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Post by mikef6 on Mar 18, 2017 15:50:36 GMT
Warner Baxter is a prime example. He was a popular leading man in early sound pictures. He won Best Actor at the Second Annual Oscars as The Cisco Kid for “In Old Arizona” (1929), reputed to be the first Talkie filmed out of doors. He immediately went into a two year downward spiral until he went back to the Kid in “The Cisco Kid” (1931). After another two year slump, he got “42nd Street” (1933) and was back on top. (All this is by Baxter’s own account. Even though he seems to have worked steadily, he didn't get those prestige pictures.) In 1939, he had to return to the Cisco Kid for a third and final picture. The final career resurgence for Baxter was a 10-picture series based on a popular radio mystery, Crime Doctor. Baxter was employed at Columbia from 1943 to 1949 as Doctor Ordway, the crime solving physician. After the final Crime Doctor film, Baxter only appeared in three movies before his death in 1951. What a rollercoaster ride he had.
What are your favorite stories about up ‘n down Hollywood careers?
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 18, 2017 16:09:03 GMT
Cary Grant was actually considering retiring before To Catch A Thief. This would lead to his career resurgence with NxNW and Operation Petticoat making him a bigger BO draw than ever
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begob
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Post by begob on Mar 18, 2017 16:12:58 GMT
Cary Grant was actually considering retiring before To Catch A Thief. This would lead to his career resurgence with NxNW and Operation Petticoat making him a bigger BO draw than ever Body Odor?
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Post by teleadm on Mar 18, 2017 16:39:31 GMT
Errol Flynn, did a few movies in england trying to fund a William Tell movie that was never made, his comeback roles in The Sun Also Rises, and Too Much, Too Soon where he played his old drinking buddy John Barrymore.
The Cary Grant flop was Dream Wife 1953, anyone seen that movie? Is it as bad as they say?
One should mention Whataever happened to Baby Jane? Joan did a few more horrors, while Bette was more diverse.
Don Ameche lovely in Heaven Can Wait, returned many years later in Trading Places and Cocoon
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Post by politicidal on Mar 18, 2017 18:41:42 GMT
I think the best modern examples include Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Ryan Reynolds.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Mar 18, 2017 22:37:44 GMT
Mary Astor (1906-1987)
Astor began her long motion picture career as a 14 year old teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s. her first small part in a dream sequence ended up on the cutting room floor but after her next few films she began to receive critical recognition. In 1926 Mary Astor was included in a list The WAMPAS Baby Stars which was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which honoured 13 young actresses each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom As the film industry made the transition to talkies in the late 20's, Fox studio gave her a sound test in 1929, which she failed because they found her voice to be too deep. Astor was released her from her contract and she found herself out of work. she used this time taking voice training and singing lessons , but no roles were offered.
Mary Astor debuted in her first talkie, Ladies Love Brutes (1930) at Paramount, which co-starred friend Fredric March. her career was beginning to pick up but suffered another slump when she had a nervous breakdown brought on by the trauma of the tragic death of her husband . She picked up again and had some good starring roles which drew attention in Red Dust (1932) and The Kennel Murder Case (1933), but a troubled re-marriage saw her abandon Hollywood for the social scene of New York. While there she met the playwright George Kaufman and they had an affair, which she documented in her now infamous diary. In 1935 news broke of the custody battle over Astor and Thorpe's 4 yr old daughter during divorce proceedings Astor was forced to defend herself as Thorpe threatened to use Astor's diary in the proceedings, which told of her affairs with many celebrities.
Astor had just begun work as Edith Cortwright, opposite Walter Huston in the title role of Dodsworth (1936) Producer Samuel Goldwyn was urged to fire her, as her contract included a morality clause, but Goldwyn refused and the movie was a huge hit and had rave reviews. The scandal had caused no harm to Astor's career, which was actually revitalized because of the custody fight and the wide publicity it generated. Dodsworth's success was the public's acceptance and assured the studios that Astor remained a viable commercial property. Her best and most famous roles followed Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941).and she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Great Lie (1941).
Mary Astor held back from being propelled into the upper echelon of movie stars by these successes. Personally she always declined offers of starring in her own right. Not wanting the responsibility of top billing and having to "carry the picture," she preferred the security of being a featured player . She made many more memorable film appearances and did some TV work. After 109 movies in a career spanning 45 years, she turned in her Screen Actors Guild card and retired after a her final key role as Jewel Mayhew in Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
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Post by neurosturgeon on Mar 19, 2017 2:53:21 GMT
The Cary Grant flop was Dream Wife 1953, anyone seen that movie? Is it as bad as they say? When I was about 12, I set out to watch every Cary Grant film, making a list. I would get up in the middle of the night to see him, but "Dream Wife" had me wondering who could have thought that film was a good idea. Cary was pretty good about selecting his films, but that one is just plain stupid.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 19, 2017 18:06:01 GMT
Seems like Judy Garland would be among the most prominent examples.
Dumped by MGM after 15 years, most of them as a top earner; reinventing herself as a major light of the concert stage, paving the way for her triumphant screen comeback in A Star Is Born; the subsequent collapse of the multi-picture deal between Warners and her production company Transcona; another screen comeback in Judgement At Nuremberg and another triumph (at Carnegie Hall) taking place in the same year, leading to a major TV special followed by a series; the one-season failure of that series; two more screen appearances, more years of concerts and yet another planned but abortive screen comeback after four years away (Valley Of the Dolls); still more concerts.
She was often down, but never out.
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shield
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Post by shield on Mar 20, 2017 6:21:17 GMT
I think the best modern examples include Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Ryan Reynolds. And John Travolta
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Post by politicidal on Mar 20, 2017 16:13:12 GMT
I think the best modern examples include Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Ryan Reynolds. And John Travolta Blast, you're right!
