), every one of whose movies was a classic , other than a tyro effort when first starting, but he died young and only made six. If you’re an actor you want to work, even when you’re old and the star parts stop coming. (Step forward, Oscar winners Ray Milland and Joan Crawford, who late in their careers appeared respectively in the ludicrous films _The Man With Two Heads_ and _Trog_.) ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/45 "2009-12-10T16:12:42Z")
Henry Fonda Shelly Winters **Tentacles** ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/46 "2009-12-10T16:23:18Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > The absolute king of this phenomenon is **Jon Voight.** Seriously…_Karate Dog?_ Actually, this [fight scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hywK7SsqE8Y) is pretty good entertainment and I’m sure Voight laughed all the way to the bank. I’ve often wondered if he is deeply in debt or something. Voight is a strange case. For years, he worked surprisingly little, taking only roles that really appealed to him. And now? He seems to take any paying gig that comes along. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/47 "2009-12-10T16:24:59Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > Ben Kingsley in _Bloodrayne_. My first thought was for Sir Ben and Bloodrayne isn’t the only bad movie he’s been in. It seems like he’s been in a string of stinkers as of late. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/48 "2009-12-10T16:30:29Z")
> [@villa](#): > > How about John Malkovich in [Con Air](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118880/)? In fairness, I think Malkovich does a pretty fair balancing act. He’ll make some lousy Jerry Bruckheimer action movie, and that will pay him enough money to allow him to spend the next few years doing artsy European movies or plays at the Steppenwolf Theater. Similarly, there are some fine British stage actors who’ll play the villain in a moronic American action picture, because that allows them to go back to the West End and do the kind of low-paying work that actually interests them for a few years. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/49 "2009-12-10T16:32:33Z")
I’m not blaming him for it at all. But that, and MI III, are classic whoring moves. Done solely to earn money. A whore who uses her earnings to pay for braces for her children is no less a whore than one who spends it on crack and Ripple. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/50 "2009-12-10T16:33:06Z")
I won’t hold up Roger Moore as a master thespian, but he said Noel Coward once gave him this advice: “Take every role you’re offered. Never turn down a role, because you’re not really an actor if you’re not working. And if you’re lucky enough to be offered two roles at the same time, take the role that pays better.” ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/51 "2009-12-10T16:34:10Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > In the Eighties and Nineties, Gene Hackman always seemed to be working, regardless of the quality of the film. However, I do not ever recall seeing him phone in a performance. He always gave the film makers a solid day’s work. Part of the basis for the [Caine Hackman Theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCU_(film)#Caine.E2.80.93Hackman_Theory). ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/52 "2009-12-10T16:48:54Z")
Eddie Murphy - Best Defense, Pluto Nash, Meet Dave, any Nutty Professor after the first one, Norbit, that Werewolf movie, The Golden Child, Another 48 hours…Lord make it stop Russell Crowe - I liked him in the Quick and the Dead. If only he had stopped. Geoffrey Rush - Mystery Men? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/53 "2009-12-10T16:49:03Z")
Oh, and Christopher Eccelson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in G.I.Joe Rise of Cobra. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/54 "2009-12-10T16:52:31Z")
> [@villa](#): > > I’m not blaming him for it at all. But that, and MI III, are classic whoring moves. Done solely to earn money. > > A whore who uses her earnings to pay for braces for her children is no less a whore than one who spends it on crack and Ripple. “Whoring” makes it sound as if the actors in question are doing something illegal or immoral. Actors who take paying jobs in movies or TV shows that they know (or suspect) won’t be very good don’t fall into that category. I mean, if an unknown actor gets a job driving a cab or waiting tables at a coffee shop, do you call HIM a whore for taking a job just to pay the bills? Heck, never mind show biz- don’t MOST of us work “just for the money”? If I worked only when I was “truly inspired” by a project, I’d starve to death! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/55 "2009-12-10T16:58:56Z")
> [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](#): > > People, please, Nic Cage _owns_ this thread. > > See: IMDb The lawsuit which he’s filed against his investment adviser (and the countersuit which his adviser recently filed against Cage) strongly suggests that Cage takes on so many movies because he has to, just to keep making the payments on all of the houses, boats, cars, etc. that he likes to buy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/56 "2009-12-10T17:06:12Z")
De Niro in this steaming pile: [The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Rocky_and_Bullwinkle) I win. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/57 "2009-12-10T17:15:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > “Whoring” makes it sound as if the actors in question are doing something illegal or immoral. Actors who take paying jobs in movies or TV shows that they know (or suspect) won’t be very good don’t fall into that category. > > I mean, if an unknown actor gets a job driving a cab or waiting tables at a coffee shop, do you call HIM a whore for taking a job just to pay the bills? > > Heck, never mind show biz- don’t MOST of us work “just for the money”? If I worked only when I was “truly inspired” by a project, I’d starve to death! Well whoring was the term given in the OP. For the record, I don’t see anything immoral about any form of whoring. An actor who loves to act may take a part in a movie they would not otherwise take because of the money. A prostitute who loves to have sex may have sex with a person they would not otherwise have sex with because of the money. Legal aspects aside, I have no problem with either. Seeing a great actor in a crap movie - PSH in MI III for example - makes it pretty clear to me why they have done it. There is nothing wrong with it at all - I would love to spend my life working pro bono, for example, but then I wouldn’t eat. I imagine there is a tinge of regret in it for the actor, too. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/58 "2009-12-10T17:24:17Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Oh, and Christopher Eccelson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in G.I.Joe Rise of Cobra. Great actors? Kinda stretching the definition there? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/59 "2009-12-10T17:49:18Z")
> [@](#): > > De Niro in this steaming pile: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Adv...and\_Bullwinkle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adv...and_Bullwinkle) > > I win. No you don’t – by your own cite, de Niro was the Producer of that film – he _wanted_ to make it, and to play Fearless Leader. In theory, this should have been a good flick. It wasn’t, though – the script lacked the necessary wit, and something was missing from the execution. (I don’t buy that you couldn;t make a good Rocky and Bullwinkle movie today.) You don’t get to claim incompetent execution on your own part of your own project as “whoring”. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/60 "2009-12-10T17:52:21Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned James Caan. He’s been in a lot of crap movies, especially in the past 15 years or so. But unlike many great actors who just ham it up or phone it in for their “whoring” movies, he always delivers a solid performance. The rest of the movie may suck balls, but the moments he’s on screen are golden. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690.md?page=4)