Show business is notoriously fickle. Some actors are lucky enough to have careers that
last decades, whereas others struggle to capitalize on early success. If you're curious about
what happened to the ones who fit in the latter group, keep watching to find out!
Robert Duncan McNeill owes a lot to Star Trek. One of his first notable roles was as Starfleet
cadet Nicholas Locarno on The Next Generation episode "The First Duty." He then became cocky
helmsman Tom Paris on Voyager, which would become his defining role. He would ultimately
phase acting out of his life and replace it with directing, a skill he learned over multiple
Trek series.
On his first day shooting the Voyager pilot, McNeill approached producer Rick Berman and
expressed interest in directing an episode as soon as possible. He'd long wanted to direct,
but the shows he acted in kept getting canceled. So instead of waiting around this time, he
wanted a chance to direct during Voyager's first season. He ultimately got his chance
with season three's "Sacred Ground," and he would go on to direct three more episodes
of Voyager. When that show ended, he took a few small acting roles and then transitioned
to full-time directing and producing, with his credits ranging from such shows as The
O.C., Chuck, and Blue Bloods.
Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet was a huge hit at the time and
still endures as one of the best Shakespeare adaptations ever. It was especially notable
for casting actual teenagers as the title characters, with Olivia Hussey as Juliet and
Leonard Whiting as Romeo. Both earned praise for their performances and were considered
future stars. Hussey would indeed go on to have a respectable career, but Whiting all
but vanished.
The actor became a victim of typecasting, as he played a few romantic leads in smaller
movies before becoming jaded. He took a break from acting and tried his hand at writing,
penning a series of books and plays that never got published. He lived off of film residuals
and the odd voice acting gig or art picture. Interestingly enough, in 2015, Whiting and
Hussey reunited on screen in Social Suicide, which was a bit of a social media-age retelling
of Romeo and Juliet.
Despite concerns about typecasting, almost every actor who's played James Bond has gone
on to have a solid career outside of their work in espionage. George Lazenby, however,
is the exception. The Australian actor played Bond in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service,
only to outright vanish from Hollywood after the movie hit theaters. However, he regrets
nothing.
Lazenby was a model by trade with no acting experience who bluffed his way through the
audition to get the part. Unfortunately, during production, he spent much of his time clashing
with Bond producer Cubby Broccoli, which soured his experience. Nevertheless, Lazenby was
offered a million-dollar contract for six more movies. But his agent convinced him not
to take it, for two reasons. First, he believed that spy characters like Bond were on their
way out. Second, he believed it wouldn't be hard for his client to find more million-dollar
roles.
"And my manager was telling me that James Bond was over. You know, it was, 'Make peace,
not love, uh, not war.'"
Lazenby announced that he was stepping down from the part before On Her Majesty's Secret
Service even premiered. He went on to act in minor roles, but he never landed any of
those big parts his agent forecasted. In 2017, he told USA Today,
"I'm glad I didn't do another Bond, because I would've been totally trapped in the film
industry, and I wouldn't have had the life I had. I wouldn't have had the kids I had.
I'm quite satisfied with the way my life has turned out so far."
While you might not recognize the name "Peter Ostrum," you almost certainly know his face.
As a teenager, he played Charlie Bucket, the beating heart of 1971's Willy Wonka & the
Chocolate Factory.
"I think I'll buy just one more, for my Grandpa Joe."
He performed the role with so much curiosity and joy that we're still talking about it
today. Alas, though, he never cashed that golden ticket in for long-lasting stardom.
Instead, he disappeared for a while, which is just how he wanted it. After Willy Wonka,
Ostrum was offered a three-picture deal. But he turned it down and eventually left acting
behind. Inspired by a veterinarian who took care of his family's horse, he decided to
become a vet himself. He got his degree from Cornell University, and he works as a large
animal veterinarian in upstate New York to this day.
"Am I famous? In my eyes, absolutely not, and I'm amused that everybody's here to talk
to me. Ha ha! And amazed."
Ostrum has been reluctant to talk about playing Charlie for years. He didn't even tell his
future wife that he was in the movie until she was about to meet his parents. But around
1990, he started going to a local school one day a year to answer questions from kids.
He also opened up publicly in 2005, when Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
was released, and he's since taken part in several Willy Wonka-related promos and screenings.
Jennifer Grey had a small but memorable role as the sister of the title character in 1986's
Ferris Bueller's Day Off before starring as Frances "Baby" Houseman the following year
in Dirty Dancing. That role earned her fame, acclaim, and a Golden Globe nomination. But
it's impossible to talk about Grey's rise without also talking about her subsequent
fall. While her co-star Patrick Swayze's [SWAY-zee] star only grew, Grey hit a wall. In 1990,
she got a nose job to remove a visible bump. This drastically changed her appearance, and
without that distinctive feature, her roles dried up. She's called it "the nose job from
hell" and once said,
"I went into the ­operating room a ­celebrity and came out anonymous."