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Post by MiketheMechanic on Mar 21, 2017 2:52:59 GMT
John Travolta has had more ups and downs in his career, probably more than anyone in the modern era.
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Post by telegonus on Mar 24, 2017 6:58:38 GMT
John Travolta has had more ups and downs in his career, probably more than anyone in the modern era. Travolta, definitely. We could put together a fairly long list of gifted actors of recent vintage many of us would like to see make comebacks, or to have had second winds (whatever). I think of Kevin Costner. Also, Meg Tilly, Roseanna Arquette and a lot of other young actresses from the Eighties, including Brits and Europeans. Greta Scacchi (sp?) comes to mind. The thing about today that keeps this from happening as often as it did in the old days is the lack of infrastructure in the movie business.The old Hollywood is dead. Movies get made everywhere these days. It's not like an actor quits or gets dropped from one studio, gets picked up by another, and enjoys a second or third act, the way, say, Joan Crawford did.
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Post by telegonus on Mar 24, 2017 7:14:46 GMT
Warner Baxter is a prime example. He was a popular leading man in early sound pictures. He won Best Actor at the Second Annual Oscars as The Cisco Kid for “In Old Arizona” (1929), reputed to be the first Talkie filmed out of doors. He immediately went into a two year downward spiral until he went back to the Kid in “The Cisco Kid” (1931). After another two year slump, he got “42nd Street” (1933) and was back on top. (All this is by Baxter’s own account. Even though he seems to have worked steadily, he didn't get those prestige pictures.) In 1939, he had to return to the Cisco Kid for a third and final picture. The final career resurgence for Baxter was a 10-picture series based on a popular radio mystery, Crime Doctor. Baxter was employed at Columbia from 1943 to 1949 as Doctor Ordway, the crime solving physician. After the final Crime Doctor film, Baxter only appeared in three movies before his death in 1951. What a rollercoaster ride he had. What are your favorite stories about up ‘n down Hollywood careers? From the studio age, George Raft comes to mind. He did alright at Paramount after hitting it big with his coin flipping gangster in the two Howards' (Hughes and Hawks) Scarface. After a few modest hits, nothing really huge, Raft's fortunes at Paramount drifted downward in the late Thirties. He signed on with Warners and,--presto!--he found a studio where he was a good fit, thanks in large measure to his longtime friendship with James Cagney. Raft did better than ever for a few years, then a certain Mr. Bogart rose, became a surprise star, then an even bigger surprise superstar, and Raft quit the studio. Yet even that stupid move didn't ruin him. He had some successful films elsewhere, mostly at RKO, then saw his stock fall again, this time due as much to age and the rise of television as anything else. Charles Bickford had his share of ups and downs in Hollywood. He began as a rugged leading man type along the lines of George Bancroft in the early talkie era, was with MGM for a few years, even got to co-star with Greta Garbo, then broke with Metro for a bunch of reasons, fell out of favor with the studios, slipped, became a B actor for a while. His return to Broadway, in a play that was not a hit, seemed to raise his status in Hollywood, which helped get him cast as Slim in the 1939 Of Mice And Men, with that role becoming rather, broadly speaking, the template for the new, kinder, gentler Charles Bickford who went on to great success as a character actor for the remainder of his long life ( Song Of Bernadette, Duel In The Sun, The Farmer's Daughter, Johnny Belinda,, A Star Is Born, The Big Country), winding up his career as Lee J. Cobb's "replacement" on the TV western The Virginian for a couple of years. A class act, and a refined presence despite his rugged appearance, Bickford went out a winner in feature films with his gentlemanly performance in the delightful western comedy A Big Hand For The Little Lady.
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Post by TheOriginalPinky on Mar 24, 2017 14:19:28 GMT
Mickey Rooney. You either love him or hate him, but he's always managed to bounce back. I think there was more to him than met the eye. He was very good at what he did.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Mar 24, 2017 15:16:01 GMT
Nor "several" but Frank Sinatra's comeback in "From Here to Eternity" was pretty spectacular after his slump.
Robert Downey, Jr. seems to be doing pretty well after his physical and legal difficulties.
Mel Gibson ? The jury is possibly still be out on that one.
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Lynx
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Post by Lynx on Mar 24, 2017 15:20:49 GMT
I also would have to agree with......Mel Gibson. Hopefully, this time, he'll mind his "P"'s and "Q"'s.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Mar 24, 2017 15:29:14 GMT
LynxThing with Gibson is that even if he keeps his mouth shut, the viewing public knows what is going on in his mind and some of it is pretty hard to "get past" for many people. Has anyone seen much of Cosmo Kramer lately ?
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Post by TheOriginalPinky on Mar 24, 2017 15:30:52 GMT
LynxThing with Gibson is that even if he keeps his mouth shut, the viewing public knows what is going on in his mind and some of it is pretty hard to "get past" for many people. Has anyone seen much of Cosmo Kramer lately ? Comparing Michael Richards' career to Gibson's is kind of silly. Gibson was on top and had a further way to fall. Richards' career was only as good as Sienfield, and then, even before "the incident", he tanked.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Mar 24, 2017 15:34:40 GMT
TheOriginalPinky"Comparing Michael Richards' career to Gibson's is kind of silly" Good thing then that I did not compare them. Mentioned in the same thread was all.
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Post by TheOriginalPinky on Mar 24, 2017 15:35:35 GMT
TheOriginalPinky"Comparing Michael Richards' career to Gibson's is kind of silly" Good thing then that I did not compare them. Mentioned in the same thread was all. It was a comparison.
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