# Have you ever seen an actor who never made a bad film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [November 16, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268 "2023-11-16T22:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/1 "2023-11-16T22:20:33Z")
I have. I’ve been working my way through Denzel Washington’s films and so far nary a stinker. Remarkable. And rare. I’ve seen all his great films, and all of his very good ones, most several times. Today i saw Roman j. Israel, which has its issues, but by no means a bad movie. Next, the Equalizer. Scraping the bottom of the barrel soon. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/2 "2023-11-16T23:09:05Z")
Roger Ebert proposed the Stanton-Walsh Rule: “no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.” ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/3 "2023-11-16T23:12:01Z")
[John Cazale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cazale)? He only appeared in 5 films, and all 5 were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars – and two won. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/4 "2023-11-16T23:54:42Z")
If you graph a scatter plot of the below data by movie count and average take: [https://www.the-numbers.com/people/records/highav.php](https://www.the-numbers.com/people/records/highav.php) You’ll get a shape that looks a bit like a sideways funnel. It appears that the more movies you make, the harder it is to get above an average of ~$35m per movie. At 97 movies, Frank Welker has an average of $66m per movie. Other standouts: - Warwick Davis with an average of $198m at 18 movies - John Ratzenberger with an average of $122m at 32 movies - Tom Hanks with an average of $96m at 44 movies - Samuel L Jackson with an average of $64m at 89 movies I think it’s harder to say with people like Hugo Weaving, Stan Lee, the Harry Potter actors, etc. whether they are people with some special talent for finding good scripts, or they just got lucky by being parts of tentpole series. Though, in the case of Mr. Welker, he seems to be the long unknown and ultimate emperor of tentpole success. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/5 "2023-11-17T00:09:33Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I have. I’ve been working my way through Denzel Washington’s films and so far nary a stinker Wait 'til you get to the anvilicious _John Q._ ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/6 "2023-11-17T00:23:13Z")
There was James Dean, but he only starred in 3 movies. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/7 "2023-11-17T00:29:25Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Scraping the bottom of the barrel soon. So _Heart Condition_? _Virtuosity_? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/8 "2023-11-17T00:43:57Z")
_My_ list of actors who made no, or few bad films include: Harold Lloyd (made ~200 films, only ~3 were box office failures) Tom Hanks Meryl Streep Joaquin Phoenix Pauly Shore Daniel Day-Lewis ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/9 "2023-11-17T00:46:28Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > _My_ list of actors who made no, or few bad films include: Tom Cruise has also been largely successful since the mid-80’s. I’ve never seen Lions for Lambs, but I did see Jack Reacher 2 and that was one of the few stinkers he is in. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/10 "2023-11-17T01:09:56Z")
Looking over a list of Robert Duvall’s films, I see a few that I have never heard of, but none that I have heard bad things about. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/11 "2023-11-17T01:13:12Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > So _Heart Condition_? _Virtuosity_? Also _Carbon Copy_. OK, he was young, he needed the money… ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/12 "2023-11-17T01:32:16Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Tom Hanks The live-action remake of Disney’s _Pinocchio_ was god-awful. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/13 "2023-11-17T02:09:58Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Meryl Streep Never saw [Death Becomes Her](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_becomes_her), did you? It was made in 1992, so we can’t even blame it on her just starting out. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/14 "2023-11-17T02:16:16Z")
Carrie Henn, who played Newt in _Aliens_. Granted, it’s the only movie she’s ever appeared in. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/15 "2023-11-17T02:40:58Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Carrie Henn, who played Newt in _Aliens_. > > Granted, it’s the only movie she’s ever appeared in. Or Peter Ostrum. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/16 "2023-11-17T02:45:31Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I’ve seen all his great films, and all of his very good ones, most several times. Today i saw Roman j. Israel, which has its issues, but by no means a bad movie. Next, the Equalizer. Scraping the bottom of the barrel soon. _The Equalizer_ was a well crafted action thriller. He’s done much worse. He’s had some bad movies early on in his career. I don’t think he’s been bad in anything. He’s made the bad movies he’s been in watchable. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/17 "2023-11-17T03:04:11Z")
Tommy Wiseau > [@Tibby](#): > > Pauly Shore 2nded! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/18 "2023-11-17T03:23:32Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Virtuosity I actually like it. It is not one of the best films ever made but Denzel Washington’s and Russell Crowe’s performances elevate the film above crap and it was fairly entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/19 "2023-11-17T04:42:06Z")
John Cazale was my example (as stated above). > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Never saw [Death Becomes Her](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_becomes_her), did you? I saw it in the theatre and I thought it was great. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2023, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268/20 "2023-11-17T07:07:56Z")
_Death Becomes Her_ was hilarious. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-an-actor-who-never-made-a-bad-film/993268.md?page=2)