What happens when screen stars end up ghosting on the glitz and glamour of
Tinseltown? Here are some actors who basically disappeared from Hollywood.
Rene Russo seemingly came out of nowhere and planted herself as a steady fixture
in such quintessential '90s movies as In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Tin Cup,
Ransom, and the steamy remake of The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan. When the
2000s rolled around, Russo's output became less consistent, and then,
just like that, she vanished for six years after wrapping production on 2005's Yours,
Mine, and Ours. She wouldn't appear on the big screen again until 2011's Thor, where she played
Chris Hemsworth's Viking goddess mom, Frigga — a role she'd reprise two years later in Thor:
The Dark World and in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, her most recent onscreen role.
While rumors began to spread that Russo disappeared because of her bipolar disorder,
she said she just genuinely needed a break after acting since age 9.
"If I'm playing another watered down version of something I've already done, then just, 'Pass.'"
As for what Russo did during her six years off? According to a 2014
interview with Showbiz 411, she's been gardening. She added,
"And being with my daughter. It was time."
Comedian Dana Carvey rose to prominence in
the early '90s thanks to his breakout performances on Saturday Night Live,
including his famous Church Lady character and impressions of then-President George H.W. Bush.
"Well isn't that special?"
Carvey also starred in another notable sketch you might have heard of:
Wayne's World. Carvey played Mike Myers' sidekick Garth Algar in two hit Wayne's
World movies. Myers went on to even bigger showbiz success, but Carvey didn't fare as well.
In 1997, Carvey's first attempt at a comedy series bombed on ABC, and he began having chest pains,
which required heart bypass surgery. Afterward, something wasn't right. Carvey's pain continued
because the doctor bypassed the wrong artery. Carvey successfully sued the
surgeon for millions and donated the money to charity. By that time, Carvey had moved his
family away from Hollywood to what he described to The Daily Beast as a "small town with trees,"
and that's where the comedian decided to put his focus after his grueling heart ordeal.
During a 2015 appearance on Pete Holmes' podcast,
Carvey dubbed his disappearance from Hollywood as a "half-way Rick Moranis." He's done some work,
including voicing the basset hound Pops in 2016's The Secret Life of Pets,
impersonating President Joe Biden on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and guest-hosting
Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2022. While the SNL alum is toying with making a comeback,
he seems content focusing on his kids, who are up-and-coming comedians themselves. Party on.
For decades Jack Nicholson was front and center at the Academy Awards,
sporting his signature Ray-Bans. Not surprising, considering he's been nominated for twelve Oscars
and won three. Known for indelible performances in such film classics as Chinatown, Easy Rider,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, and many more, Nicholson abruptly brought his
career to a halt. His most recent film is the 2010 feature How Do You Know.
"Drivel does not get to finish. Drivel gets interrupted."
While Nicholson, who was born in 1937, never officially announced his retirement,
that appears to be what's taken place. He didn't disappear completely, though. In the decade-plus
since his last film, Nicholson continues to sit courtside to watch his beloved Los Angeles Lakers.
Sources told Radar in 2013 that he decided to step away from acting due to memory loss. And a
subsequent Radar report offered unsubstantiated claims of dementia. In early 2023, sources told
the Daily Mail that the then-85-year-old actor would no longer leave his Beverly Hills mansion,
with friends reportedly fearing he may die a recluse after leading such a big, colorful life.
Along with starring opposite Jack Nicholson in The Shining, Shelley Duvall's onscreen
credits include Robert Altman's acclaimed Nashville, playing Olive Oyl in Popeye,
and starring in her 1980s TV series Faerie Tale Theatre. Duvall continued acting throughout the
1990s, then disappeared from Hollywood after making the 2002 feature Manna from Heaven.
Duvall reappeared in 2016 — not in a film, but in an episode of Dr. Phil,
revealing her mental health struggles.
"I'm very sick, I need help."
Five years later, she talked about Dr. Phil with The Hollywood Reporter, saying,
"I found out the kind of person he is the hard way. My mother didn't like him,
either. A lot of people, like [my partner] Dan, said, 'You shouldn't have done that, Shelley.'"
In 2022, Duvall made a long-overdue comeback,
when the trailer dropped for the indie horror movie The Forest Hills. Duvall
told People in a February 2023 interview that her protracted absence from Hollywood began
when she returned to her native Texas after her brother was diagnosed with cancer, explaining,
"It's the longest sabbatical I ever took,
but it was for really important reasons — to get in touch with my family again."
The then-73-year-old star also indicated that she was ready to restart her acting career, saying,
"[Jessica Tandy] won an Oscar when she was 80. I can still win."
