Actors who had a big role in a big movie then not much else

[levcore]

Which actors can you think of who had a significant role in a big movie but then didn't seem to appear in other notable movies since?

One that comes to mind is Alison Doody who was the female lead in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I don't recall seeing her in anything after that until RRR in 2022. I know she did work after Indy but nothing substantial or notable imo.

Any other examples?

[unberechenbar]

Shailene Woodley from the Divergent Series

[drush9999]

Long list of child actors

George Lazenby springs to mind otherwise

[Farerb]

Mark Hamill.

[Star Lord]

Felicity Jones after Rogue One.

Bérénice Marlohe after Skyfall.

[Agent Bond]

Jaye Davidson

[Boccaccio]

Rob Morrow in Quiz Show.

Don't think I've seen him in anything else.

[dkelly26666]

Two big ones back in 1981:

Miles O'Keeefe in "Tarzan the Ape Man", he was 'discovered' for the role, it got hyped all to hell, then the movie was notoriously terrible, and he spent the next couple of decades appearing in dreadful B, D, and Z movies, mostly in little parts.

Klinton Spilsbury for "The Legend of the Lone Ranger". They thought they were gonna make a big star out of him. He was awful as an actor, they even dubbed out his voice, and the movie was bad. On top of that, no one gave him the memo that you can't act like a spoiled diva in public until AFTER you get big. Apparently, he was acting an absolute ass all over before the film even came out. People hated him, immediately.

Someone above mentioned Jaye Davidson, who exploded because of "The Crying Game", and then got a big role in "StarGate". Apparently, Davidson also was a total b**ch to literally everyone, right out of the gate, and immediately alienated a lot of people by being so, so off-putting. (Also didn't get the memo: Act sweet until you become a huge star and are beloved by legions of adoring fans, and THEN you can be a jerk and they'll still defend you for it.)

Maria Pitillo. That was an odd one. She wound up hated for the CHARACTER she played, rather than her behavior. She ended up in the dreadful 1998 "Godzilla", with Broderick. Her character, who betrays Broderick's character, was apparently booed at premiere screenings. She later won a Razzie for it. She was bad, the movie was bad, but all the hate she got at the time because people hated the character she played seemed silly. Blame the writers.

Brad Johnson I remember was one they tried to make big in a couple of big movies. He co-starred in Steven Spielberg's "Always" and then John Milius' "Flight of the Intruder" before disappearing into oblivion.

[j_sazin]

Daisy Ridley post-Star Wars

[kylor]

Sam Worthington. Although I'm glad the Avatar sequels are bringing him back, maybe give his career a nice boost outside of Avatar.

[DanTheMan]

Tourist guide at the hotel in Home Alone 2

[RCRochester]

Brad Davis. Starred in Midnight Express which was a huge commercial and critical hit in 1978 and not much else of note after that. He had a small role in Chariots of Fire because the producers needed a name American actor to sell it to American audiences, but his appearance in that film had no real impact on its success.

[Number 6]

Persis Khambatta. She was notable for playing Ilia in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".

[levcore]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

Two big ones back in 1981:

Miles O'Keeefe in "Tarzan the Ape Man", he was 'discovered' for the role, it got hyped all to hell, then the movie was notoriously terrible, and he spent the next couple of decades appearing in dreadful B, D, and Z movies, mostly in little parts.

Klinton Spilsbury for "The Legend of the Lone Ranger". They thought they were gonna make a big star out of him. He was awful as an actor, they even dubbed out his voice, and the movie was bad. On top of that, no one gave him the memo that you can't act like a spoiled diva in public until AFTER you get big. Apparently, he was acting an absolute ass all over before the film even came out. People hated him, immediately.

Someone above mentioned Jaye Davidson, who exploded because of "The Crying Game", and then got a big role in "StarGate". Apparently, Davidson also was a total b**ch to literally everyone, right out of the gate, and immediately alienated a lot of people by being so, so off-putting. (Also didn't get the memo: Act sweet until you become a huge star and are beloved by legions of adoring fans, and THEN you can be a jerk and they'll still defend you for it.)

Maria Pitillo. That was an odd one. She wound up hated for the CHARACTER she played, rather than her behavior. She ended up in the dreadful 1998 "Godzilla", with Broderick. Her character, who betrays Broderick's character, was apparently booed at premiere screenings. She later won a Razzie for it. She was bad, the movie was bad, but all the hate she got at the time because people hated the character she played seemed silly. Blame the writers.

Brad Johnson I remember was one they tried to make big in a couple of big movies. He co-starred in Steven Spielberg's "Always" and then John Milius' "Flight of the Intruder" before disappearing into oblivion.

Great examples here, I totally forgot about Maria Pitillo which I'm surprised about as I actually love Godzilla 1998 lol.

[Bolty]

The actress opposite Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive

[dkelly26666]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Brad Davis. Starred in Midnight Express which was a huge commercial and critical hit in 1978 and not much else of note after that. He had a small role in Chariots of Fire because the producers needed a name American actor to sell it to American audiences, but his appearance in that film had no real impact on its success.

Yeah, it was a shame, I actually really liked him.

He did do several notable TV mini-series and such. He is in "Sybil" with Sally Field, he has a small part in "Roots", which was as huge as TV gets, he was in a TV movie called, "A Rumor of War", and he played Bobby Kennedy in the lead role of "Robert Kennedy: The Man and His Times", a TV mini-series. He did a TV movie remake of "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial", that was directed by Robert Altman. He co-starred in "Chiefs", as well, another TV mini-series. He appeared in several other TV movies and projects, too.

Movies-wise, yes, "Midnight Express" and "Chariots of Fire" were about it as far as really big films. I also liked a German production, the final film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, called, "Querelle", which had Davis in one of his only other big movie leads. He was in a number of little B-movies, but never got a big shot, again.

Sadly, he passed away at just 41 in 1991.

His brother, Gene, is also an actor, who had mostly small character work in B movies. He is in "10 to Midnight" with Charles Bronson, and "Cruising" with Al Pacino. Brad and Gene had nearly identical voices.

[punisher]

Originally Posted by Bolty

The actress opposite Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive

She was Travolta's wife in the original "Punisher" movie..but yeah..she's another who disappeared.

[BudBaxter]

Originally Posted by kylor

Sam Worthington. Although I'm glad the Avatar sequels are bringing him back, maybe give his career a nice boost outside of Avatar.

He did a lot of stuff in the wake of Avatar. It's just most of them where he was the lead weren't very good.

He's a decent enough actor most of the time, but at some point Hollywood realised nobody went to see Avatar because of Sam Worthington, & his films started to go DTV.

[Zivouhr]

The Shining 1981, Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance. That was his one and only major role in movies. After that, he retired from acting pretty much. A naturally talented actor as he gave a convincing acting performance in that film.

[Ruemorgue10]

Sam J. Jones. Apparently, he did not get along with Dino De Laurentiis making Flash Gordon and left the film before post-production, which led to his voice being dubbed over. A few roles here and there, but Flash Gordon remains his legacy film.