The Martin Landau thread had me thinking about how he went from HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS ON GILLIGAN’S ISLAND and dinner theater to winning an Oscar just over a decade later.
John Travolta went from LOOK WHO’S TALKING fluff to being majorly cool again (though thanks to good business management he never had to do pickle commercials or guest shots on GOLDEN GIRLS while he was “down”).
Christopher Lee went from being president of the “John Houseman ‘Anything for a Buck’ School of Acting” (even appearing in “horny kids go to a beach motel” movies that are just north of porn and south of DORF videos) to major roles in two of the top grossing/biggest budget films of the new millennium.
Anthony Hopkins went from dying in bed with Suzanne Somers in a minor role in a trashy miniseries to winning an Oscar and earning $25 million per picture. (He also incurred the wrath of the Welsh recently by becoming a U.S. citizen.)
Roy Orbison was constantly cycling but died during a major renaissance.
What celebrities do you think have had the most stellar comebacks or the most lives? What celebrities who are currently B list or lower do you think will have a comeback and be bigger than ever?
I think Whoopi Goldberg will probably reappear in a major way if she ever gets a decent project- the raw talent is certainly there. I’d love to see OTOH, I think Burt Reynolds is pretty much played since there wasn’t a whole lot of talent there to begin with.
Mark Wahlberg went from briefly being in NKOTB with his brother to the covers of every teen magazine for being in the Funky Bunch and dropping his pants to the usual downward spiral of ladies and alcohol. He showed a glimmer of hope with Basketball Diaries, then made his way to becoming a respected actor in quality flics like Three Kings and Boogie Nights.
Elvis was pretty much done until his TV comeback in 1968, followed by his “In the Ghetto” & then his Vegas Years. Groucho Marx had no career until his “You Bet You Life” TV show.
Eddie Murphy’s period after Coming to America, when he starred, produced and acted in seven turkeys in a row: Harlem Nights, Another 48 Hours, Boomerang, The Distinguished Gentleman, Beverly Hills Cop III, Vampire In Brooklyn and Metro.
Reinventing himself as a Safe-For-Chidren-Family-Movie-Comedian saved his career. He can still do his beloved turkeys he’s so inexplicably attracted to (I Spy, Pluto Nash) and then turn around a pull a multimillion dollar performance in an family film or animated movie (Shrek, Nutty Professors 1 & 2, Daddy Day Care.)
Aerosmith was one of the biggest rock and roll acts in the 70’s. They were awesome! Then the 80’s killed their career (along with the MASSIVE amounts of drugs and infighting). Joe Perry and Brad Whitford left the band and the rest of the guys were down to clubs. I’ve seen interviews with Steven Tyler where they were finally rock bottom when he was on a $20 a day stipend from his manager and he spent it on drugs daily.
Once they got a new manager and a “do or die” attitude, they zoomed back to the top. It took them 10 years or so but they did it. Remarkably they STILL have all their original members.
They tell it all in their book “Walk This Way”. It’s a good read.
Frank Sinatra was considered a washed-up teen idol after a vocal cord hemorrhage ruined his singed career for a time. But he came back with his Academy Award winning role as Maggio in From Here To Eternity. His film and singing career both reignited after that. You know the rest.
John Travolta’s career path is more rocky than posted earlier. he went from being the breakout star of Welcome Back, Kotter to the lead in mega hits like Saturday Night Fever and Grease to career freefall with the pain inducing to watch Moment By Moment. He had a slight comeback with the popularity of Urban Cowboy, not a big film but the soundtrack’s success and the pop culture wave it was a part of got his name back out there. Stayin’ Alive was considered a financial success at least, but a few years later he was back in bombs like Two Of a Kind and Perfect. The Look Who’s Talking movies were moneymakers that made him bankable again even if they didn’t earn him any critical respect.
I wish Val Kilmer would get a major comeback, he proved he’s still got it as an actor in The Salton Sea.
Travolta may spring back at least once more, since people find him likeable, and critics keep wishing Hollywood producers would cast him in modern musicals. But he has picked some dogs as of late
I think Whoopi could come back very strong with the right network TV show. Again people like her very much when ever she turns up on TV, but they seem unwilling to pay to see her at the movies.
David Carradine will probably get a temporary bounce from Kill Bill and his recent kitsch value appearance on Alias. But I’ll bet he’ll be back to straight-to-video hell within two years. Kind of a shame since he was fairly good genre star at one time and did manage a Best Actor nod for Bound for Glory.
Much as I detest the man’s music, Kenny Rodgers was so washed up that he was hawking “Play Guitar with Kenny Rodgers” in cheap TV ads. Then he hit it with “The Gambler.”
