# Movie/TV stars who stepped away from the limelight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2021, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997 "2021-08-17T09:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/21 "2021-08-17T17:25:46Z")
Daniel Day-Lewis retired in 2017; he was only 60 at the time, and certainly could have continued working if he wanted to. ---
**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:** [August 17, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/22 "2021-08-17T17:30:56Z")
And, it’s the third time that Day-Lewis has retired (or at least taken an extended break) from acting; he spent three years in semi-retirement in the late '90s/early 2000s, in which he pursued woodworking and shoemaking. Then, he took another break (that one for about five years) after making _Lincoln_. He came out of retirement to make _Phantom Thread_ in 2017, before again retiring. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/23 "2021-08-17T17:45:58Z")
Helen Gahagan, Robert Montgomery, George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Sheila Kuehl and a few others forsook acting careers for politics. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/24 "2021-08-17T18:50:51Z")
Sometimes they say they’re quitting, then come back anyway like Marlon Brando did. I think Tom Hulce stopped doing movies in order to teach. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/25 "2021-08-17T18:52:09Z")
I was going to mention Angus Jones. Being on a long running hit show (probably making a mountain of money), and being a child (and therefore probably spending almost none of his earnings), he has apparently decided to walk away from acting. He appeared in 213 episodes, and was making a reported $350,000 per episode during the latter years. He should have plenty of money to live well on if he doesn’t foolishly spend it. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/26 "2021-08-17T19:03:31Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Angus Jones…was making a reported $350,000 per episode during the latter years Yeah - $$$ was a criteria of the OP. Deanna Durbin was reported to be the second richest woman in the US when she walked away from performing. ---
**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:** [August 17, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/27 "2021-08-17T19:10:23Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Maybe you should have a separate category for actors who started out as child actors and then stopped as young adults. Into which category I submit Angus T. Jones, from Two and a Half Men. He had one sitcom appearance after that, and nothing since 2016. > > Interesting quote from him on IMDB. Apparently he thought TaaHM was filth and didn’t want to be on it (no idea how old he was when he said or wrote that, but probably near the end of the run). Supposedly Angus T Jones was in a conservative Christian church, which may have influenced him to decry the show and supposedly he gave all or most of his money to it. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/28 "2021-08-17T19:17:10Z")
**Pauley Perrette** who is probably best known as **Abby** from **NCIS** announced her retirement from acting a year or so back at about 50 years of age. She quit / was fired / was forced out of **NCIS** amid issues with the show’s star and producer **Mark Harmon** ( **Gibbs** ) and her next project, a sitcom called **Broke** , was canned and that was it for her. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/29 "2021-08-17T19:27:36Z")
**Mark Lester** was a successful child actor probably best known as Oliver Twist in the musical film **Oliver**. Aged about 19 he retired from acting, he used some of his earnings to buy a Ferrari car and tour Europe. He then caught up with his education and trained as an osteopath setting up his own practice which he has worked at ever since. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/30 "2021-08-17T19:28:25Z")
Shirley Temple retired when she was 32, and became a diplomat. Lots of child actors retired after their childhood, or very early in their adult acting careers; they’re a separate category really - but Shirley Temple continued acting for a fair while. British actress Glenda Jackson retired from acting in her fifties and became an MP. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/31 "2021-08-17T19:31:43Z")
[Gene Wilder.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wilder) ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/32 "2021-08-17T19:39:23Z")
French sex symbol **Bridget Bardot** ended her acting and singing careers at 39 years old and devoted herself to animal rights work. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/33 "2021-08-17T20:14:46Z")
English comedian, comic actor and comedy writer **Ronnie Barker** almost counts. (He was very famous and successful in Britain.) He announced his retirement from show business aged 58 and opened an antiques shop. But after a decade away he resumed his former career with small cameos, minor roles and appearances as himself until his death aged 76. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/34 "2021-08-17T20:22:12Z")
**Josh Hartnett** was at his peak and was being offered leading roles in action blockbusters when he decided to walk away from it all, move to England, and try to be in smaller less know flicks. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/35 "2021-08-17T20:53:58Z")
I often think back to the 80s and 90s and the young actors who I thought for sure would have a successful career. For every “That Rob Lowe’s pretty good”, I have three wrong guesses (where are his fellow brat-packers like Ally Sheedy and C. Thomas Howell and Judd Nelson doing now?) > [@Tusculan](#): > > Cameron Diaz has retired from acting, to name one very successful actor. > [@Uniqueorn](#): > > Was not aware that Diaz had retired. Thank you! Was that thank you to Ms. Diaz? :~} (I’d buy an expensive Thank You card for Minnie Driver… or Jason Biggs or Katherine Heigl or Adam Sandler… huh, my list seems to have no end. Retire already, annoying actors!) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/36 "2021-08-17T21:06:51Z")
Cary Grant stopped making movies at age 62 and, despite many lucrative offers, did not return. After stepping down as Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson did a voice-acting job on The Simpsons and a couple of short appearances on Letterman but that was it. He stayed retired for the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/37 "2021-08-17T21:23:17Z")
You might recall **Michelle Meyrink** , who played the nerd Judy in _Revenge of the Nerds_, and Jordan in _Real Genius_. She had a few other movie and TV roles, but gave up acting when she was in her late 20s. She has subsequently started up an acting school in Vancouver BC, but that’s the closest she’s come to acting since the late 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/38 "2021-08-19T06:02:19Z")
Your mentioning Harvey Weinstein made me think of another: Rose McGowan ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/39 "2021-08-19T09:03:14Z")
Sarah Holcomb, an actress who had roles in both Animal House (the underage daughter of the mayor) and Caddyshack (Danny Noonan’s Irish girlfriend), stepped away from Hollywood after Caddyshack. She apparently had some substance issues (the Caddyshack set was said to have been drug-fueled), and may also have had mental issues, so she just quit the business. She’s stayed well under the radar since then. Kaki Hunter, who starred opposite Meat Loaf in the movie Roadie, and is best-known for her role in the Porky’s series as Wendy, quit acting and went on to teach white-water rafting in Utah. I read somewhere that she only did the third Porky’s movie as a favor to the rest of the cast, that she had wanted to quit before then. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997/40 "2021-08-19T12:31:44Z")
Grace Kelly was a big star, but she quit acting after she got married. I think her husband was famous. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-stars-who-stepped-away-from-the-limelight/948997.md?page=3)