# Movie roles that should have made a star (but didn't) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477 "2009-03-23T17:47:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/41 "2009-03-24T15:06:48Z")
He was pretty good in the Richie Valens movie, and seems a competent actor. Ye I don’t see much of him-why? ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/42 "2009-03-24T15:07:51Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Shouldn’t this thread be titled “Whatever happened to Timothy Hutton?” Hutton appears to have worked steadily, he just hasn’t been huge. His new series just got picked up for a second season. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/43 "2009-03-24T15:14:08Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > I was surprised [Gabrielle Anwar’s](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000270/)tango with Al Pacino in \*\*Scent of a Woman \*\*didn’t make her a bigger star…she did a few other movies in the early 90s and now seems to be doing only TV roles. Maybe not the most stellar actress but certainly a looker. I’ve been meaning to comment before, but your post really made me want to now. In my way of seeing it, women suffer from this problem way more than men. It takes something special, and not always astounding looks, for an actress to rise to the level of a Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and even Salma Hayek. But I’d wager it’s more like at least 3-to-1 to 5-to-1 of males who get launched into stardom from smaller parts over their female counterparts. Actresses in general have a short shelf life. And unless they can connect with the right agent, director, co-star or other promoter, their life expectancy as a star is pretty short. It seems to be especially true for the ones whose looks get them in the door, but whose talents aren’t given that much chance to grow. If they haven’t gotten to the next level in three or four decent roles, odds are it’s porn or support roles on TV at best. At least that’s how it looks (and has looked since I was a kid) to me. It might be fun to start two lists. One for the guys who rose through the ranks to Stardom, and one for the gals. If you’re fair with your lists, the guys’ list will be much longer. ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/44 "2009-03-24T15:18:44Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Hutton appears to have worked steadily, he just hasn’t been huge. His new series just got picked up for a second season. …case in point! 🙂 Too late for edit, but I just wanted to clarify that I don’t object to this thread at all, I just see way too many young actors who struggle so hard to get “that one part” - whether it’s Broadway or a film or TV - and think everything will be smooth sailing after that. I just want to tell them “you don’t get it: this struggle IS the job. After you get that part, if you are _ever_ lucky enough to get it, you will still be fighting tooth and nail for every part you get after that.” Sigh. [steps off soapbox] I guess what I’m having a hard time articulating is that it is not the part that makes one a star (per the OP). It is a crazy combination of luck, timing, public adoration, great marketing, and general lightning-in-a-bottle. Often stardom happens with a reckless disregard for true talent. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/45 "2009-03-24T15:28:38Z")
**Cuba Gooding Junior** ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/46 "2009-03-24T15:33:59Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Actresses in general have a short shelf life. And unless they can connect with the right agent, director, co-star or other promoter, their life expectancy as a star is pretty short. It seems to be especially true for the ones whose looks get them in the door, but whose talents aren’t given that much chance to grow. If they haven’t gotten to the next level in three or four decent roles, odds are it’s porn or support roles on TV at best. You’re right. Anwar is only one of many pretty starlets who never quite hit it big. I guess she stood out for me because her scene with Pacino was so memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/47 "2009-03-24T15:51:12Z")
> [@Rachael\_Rage](#): > > That said, [steps on soapbox] I think this thread just underscores the lie of showbiz that dictates all you need is “just one break” to become a huge success, in the rich-and-famous-on-all-the-magazines sense. The fact is that it takes a lot of work and a huge amount of luck to reach that level. In other words, the “break” is just the beginning. This is a good point. Note that everyone named here is a much bigger star than the majority of the working actors in Hollywood, simply by virtue of the fact that a bunch of regular people like us recognize their names and faces. By the way, this is one of the reasons that I find the HBO series _Entourage_ interesting, in that it shows the struggles of an up-and-coming movie actor. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/48 "2009-03-24T15:56:13Z")
Hollywood is full of has-beens and one-hit wonders. My favorite story is Jaye Davidson. After he got the Oscar nomination for _The Crying Game_, he was offered the role in _Stargate_. He figured, “This is probably the only chance I will ever have, to get a major role in a big-budget picture, so I might as well try for a big paycheck.” So he told his agent to demand a million dollars. And he got it. And, as he predicted, he hasn’t done a big picture since. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/49 "2009-03-24T16:06:19Z")
