Martin Landau was also nominated for best supporting actor in 1988 for Tucker: The Man And His Dream. So his comeback was even stronger.
I don’t think Travolta had the biggest comeback, but probably the most comebacks.
I’d have to nominate Akira Kurosawa. His career suffered after the Red Beard fallout with Toshiro Mifune. The whole Tora, Tora, Tora fiasco. Dodes 'ka-den, failed at the box office. He attempted suicide. But he came back with Dersu Uzala, Kagemusha, and Ran. What a way to show that you still have it.
What about Leslie Nielsen (got I hope I spelled that right…)? He went from a sort of minor star in the 50s with movies like “Forbidden Planet” to being in pretty much every comedy movie ever from the 80s on… his and the century’s…
Also in the “etc” category: Napolean. I just saw a documentary on him on PBS. To go from exile on Elba and reclaim his throne to again threaten all of Europe was quite a comeback, even though it didn’t last.
A favorite trivia question of mine is to name the two singers who were included in the 1st (1990) edition of Wayne Janicik’s book One-Hit Wonders, but were booted out of the 2nd (1998) edition for the offense of actually achieving a second U.S. Top 40 hit: “Weird Al” Yankovic and Aaron Neville. (If there’s ever a third edition, then Lenny Kravitz is the next to be dropped).
I don’t know…a lot of these comebacks seem pretty minor league: somebody has a a few ups and downs – that’s part of just about anyone’s career; it doesn’t necessarily mean a “comeback” per se.
How about Dennis Hopper? At one point, he was pretty much written off in Hollywood as an unreliable '60s burn-out. The guy was virtually unemployable – the kind of former celebrity you don’t expect to hear about until you read an obituary about him overdosing.
APOCALYPSE NOW sort of put him back on the map, followed by THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND. And then came BLUE VELVET and HOOSIERS (he got an Oscar nomination for the later, but everyone knew he deserved it for the former). Since then, he’s worked steadily, with lead roles in several major films. Absolutely amazing.
I still think Aerosmith has a shot at biggest comeback. They were a major hard rock band in the 70s, had it all, jets, cars, money, women, and shot it all up their arms. They were basically street junkies for a while, cleaned up, and began the climb to rock icons.
Tina Turner is also probably up there, but I don’t know her story as well.
Uh, Ozzy has been around for a looooong time. He never “went” anywhere, except maybe, the Alamo
1980 Blizzard of Ozz
1981 Diary of a Madman
1982 Speak of the Devil
1983 Bark at the Moon
1986 The Ultimate Sin
1987 Tribute [live] Epic
1989 No Rest for the Wicked
1990 Just Say Ozzy [live]
1991 No More Tears
1995 Ozzmosis
1997 OzzFest, Vol. 1: Live
2001 Down to Earth
Not to mention several reunion tours with Black Sabbath an appearance in several films including Decline of Western Civilization Part II and Little Nicky and lets not forget the successfull Ozzfest tour now in its seventh year.
My vote is Mark Wahlberg, how he ever overcame his “Marky Mark” persona is beyond me…
My first thought was Dean Stockwell. (ScriptAnalyst already mentioned Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Dennis Hopper.)
Stockwell was a child actor, did OK as a young man (“Sons and Lovers”, “Long Day’s Journey into Night”) and then did a bunch of flops and losers in mid-60s and through the '70s, and seemed to go off of everyone’s radar screen.
I believe his big “comeback” was in 1984, with “Paris, Texas”. He started to get more work after that (“Blue Velvet”, TV and feature films) and then got “Quantam Leap”. He’s been as busy as a bee ever since.
Ron Howard? Did he ever have a real career slump? Between The Andy Griffith and Happy Days he worked fairly steadily as an actor. He went from Days into feature directing.
I would have to agree that Dean Stockwell came back pretty strong. I saw him on a show talking about how far he had slipped and how he pretty much gave up acting at one point because he couldn’t get a job. You know your career is in trouble when you’re making stuff like Werewolf Of Washington. I felt sorry for him while watching that one.
Benny & Bjorn did have Chess the musical (with Tim Rice) which has NEVER been out of production. They also did the Swedish Kristen fran Duvemala, a beautiful work. But Agnetha & Frida tried solo careers, and pretty much retired.
NOW. The boxed set was actually 1997. The “comeback” really began in 1992 (?), with the release of ABBA Gold, the Greatest Hits. None of the Abbans had much to do with Mamma Mia. B&B just allowed them t use their songs. I don’t think they realized what a monster hit it would be. And hopefully, it will lead to an English Kristen, which has been on the books for ages.
In order to qualify as a “comeback” didn’t you have to be there first, go away and then come back? Jim Carrey was a nobody before the “In Living Color” and Ace Ventura. That was his first arrival, not a comeback.:wally
