View Full Version : People that had major roles on TV shows and then fell off the face of the earth


dee2364
02-08-2021, 03:22 PM
Something I can't get over is how someone like Mary Cadorette co-starred on a major TV show with two TV veterans (John Ritter, Robert Mandan) and basically fell off the face of the earth years later, to where people don't remember her until they stumble across an old rerun of Three's a Crowd.

Another person like that for me is David Garrison of Married with Children. After he left the show, that was the last you ever heard of the guy, yet he had been a major cast member!

RetroGuy2000
02-10-2021, 01:57 AM
David Garrison has continued to do occasional parts in TV (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308399/), but he just doesn't want to do weekly episodes. I can see why. It's a very hectic format.

Contrast this to Ann B. Davis, who joined a religious community after her Brady Bunch heyday, and who really could only be convinced to return to TV/film for various Brady Bunch revivals, and even then only reluctantly.

Show business isn't for everyone, and I remember a few celebrities who turned down millions of dollars for even one appearance. It sort of reminds me of reclusive musicians like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who refused to appear in public for many years, or Linn Berggren from Ace of Base, who had her image in eight music videos deliberately blurred, and who only sang in the studio, with no public appearances, for a decade, with all public statements coming only from her siblings.

dee2364
02-10-2021, 10:22 AM
David Garrison has continued to do occasional parts in TV (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308399/), but he just doesn't want to do weekly episodes. I can see why. It's a very hectic format.

Contrast this to Ann B. Davis, who joined a religious community after her Brady Bunch heyday, and who really could only be convinced to return to TV/film for various Brady Bunch revivals, and even then only reluctantly.

That's a very good one. She was not only a major cast member but played an iconic character.

RetroGuy2000
02-10-2021, 10:24 AM
That's a very good one. She was not only a major cast member but played an iconic character.

Definitely iconic!

Chocolate Moose
02-10-2021, 12:11 PM
right!

Charley Knox
02-10-2021, 12:35 PM
That's a very good one. She was not only a major cast member but played an iconic character.
She was also an Emmy award winning actress prior to joining the Brady cast.

SledgeBarone
02-10-2021, 03:01 PM
I don't know how active she was post-Andy Griffith Show/Mayberry RFD, but I read that the actress who played Aunt Bea moved to a small Southern town hoping that it would be a real-life copy of Mayberry.

Yong Fang
02-11-2021, 12:12 AM
I think that acting is a job and that some people to many people want to make their money and make enough money to be able to not work and retire and do what they want. For example, Avery Brooks, who played Captain Sisco on Deep Space Nine, was Hawk on Spencer for Hire and was in the film American History X, more or less quit acting and became a college professor in his hometown. I think some others are like this, they made their money and walked away.

From my very limited understanding, acting is extremely, extremely competitive. I also think many a good actor has been flushed by being in a lunker sitcom which got cancelled. There is also “a look” that studios look for if that makes sense. People also age out, not wanted or whatever reason. I think especially women, a woman plays the role of a sitcom wife, but these are interchangeable. The audience and directors are fickle people.

TMC
05-05-2022, 06:20 AM
I think that acting is a job and that some people to many people want to make their money and make enough money to be able to not work and retire and do what they want. For example, Avery Brooks, who played Captain Sisco on Deep Space Nine, was Hawk on Spencer for Hire and was in the film American History X, more or less quit acting and became a college professor in his hometown. I think some others are like this, they made their money and walked away.

From my very limited understanding, acting is extremely, extremely competitive. I also think many a good actor has been flushed by being in a lunker sitcom which got cancelled. There is also “a look” that studios look for if that makes sense. People also age out, not wanted or whatever reason. I think especially women, a woman plays the role of a sitcom wife, but these are interchangeable. The audience and directors are fickle people.

Speaking of Star Trek, Jolene Blalock (https://moviechat.org/nm0086883/Jolene-Blalock), who was T'Pol (https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/jolene-blalock.html) on Enterprise (https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/lrrr65/so_what_happened_to_the_cast_of_enterprise_they/). Her husband is currently, the CEO of Live Nation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Nation_Entertainment), so she (https://www.instagram.com/jol3ne/?hl=en) presumably (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/30148848-celebrities-who-married-rich-and-disappeared) doesn't have to work so much (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/27180023-what-are-examples-of-showbiz-has-beens-moving-on-to-non-showbiz-careers-) if she's in financial position where she doesn't have to.

TMC
05-05-2022, 06:44 AM
I think that acting is a job and that some people to many people want to make their money and make enough money to be able to not work and retire and do what they want. For example, Avery Brooks, who played Captain Sisco on Deep Space Nine, was Hawk on Spencer for Hire and was in the film American History X, more or less quit acting and became a college professor in his hometown. I think some others are like this, they made their money and walked away.

From my very limited understanding, acting is extremely, extremely competitive. I also think many a good actor has been flushed by being in a lunker sitcom which got cancelled. There is also “a look” that studios look for if that makes sense. People also age out, not wanted or whatever reason. I think especially women, a woman plays the role of a sitcom wife, but these are interchangeable. The audience and directors are fickle people.

Avery Brooks' Deep Space Nine co-star Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) about a year or two ago, said on a podcast (https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/cltr/avery-brooks.html) that Avery never officially retired from acting. And Avery would take on an acting role if offered.

The real reason (https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/avery-brooks-blacklisted.308809/) why we haven't seen Avery Brooks on screen (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000984/) in a long time (his last "real" on-screen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avery_Brooks#Filmography) acting role was in the film 15 Minutes from 2001) is because, according to Cirroc, he was blacklisted (https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepSpaceNine/comments/n61wj6/its_stated_or_rumored_that_avery_brooks_was/) by Hollywood. Avery apparently doesn't have an agent or agency.