While not really scraping bottom, Carlos Santana probably went the longest between hits – several in the 70s and then nothing until “Smooth” a few years ago.
Gloria Swanson was considered badly washed up until the made “Sunset Boulevard,” though it didn’t lead to the heights she had enjoyed in the silent days. Buster Keaton had a bit part in the movie and was forgotten by Hollywood at the time, but he stages a minor comeback in the 50s.
Lucille Ball went from a washed up ingenue to TV’s biggest star.
Marie Dressler was a very popular Broadway comedienne from the late 1890s through about WWI, then was so washed-up in show biz she actually applied for a job as a maid. Then in the late 1920s her friend Frances Marion got her some jobs at MGM, and when talkies came in, Marie became the biggest character star onscreen, which she remained till her death in 1934.
I’m always intrigued by the case of Harvey Keitel. He started off pretty strong, mostly due to a fortuitous meeting with a young Martin Scorese, in Mean Streets and Taxi Driver. Then, he was cast in Apocalypse Now, but Coppola quickly replaced him with Martin Sheen. I’ve heard rumors that film footage of Keitel in that role still exists in Coppola’s personal film vault (which I would love to see). At that point, he dropped off the radar – he still worked fairly consistantly, but seemed to be one of those actors who is not particularly memorable, the ones you call “that guy” unless you remember he’s "that guy from Mean Streets.
In 1992, he came back with the one-two punch of Reservoir Dogs and Bad Lieutenant. I personally didn’t see that one coming, suddenly he’s heading the pack of the bad boys of the silver screen. Of course, he followed up with The Piano, so we know he’s also sensitive (although, IMHO, still a little creepy in that role). His name is now a synonym for “bad ass” (can I say bad ass in Cafe Society?), which is strangely enough where he started.
Drew Barrymore was an enormously talented child star, then an alcoholic and is now an enormously talented and successful young actress. If the Barrymore family demons still exist, she’ll probably go through at least one more down and up cycle and eventually be remembered as one of the great talents of American show business.
Started off as Cassius Clay – and then he changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Embraced the Nation of Islam AND Malcolm X, objected to the Vietnam War, refused to be inducted in the army, talked MUCH trash about Sonny Liston, dumped his first two wives, was stripped – STRIPPED!! – of his heavyweight chamionship title at the height of his professional years. Everyone here remembers that Esquire cover with him slung by arrows? Even Ebony and Jet didn’t do cover stories on him for awhile.
I’ll also nominate Vanessa Williams – she could have easily ended up a disgraced 80s footnote.
Speaking of Harrison Ford, this week’s NEWSWEEK has a hysterical collage of his movie posters for the last 20 years: they’re all exactly the same- Harrison scowling at the camera.
I think Val Kilmer is stalled by being branded “entirely too difficult to work with”. Apparently he’s just a total ass to cast and crew.
I can’t believe I didn’t think of Tina for the opening post. She was working in Holiday Inn lounges and applying for food stamps before she came back with the biggest album and one of the biggest films of the early 1980s. (Supposedly she turned down the role of Shug Avery in COLOR PURPLE because she was afraid the lesbian kiss would hurt her career; I don’t know if it would or wouldn’t have, but I can totally understand why she didn’t want to take the risk- still, she’d have been great in that role.)
Marley23- my wish too for Vinnie Barbarino.
delphica- not a hit, but Keitel starred in Scorcese’s 1st-“Who’ s That Knockin?”
Askia- didn’t Liston deserve the trash talk?
I thought the same thing when Kilmer was mentioned. One pain in the ass actor that I would love to see get more roles (and has been as of late) is Crispin Glover. The guy just has his own creepy yet cool aura that’s not present in any other actor.
CatFight: Mark Wahlberg was never in NKOTB; it was just his brother Donnie (who is making a small comeback himself, appearing in both the “Band of Brothers” miniseries and the moderately successful “Boomtown”).
I would have to say Peter Fonda made a pretty nice little comeback. He was in a few B movies, then Easy Rider, then more B movies, then finally a Bee movie (hahahahaha) which won him critical respect (“Ulee’s Gold”, if I remember correctly). Sure, he hasn’t done much with it (save Soderberg’s exceptional “The Limey”) but it still counts.
I was expecting bigger revivals’ in the careers of both Pam Grier and Robert Forster after “Jackie Brown”, but they haven’t lived up to my hopes.
I have to TOTALLY AGREE on that one. I’m not a fan or follow her career, but every time I hear about her I think how she could have easily ended up. She came through it well, and seems to be a solid, respectable, classy lady.