HORRIBLE movies by Golden Era star

[jamespowers]

Mr. Powers is right: late in life, some Golden Era stars made a graceful final bow.


Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche had memorable roles in "Trading Places" (1983).

Bette Davis, Lillian Gish(!), Vincent Price, Ann Southern and Harry Carey Jr. were in the dull but respectable film, "The Whales of August" (1987).

As JP said, "Ghost Story" was an okay enough movie; it also starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Melvyn Douglas.

*** Extra bonus point: Melvyn Douglas was really superb in "Being There" (1979).***

Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn were fine in "On Golden Pond" (1981).

David Niven, Elsa Lanchester and Alec Guinness were fun in "Murder by Death" (1976).

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Don't forget Alec Guinness in his most famous role. "Help me ObiWan Kinobi!"
You are right about Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Melvyn Douglas in Ghost Story. I neglected to mention them. They fit in the story as it was sort of a retrospective on their lives and events that effected them today. They had to be old.
Don't forget Vincent Price's voice in the Thriller video. There was a guy who changed with the times. He was a big heavy metal fan too. :eusa_doh:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I heard somewhere that George Lucas wanted the final scene of "Return of the Jedi" to have Ray Milland as the "ghost" of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader). Apparently, Mr. Milland wasn't available (or something), so a look-alike British actor named Sebastian Shaw was hired.


Don't know if this is really true, but it makes for a good story!

 

[jamespowers]

I heard somewhere that George Lucas wanted the final scene of "Return of the Jedi" to have Ray Milland as the "ghost" of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader). Apparently, Mr. Milland wasn't available (or something), so a look-alike British actor named Sebastian Shaw was hired.


Don't know if this is really true, but it makes for a good story!

Ray Milland would have been great for that scene, true or not.

 

[Doctor Strange]

It wouldn't have mattered: he still would have been replaced with Hayden Christiansen as Lucas "always intended"!

Poor forgotten Sebastian Shaw...

 

[scotrace]

Some bowed out before their luster had a chance to tarnish in our memories, either by choice or by fate. Obvious examples of the latter are James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, who never got old or had to take foolish roles as fat dried up has-beens in later life. Gable was pushing the older leading man envelope near the end but managed to duck out before it got too bad.
Others stopped by their own choosing before they hit the skids. Cary Grant went out while still playing romantic leads with panache. William Powell retired after Mr. Roberts and never looked back, though he was offered many scripts. His answer? "What the hell would I want to do that for? To play Elvis' grandfather? Bah!"

The all time retire while you're still hot champ? Greta Garbo.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Poor forgotten Sebastian Shaw...

Oh, he did very well for himself. Had a long career, even longer than Ray Milland's: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0789970/

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[Paisley]

The all time retire while you're still hot champ? Greta Garbo.

According to what I've read, she didn't need the money. And she didn't even give interviews.

 

[jamespowers]

According to what I've read, she didn't need the money. And she didn't even give interviews.

She just wanted to be left alone.

 

[Feraud]

Speaking of Ray Milland, he went from roles like Beau Geste, The Uninviated, Dial M, etc. to having his head grafted onto Rosie Greer's shoulders in The Thing with Two Heads.
Bummer.

 

[HadleyH]

She just wanted to be left alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~ lol lol lol lol

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Speaking of Ray Milland, he went from roles like Beau Geste, The Uninviated, Dial M, etc. to having his head grafted onto Rosie Greer's shoulders in The Thing with Two Heads.
Bummer.

Just another old actor trying to get a-head.


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[Feraud]

ba dum dum <cymbal crash>!

 

[skyvue]

The all time retire while you're still hot champ? Greta Garbo.

Well, yes and no -- Gavin Lambert writes the following in his bio of Norma Shearer:

Norma Shearer made her thirty-ninth and last film for M-G-M, Her Cardboard Lover, in 1942, six months after Garbo made her last film there, Two-Faced Woman. Both failed at the box office, and both stars abandoned their careers without officially retiring.
​

Both stars had taken a two-year hiatus from pictures before returning to work (Shearer made two pictures after returning; Garbo just one) And it appears that both may have seen the writing on the wall, given the failures of their respective swan songs.

So while I'd agree that Garbo's arguably still the champ, Shearer was right behind her.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Edward G. Robinson was very nearly Dr. Zaius in the original Planet of the Apes -- footage still exists of his screen tests. Dare I say he would have done an excellent job in the role?

On the other hand, it's tragic to see Buster Keaton reduced to doing pratfalls in Frankie-and-Annette beach party movies because he needed the money to live on. But even worse is any movie Bob Hope made after 1960 -- and he certainly didn't *need* to work by then.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Dana Andrews was here (in the second half of this film clip): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjiT87dt0xA


And Mickey Rooney Jr. is in it, too!

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[Marc Chevalier]

Then there was poor Gene Kelly, whose final film was the wretched roller disco musical, XANADU (1980).


See Gene Kelly rollerboogie his way to the exit door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeqXSSLVxm4


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[Hemingway Jones]

That being said, I can not agree with the comments about Soylent Green. I think it's a great movie and Edward G Robinson was especially good in it and playing against type. The movie would not have been the same without him.

Hear, hear! Soylent Green maybe people but it can be a people pleaser.

You fellows need to be more careful readers; I never said "Soylent Green" was bad. I have loved that film since I was a child. The only thing that I was lamenting was that poor Joseph Cotton had to get a crowbar to the head! It didn't seem like a dignified role for a great actor.

Lauren Bacall used to do coffee commercials as well. I forget which one; Sanka or Maxwell House.

One of Charlton Heston's last roles was in Kenneth Brannagh's "Hamlet" and his telling of the fall of troy was intense and loaded with gravitas.

 

[WH1]

For sad demises and horrible ends to acting careers how about the Cannon Ball series of movies. Talk about the end of the Rat Pack, the magic was definitely gone.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087032/fullcredits#cast

 

[imoldfashioned]

Poor Lauren--I keep thinking of those awful cat food and Tuesday Morning commercials she's done. I hope she at least got a fat paycheck out of the deal.

For coffee commercials I always remember those Margaret Hamilton ones from the 70's.

Lauren Bacall used to do coffee commercials as well. I forget which one; Sanka or Maxwell House.

 

[Feraud]

Did Lauren do Fancy Feast commercials!? I am having flashbacks..