Grey has gotten plenty of work in the ensuing years, including a recurring role as herself
in the late 90s sitcom It's Like, You Know..., but she's yet to land another big role. She's
still grateful for her part in Dirty Dancing and the joy it brings people, but that doesn't
mean it's not repetitive. At an anniversary event for the film, she joked,
"I wish anytime I went into a nice restaurant and asked for a table they said, 'Well, I'm
sure you don't want one in the corner.'"
"Nobody puts baby in a corner."
Avery Brooks played Benjamin Sisko on all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
going from the commander of a backwater post to a man on par with any admiral in Starfleet.
Though it was never quite the ratings hit as The Next Generation or Voyager, Deep Space
Nine is now regarded as one of the best Trek series. Sisko was unique among Star Trek leads.
Besides being the first black lead character, he was more emotional and a more obvious misfit
than the average Starfleet officer.
Brooks stands in stark contrast to his fellow Trek captains and commanders. While most remain
active in showbiz to this day, he stepped away from the limelight, as he took some time
to raise his daughters and became a professor at Rutgers University. He's taken on smaller
movie roles, but he primarily performs in theater. He never landed a big onscreen role
again, but he doesn't seem to want one. And he doesn't give many interviews, though by
all accounts he seems happy with where his life is now.
The Wire's Proposition Joe, as played by Robert F. Chew, stood in stark contrast to the show's
other drug lords. He was far more relaxed, verbose, and manipulative. He was also one
of the show's more sympathetic characters, despite ostensibly being one of the bad guys.
He's one of just a handful of street-level characters who appeared in all five seasons.
But after The Wire ended, Chew only had two minor movie parts and disappeared from public
view, entirely by his own choice.
He lived his whole life in Baltimore, the city where The Wire took place. He was born
there, he went to college there, and he died there. He was a fixture of the Charm City's
theater scene for a few decades. He also found time for some TV work, including small parts
on Wire creator David Simon's previous shows Homicide: Life On The Street and The Corner.
During his time on The Wire, he taught acting at the Arena Players Youth Theatre. In fact,
he got 22 of his students roles on the show, and he coached many of the series' new and
inexperienced actors.
After the show concluded, Chew could've moved to New York or Los Angeles and found even
greater success in Hollywood. Instead, he stayed in Baltimore and continued to teach
acting. The city was too important to him, and he stayed there and helped people hone
their craft until his death in January 2013.
In the early 90s, Eric Da Re played Leo Johnson, the first true villain of Twin Peaks. As an
abusive husband and the most obvious suspect in the death of Laura Palmer, Leo terrified
the town and had every member of the audience waiting for his comeuppance.
"I don't know, he's the obvious one."
Da Re could've had a long career in show business after Twin Peaks. Instead, he vanished, and
it's not entirely clear why. He was born into a showbiz family. His father Aldo Ray was
a go-to "tough guy" actor for decades, and his mother Johanna Ray is a casting director
who's worked extensively with David Lynch, the creator of Twin Peaks. After Twin Peaks
was canceled, Da Re spent years playing smaller roles in obscure movies before outright vanishing
from Hollywood around 2002. He hasn't made a movie since then, and he rarely makes public
appearances. In 2012, he did briefly resurface, though, when he was wrongfully suspected of
starting fires in Los Angeles.
Zach Galligan burst onto the scene in 1984 as Billy Peltzer in the hit movie Gremlins.
His performance proved his value as a young actor with plenty of potential. But despite
that massive early success, he's done little of note since then. Galligan knew early on
that executive producer Steven Spielberg's involvement meant the movie would be a hit,
an assumption that proved to be correct. Within three weeks of release, he was recognized
worldwide, everywhere from local restaurants all the way to South Africa.
After Gremlins, Galligan went to college at Columbia University. After school, he moved
back to Los Angeles hoping to restart his acting career, but those four years away had
really sapped his momentum. He narrowly missed getting cast in such movies as St. Elmo's
Fire, The Rocketeer, and Platoon. He was able to reprise the part of Billy in 1990's Gremlins
2: The New Batch, which bombed in its original release but has since become a cult classic.
He's spent his time since then still acting, as well as writing and teaching acting. He's
never quite found that next big role, but given how his life has turned out, he thinks
that may actually have been for the best.
Dan Lloyd was unforgettable as little Danny Torrance in the 1980 horror classic The Shining,
though he never found the role all that scary. Audiences may jump at Danny riding his bike
up to those creepy twins, but offscreen he played games with the actual twins between
takes.
"Come and play with us, Danny."
Even when Lloyd watched the movie years later, he wasn't horrified. Instead, he was reminded
of all the fun he had on set. It was his one big role before disappearing from show business.
But don't worry about him, as he's doing just fine.
Lloyd tried out for a few more roles after The Shining, but he had trouble landing anything,
so he just left the business entirely. He now teaches biology at a community college
in Kentucky, where he learned the hard way not to tell his students about his past lest
they disrupt class with chants of "redrum." He doesn't give many interviews about his
acting days, though he has revealed that he loved it then and that he's happy with his
life now. And in 2019, he had a cameo in the Shining sequel Doctor Sleep.
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