That’s not hard to understand at all. Featured actors on TV shows make good money but not life-changing never have to work again money. Only a few big stars get to do that. On the other hand a multi year national commercial campaign can be very lucrative. I’ve read that Flo from progressive makes $1 to $2 million a year.
In the early 1970s, he appeared in a series of commercials for a local grocery chain in Pittsburgh. A pitchman in the foreground would read the ad copy while Mickey anonymously bagged groceries in the background, after which he would come forward and say to the pitchman, “Why don’t we give them a f’r’instance?”
Years later I read in the Washington Post that he was so broke in that era of his life that he would (for a few hundred bucks) agree to attend a party and pretend to be an old friend of the host.
Yeah, I get it. Milana Vayntrub is another actor who comes to mind. She’s done a lot of varied work, but has up to now kind of danced around major stardom (hopefully her role in Project Hail Mary changes that). So it’s her recurring role in the AT&T commercials that I’m sure has paid the majority of her bills.
Jon Hamm, on the other hand, has been a major character in some pretty big stuff, both TV and movies. I would hope he got a decent payout from all the non-commercial stuff he’s done-- otherwise maybe he should change agents!
And it’s not as if I begrudge him doing any commercials-- as has been mentioned, it’s pretty common for bigger stars to do commercials these days. It’s just the online gambling commercials that he (and others like Kevin Hart and Neil Patrick Harris) have done that I find kind of icky. But I’m sure those commercials have big gambling money payouts to the actors (not so much the poor sucker consumers who see the commercials and are convinced to gamble their money away).
Mickey Rooney had a career comeback with a theater production of Sugar Babies.
It was several old vaudeville, burlesque acts arranged into a hour and half stage performance. Singing, dancing, comedy skits
Mickey toured the country. I saw Sugar Babies at the Robinson theater in Little Rock in 1988 or 89?
It opened with stage hands tossing Sugar Babies candy into the audience. I had a wonderful time.
Mickey Rooney was at his best as a pitch man for Rainier Beer,
Walter Neff from Double Indemnity, aka Fred MacMurray hawking Chisanbop (a Korean finger math counting system) for $12.99 in 1979.
I always felt bad for Colin Ferguson who was the lead actor in Eureka on Syfy (urg) for several seasons, and then ended up pretending to be appliances for Maytag commercials
And I’ve always thought that playing the faux-Japanese neighbor of Holly Golightly in “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” had been his nadir…
Well, there is this precedent:
from xkcd: Party.
Lately, he’s been hawking a car warranty company.
While looking for that, I discovered he also did one for a psychic hotline.
Or the film “Dr. T & the Women”, whose title likely belongs in the worst movie title thread.
Sounds like a decent title for a porno. Subtitle: The Doctor is in!
But not for a “legit” film.
Even more so once you realize the plot revolves around the personal turmoil of a handsome Hollywood gynecologist (Richard Gere) whose clients all have the hots for him.
It’s not the worst film, but it’s definitely not great, despite a semi-star-studded cast.
It’s a Robert Altman movie, so if you’re familiar with his work, you already know whether you’ll like it or not.
So funny. I had no idea what the storyline was.
Yeah. That story premise reminds me of the ultrasoft porn-lite crap on that one high-numbered scrambled channel on some cable systems back in the 1970s. All set-up, no delivery.
Don’t forget Henry Winkler’s reverse mortgage commercials.
Said services are now and always known as a Fonzie Scheme.
Which has nothing to do with “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.”
Though if we stick to the porno theme, one could easily be the sequel to the other.
But mostly contrary to the Altman film, I did sorta enjoy The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. It’s genuinely a bit weird and surreal.
Never heard that before but I like it.
A shout-out to anyone old enough to remember Leonard Nimoy on In Search Of…