To me Biehn will always be Hicks. (don’t know what that says about me 
)
Hulce was also Leval, Frankenstein’s friend, in the Kenneth Branaugh Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but it wasn’t a big part. Considering the period, it felt as if he was in some kind of sequel to Amadeus.
He also did the voice of Quasimodo in the direct-to-videosequel to Disney’s Hunchback. He got to sing in both nDisney films, which is a plus.
Mark Hamill appeared in Slipstream over a decade after The Empire Strikes Back with Ben Kingsley and Murray F. Abraham == pretty impressive for a movie nobody ever saw. He also did a lot of cartoon voice work (which he was doing even before Star Wars) and vide Game voicing, not to mention small film roles and directing his own flick. It’s not superstardom, but it ain’t bad. I always thought of Hamill as a fanboy who got his wish – he starred in the biggest sci fi/fantasy flick series ever. Then he relatively disappeared.
I’m Hudson, sir. He’s Hicks.
I’m in the Hicks boat as well. Michael Biehn will always be Hicks to me.
Regarding Mark Hamill, I know I’m not the only one who saw “Corvette Summer”.
Hm, come to think of it maybe I am.
OOOH! I LOVED Corvette Summer!!!
But, then again, I was a big 'Vette fan as a kid. Not so much for Mark, but the girl he did in the van. (and the gratitious butt-shot after).
When I heard they’re going to be making a Temeraire film, I thought Guy Pearce would be great as Laurence.
Will Patton should have been huge after No Way Out. He was also robbed of an Oscar nom for that movie.
He’s worked steadily since then but I’ll bet nine out ten people shown his picture would have no idea who he is.
I remember thinking when I first saw Terminator (like, last year only) that Michael Biehn was way cute, and how it seemed odd that he wasn’t a bigger deal.
I always wondered why Damien Lewis didn’t become a big star after Band of Brothers… He did an astounding job in that film imo. Not to mention did a perfect job on an american accent. I had no clue whatsoever he was british till years later.
I’ll second the vote on Will Patton. Great performances in all the films I’ve seen them in. He does tend to play a limited role though… A competent/wise down to earth blue collar type.
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.
Second your Damien Lewis - yes, he’s doing okay for himself what with starring in “Life” and other good tv work but I agree. I thought he was destined for bigger things.
Much the same can be said for my two longterm celebrity crushes Jeremy Northam and Adrian Pasdar. Northam had a very high profile role opposite Gwyneth Paltrow with “Emma” but it seemed to do nothing in terms of taking him into the top tier of Hollywood leading men, where I always figured he belonged. He still works of course - I saw him most recently as Sir Thomas More in “Tudors”.
Adrian Pasdar’s lack of A-list career is even more puzzling to me. Gorgeous, talented actor who seems nothing other than reliable and polite so I’m at a loss to figure out why he twice all but disappeared first after starring in Kathyn Bigelow’s vampire flick “Near Dark” and then again after starring in the little seen but critically worshipped TV show “Profit”. Back on TV at the moment in “Heroes” doing fantastic work as Nathan Petrelli but I always figure he should really be opening major films.
I third the mention of Will Patton - I too thought he was brilliant in “No Way Out” and was very surprised he never did more than he did.
FWIW, many Batman fans consider Mark Hamill to be the finest Joker to date, in spite of the huge Heath Ledger following that The Dark Knight produced. Granted, it might not be the best comparison considering one is voice acting while the other was an actual screen portrayal.
I had heard (possibly incorrectly) that Tom Hulce was fairly picky about the roles he took, which meant that he didn’t always take the big-exposure parts.
I thought he was incredibly good in the incredibly depressing The Inner Circle.
Honestly, I wanted Hamill to be the movie version of the Joker as well. His voice acting is very physical, and he had the body language down pat. There’s film around of him doing the VA stuff… and the range of the Animated Joker easily encompasses Ledger’s work.
Heh - absolutely. Good call.
Holy cats, he was! Wow! I generally pick him out in movies when I see him - “Hey, that’s Michael Biehn” - but I never knew he was in Tombstone. (I thought it was some other actor with a close resemblance.) I think I generally pick him out so easily because of Terminator - he seems to play Reese no matter what he’s in - but he really disappeared into Johnny Ringo. Good for him.
All these references to Tombstone make me want to nominate Powers Boothe for the category. He’s had some “starring” roles (most notably Jim Jones of Jonestown notoriety) but I don’t think of him as a star as such. He’s always effective as a menacing type, from 24 to Deadwood to many other memorable ventures. But he’s yet to have a role the size of Tommy Lee Jones or even Nick Nolte, with whom he shared billing in Extreme Prejudice (one of my favorites in that genre).
Anthony Daniels. Six movies playing the same memorable role and no one even knows what he looks like.
I was surprised Gabrielle Anwar’stango 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.
The first person I thought of was Wes Bentley from American Beauty: he had a great look and a pivotal role in an Oscar-winning film. I expected to see him everywhere, but he’s disappeared into smaller parts and projects.
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. You then have to not only continue to win great parts, but you have to shrewdly market yourself as a “star.” Many talented people who had a shot at going that direction simply chose not to (e.g. Alex Winter). Others who got their break - probably after years and years of thankless struggle - maybe felt entitled and started treating others like dirt, the result being that nobody wanted to work with them any more. Or others did absolutely everything right, and was on every studio’s short list for the next fantastic, star-making part, but kept ending up just one down on the list from the guy who eventually got it. The most successful actors seem to be those who focus more on taking parts that work for them, whether big or small, and developing good relationships in the business that keep them working steadily. You may not know their names, or even their faces, but they work all the time and make decent money. But even those people are extremely lucky. Acting is a horrible business, I can’t imagine why anyone does it, frankly.