So I was thinking about Rick Moranis earlier today and realized that I hadn’t seen him in a movie (on-screen) for awhile.
Turns out he retired from acting back in 1997 (save for doing some voice work).
And that got me thinking of other well-known (I’m defining “well-known” as: Most people would have heard of their names, if mentioned) actors and actresses who’ve retired.
Didn’t Paul Newman, in his last years, say he wasn’t going to make any more films?
And, of course, one of the most famous examples I’d list is that of Greta Garbo. Who made movies for a decade or two and then quit it cold turkey.
Any other instances of a celebrity retiring and actually doing it?
Deanna Durbin retired at age 27, after a very successful 13-year career. She is still living in France, and has only given one interview in the past 60-plus years.
Raymond Griffith was one of the great stars of the silent days, a comedian who is often ranked just below the Big Four (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and Langdon). He retired as soon as sound came in because of his speaking voice (he had wrecked his vocal chords while performing on stage and could not speak above a whisper). He appeared in one sound film (All Quiet on the Western Front), where he was not required to speak above a whisper, then went into producing.
