What causes the careers of promising movie stars to fail? There have been a lot of failures although they probably take a bit of remembering. The stars of the 1970s Franco Zefferelli film Romeo and Juliet were never really heard of again even though Juliet a.k.a. Olivia Hussey seemed to be extraordinarily beautiful. Ryan O’Neal is an inexplicable failure as is “Wiseguy” Ken Wahl. Far less worthy stars than these keep on year after year. Can anyone name any others - and the possible reasons they went nowhere?
Some (Ken Wahl) get caught up in problems with substance abuse.
Some (Olivia Hussey) see their careers take a gradual decline over the long haul, although she still has over 30 film and TV productions credited since R&J. Plus, as in Ms. Hussey’s case, many actresses choose to focus on raising a family.
As for Ryan O’Neal, the man has had a substantial film career. It may be pretty much dead now (Zero Effect notwithstanding), but it was in full bloom for a good decade and only hit the skids in the early 80s.
It could be that they make poor career choices, choose to get involved in a different aspect of the entertainment industry, or discover they may simply be a one-hit wonder on whom success shone for a brief moment. For every Michael York (definitely R&J’s breakout star), there’s another Leonard Whiting (last seen on an Alan Parsons Project record!). Fame’s fickle, but it manifests itself all sorts of ways.
Rutger Hauer seems to have joined C. Thomas Howell in “King of the Z-movie” race.
I remember seeing a magazine cover, c1971, with the headline: “DOMINIQUE SANDA—THE NEW GARBO!”
The new Anna Sten, was more like it.
Olivia Hussey - hubba hubba!
And, what ever happened to Arnold Stang? If you had to guess which actor in “Hercules Goes Bananas” was going to go on to superstardom, it wouldn’t have been that dopey Austrian musclehead with the dubbed lines, would it?
Ironically, I suppose, my question was motivated by a belief that the success of some entertainers is the result of the machinations of the entertainment industry rather than to any proven talent or charisma. Everyone can give examples of performers who seem to them to have fame far in excess of their ability and others who are remembered long after a small part in a small movie. Some stars are surely supported at the expense of others at the whim of misguided market researchers. I remember when someone in the music industry gave Michael Jackson, in the middle of a career slump, a $60 million contract.
It would be a good thing anyway if the idea of early retirement was firmly established in the minds of aspiring performers. I wish to God that Leif Garrett, for instance, could cut it as a computer programmer. And I also wish that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant had given it away long before I had to see their ads for Walking into Clarksdale. Perhaps it’s better to burn bright and burn fast.
Maria Falconetti gave perhaps the single best performance ever caught on film in Carl Dreyer’s 1928 film The Passion of Joan of Arc, then never made another film.
Chrissie Rock gave one of the 10 best performances I’ve ever seen in 1994’s Ladybird, Ladybird–and received worldwide rave reviews–and has done nothing but TV stuff since then.
John Amplas was amazing as the doubt-ridden teenage octogenarian vampire in George Romero’s 1978 Martin and since then has done nothing but a few minor walk-ons.
Anybody remember 70’s heart-throb and pseudo-leading man Jan-Michael Vincent?
Last I saw of him was on Nash Bridges looking very haggard - like he was rode hard and put away wet. He looked like ten miles of bad road. His tank was on “empty”. Like he’d spent the last ten years in a rock tumbler. President of the “What the Hell Did I Do Last Night” Club.
I believe Jan-Michael Vincent got derailed by serious substance abuse. Think Don Johnson only worse.
For the category of One-Hit Wonders (or, Totally Failed to Follow up a Hit) I nominate Keir Dullea (2001) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars).
For Best Reincarnation of a Career, I nominate Michael Jackson and John Travolta.
Any production with Rutger Hauer and Malcom McDowell is going to be MST3K material 
I think it’s the idea of the French philosopher Henri Bergsen that time and the fortunes of individuals are inextricably linked together in some way. According to that theory The Beatles, for instance, could only have found fame in the sixties. They and the time they were in fitted together in some way. They would probably have limited success today. Perhaps this also applies to actors and other performers. Rod Stewart found popularity in the seventies and even though some of the music he recorded in the eighties was probably equal in quality, no one cared. His time was gone. People who manage to recreate themselves sufficiently well seem to avoid this sort of redundancy. Danny Bonnaducci from the Partridge Family underwent a kind of metamorphosis and survived. I apologise for going off on a music tangent. I’d rather keep with movies - I hadn’t thought of Keir Dullea in years.
I remember a similar line of reasoning in Machiavelli’s “The Prince.” He noted that great men are only recognized as great if the situation around them provides an opportunity for that greatness. If a man who is known for being a great war hero had been born in a time when there wasn’t any war for him to be heroic in, he would probably live out his life in a pretty regular, innocuous way.
Zoe Tamerlis of Ms. 45. Her career seems to have ended when she was 37. Oh, yeah. She died.
Linda Mantz. She became known as the little girl in Days of Heaven. She also did a good job in The Wanderers and Out of the Blue. I heard she was living in Lake Hughes, CA several years ago, being a mother of three. Last time I heard of her, she was in Gummo and is now in No. Cal.
Michelle Meyrink. Really good as “Jordan” in Real Genius. She seems to have decided to abandon her acting career. I heard she lives in Vancouver, B.C. (Or maybe that’s where she’s from.)
Wow, second time in recent past I’ve gotten to mention one of my all time favorite spooky movies . Keir Dullea, Carol Lynly in Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) a very sexy but creepy role for him.
Speaking of actors who fell off the map and were never heard from again after their debuts, how about Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner?
Ah, damn! Wishful thinking.
Blair from “Facts of Life”. Anyone seen her?
(Dropped out of limelight to raise family and homeschool her children.)
Speaking of Carl Dreyer movies, how about Julian West’s performance in VAMPYR (1932)? If only West had moved directly to Hollywood after his mesmerizing performance, he’s have taken commercial filmdom by storm.
Alas, he went back to being the Baron Nicholas de Gunzberg.
Can anyone explain Whoopi Goldberg to me? She comes out of nowhere, stars in the excreable COLOR PURPLE plus not one, not two, but an entire HANDFUL of crappy movies in the mid-to-late '80s…looks like she’s falling off the radar, then scoops up a supporting actress Oscar for GHOST in 1990…hooks up with the most BIZARRE choices for boyfriends…appears on STAR TREK…
Ukulele Ike, Does the term “sold my soul…” mean anything to you? 'Nuff said
And then there are the actors like Sean Penn, who have enormous talent, but seem to make terrible decisions when selecting scripts. Only rarely does he seem to luck up and pick a good one.
Which reminds me of the fork in the road for Molly Ringwald (not that I’d call her a great, or even a good actress). Coming off her John Hughes 80’s popularity, she was offered the Laura Dern part in Blue Velvet and turned it down. Her career has been on a fast track to nowhere ever since.
Which reviewer was it who said, “Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow?”
IIRC, she spent several years living in Europe, away from the American film industry. She came back, made a TV series that was cancelled, and hasn’t been heard from since.
Robin