Nigel Terry was great as Prince John in _The Lion in Winter_ and especially as King Arthur in _Excalibur_, but hasn’t done a whole lot since. Too bad. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/50 "2009-03-24T16:06:42Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I’ve often though [Peter Facinelli](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004906/)should have been a bigger star. He sort of started out as the douchebag ex-boyfriend of Jennifer Love Hewitt in Can’t Hardly Wait and has mostly done crappy movies and TV shows. But I thought he held his own with Danny Devito and Kevin Spacey in The Big Kahuna as their young sales protege. He was in **Twilight** , the “DVD release of the year!!!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/51 "2009-03-24T16:08:21Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > It might be fun to start two lists. One for the guys who rose through the ranks to Stardom, and one for the gals. If you’re fair with your lists, the guys’ list will be much longer. There might be more male stars, but more female might-have-beens. If actresses have a short shelf life, that means more opportunities to get on the shelf in the first place. For each actress who ends her four-movie career, there’s an opening for the next next-big-thing. Meanwhile actors like Bruce Willis or Pierce Brosnan keep going for decades. You have to wait for someone to die for there to be an opening to get into the club. > [@Gyrate](#): > > \*\*Three words: > > Cuba Gooding Junior\*\* Two words: _Snow Dogs_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/52 "2009-03-24T16:15:00Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > **Cuba Gooding Junior** Perhaps if he had at least one other emotion than crying. _Boyz in the Hood_ excellent. Everything since: dreck. That includes his Oscar performance. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Superhero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Superhero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Superhero)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/53 "2009-03-24T16:34:26Z")
> [@SaintCad](#): > > Hamill was the “pretty boy” of the movies. The just before “The Empire Strikes Back” he was in a bad car accident that tore up his face and he wasn’t pretty anymore. I think that hurt his career the most. This is one of the great urban myths of the cinema. Here’s what Wikipedia says: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] On January 11, 1977, a day before he was set to shoot one of the final scenes needed for Star Wars, Hamill was in a car accident in which he fractured his nose and left cheekbone. According to Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz, Hamill was in surgery from 9:00 AM until 4 PM. As a result of the accident, a double was used for the landspeeder pickup shots. [/QUOTE] As usual with anything that ever happened to any movie star, actual events have been overblown into a bigger, weirder, more nonsensical story. Yeah, he’s got a couple of scars, but he’s not the Phantom of the Opera or anything. Harrison Ford’s got a facial scar, too, and it hasn’t hurt his career or his appeal with female fans any. The real difference between Ford and Hamill is that Ford got another iconic role in a huge hit movie in the midst of “Star Wars.” If Tom Selleck had been cast as Indiana Jones as originally planned, who knows what Ford’s career would be like today? ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/54 "2009-03-24T16:44:10Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > **Cuba Gooding Junior** Gooding is an actor of moderate talent who, after getting his proverbial big break, then went on to choose absolutely the worst possible roles in the worst possible films. He’s one of the rare actors that Hollywood appears to have given every chance to become a major star force who blew it due to a terminal case of incredibly bad taste. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/55 "2009-03-24T16:46:05Z")
> [@FallenAngel](#): > > Gooding is an actor of moderate talent who, after getting his proverbial big break, then went on to choose absolutely the worst possible roles in the worst possible films. > > He’s one of the rare actors that Hollywood appears to have given every chance to become a major star force who blew it due to a terminal case of incredibly bad taste. Not to mention sucking out loud as an Oscar presenter! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/56 "2009-03-24T19:16:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Two words: _Snow Dogs_. I’m inclined to go with _Boat Trip_. (If I got the title wrong, sorry; I don’t have the will to look at up!) ---
**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:** [March 24, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/57 "2009-03-24T20:34:16Z")
Oh, all right, I’ll put in a good word for Cuba Gooding Jr. He was fine in _Outbreak_ and actually had some funny scenes in _Rat Race_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/58 "2009-03-24T20:38:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Oh, all right, I’ll put in a good word for Cuba Gooding Jr. He was fine in _Outbreak_ and actually had some funny scenes in _Rat Race_. Good man! Somebody had to say something nice about an Oscar winner! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/59 "2009-03-24T21:07:53Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > It might be fun to start two lists. One for the guys who rose through the ranks to Stardom, and one for the gals. If you’re fair with your lists, the guys’ list will be much longer. Personally, I think this is bullshit. For one, the definition of “star” is hugely subjective and one person’s “star” is another person’s “That Guy!” Secondly, men are not being pushed as much as women to be stars anymore. For men, it’s all about what kind of movie they’re in. Christian Bale is Batman and John Connor, but how many people actually know Christian Bale’s name? How many is he just “Batman” to? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477/60 "2009-03-24T21:12:11Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Personally, I think this is bullshit. In that case, I’d skip the lists if I were you. And I’ll try to skip your future comments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-roles-that-should-have-made-a-star-but-didnt/490477.md?page=4)