Known for roles in such big screen hits as Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise,
A League of Their Own, and The Accidental Tourist, for which she won a best supporting actress Oscar,
Geena Davis' onscreen credits have been sporadic in recent years. During the 2010s,
she starred in the short-lived TV series The Exorcist, appeared in
a recurring role on Grey's Anatomy, guested in several 2019 episodes of Netflix's GLOW,
and appeared in the 2020 feature Ava, starring Jessica Chastain.
Davis' absence from the screen hasn't been by choice. In an interview with The Guardian,
she explained that roles became scarcer, saying,
"As soon as I hit 40, I fell off the cliff. I really did."
Speaking with Interview magazine in 2016, Davis said she'd prefer to wait for a good,
meaty part than take whatever's offered, simply to have a job, saying,
"It's okay if it takes two or three years for something really good to come along,
but I don't want to wait 10 years for something great to come along."
She told Interview she wasn't thrilled with the way it had been working out, explain,
"It's maddening. It's so frustrating. It's completely embarrassing."
However, Davis has other irons in the fire beyond acting. In 2004,
the mother of three founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender Media, with a mission
to work within the entertainment industry to promote greater gender balance. Then, in 2015,
she co-founded the Bentonville Film Festival, championing female, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ filmmakers.
Randy Quaid was in his early 20s when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in
The Last Detail, landing himself an Oscar nomination. After that,
Quaid became a sought-after character actor, whose many credits include Midnight Express,
Independence Day, National Lampoon's Vacation, and its many sequels. In recent years, however,
Quaid has been AWOL from Hollywood. His latest credit is the 2018 indie All You
Can Eat. A decade prior, it was a direct-to-video comedy called Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach.
In 2008, Quaid's allegedly abusive behavior toward his fellow actors while performing in
a Seattle play resulted in an $81,000-plus fine and a lifetime ban from Actors' Equity. That
incident touched off a downward spiral when, in 2009, Quaid and his wife Evi were arrested
after checking out of a California hotel without paying their $10,000 bill. After
missing several court dates, the pair were again arrested, ultimately settling the case. In 2010,
they were booked again, this time for squatting in a home they'd once owned. Later that same year,
Quaid and his wife were arrested in Vancouver, where Quaid asked Canadian immigration authorities
to give him refugee protection from nefarious forces he claimed were out to assassinate them.
"We believe there are to be a malignant tumor of star-whackers in Hollywood."
In 2015, they were arrested in Vermont as alleged fugitives, but were ultimately released. Later
that year, the couple settled in Burlington, Vermont, where, in 2022, they purchased a home.
As a child actor, Frankie Muniz broke through as star of the 2000 film My Dog Skip, and,
later that same year, the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. By the time Malcolm concluded
its seven-season run in 2006, Muniz had also starred in a few movies,
including Big Fat Liar, Agent Cody Banks, and its sequel, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.
Post-Malcolm, however, Muniz shared the experience of many former child actors when
offers dried up as he grew from kid to teen to adult. Reduced to the occasional TV guest spot,
Muniz eventually turned to reality TV, competing on Dancing with the Stars in 2017,
which led to hosting the short-lived spinoff Dancing with the Stars:
Juniors, and appearing in a 2022 revival of The Surreal Life.
In January 2023, Muniz took to Instagram to reveal he was officially embarking on a whole
new career as a NASCAR driver, having previously dabbled in professional racing in the late 2000s.
It had been Muniz's childhood dream to race NASCAR. In his official statement Muniz wrote,
"I look forward to not only demonstrating my ability on
the track and just how serious I am in progressing in my racing career,
but also showing my son and family what it is to chase your dreams and re-invent yourself."
Muniz subsequently made his NASCAR debut at Daytona, where he placed 11th, later tweeting,
"Holy moly!!! That was the most insane thing I've ever done."
Phoebe Cates catapulted to instant stardom in the early 1980s thanks
to her performances in hit movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Gremlins,
and Private School. She subsequently starred in the 1984 TV miniseries Lace and its sequel,
with additional starring roles in Bright Lights, Big City; Drop Dead Fred; Bodies, Rest & Motion;
and 1994's Princess Caraboo. Cates' next film role wasn't until 2001, in The Anniversary Party, with
more than a decade until her next credit, a small voice role in the 2015 video game Lego Dimensions.
A big part of why Cates retreated from Hollywood has to do with her family. In 1989,
Cates wed actor Kevin Kline, 16 years her senior.
"We're just sort of settling into married life. The first
couple of weeks, you know, it's a little strange."
The pair originally met when she was auditioning for The Big Chill in 1982. The couple then
reconnected a few years later while both were rehearsing for different plays at New York
Public Theater. Cates and Kline welcomed son Owen in 1991 and daughter Greta in 1994, which shifted
Cates' focus from acting to motherhood. In a 1998 interview with Playboy, Kline explained,
"We have agreed to alternate so that we're never working at the same time.
[But] whenever it's been her slot to work, Phoebe has chosen to stay with the children."
In 2005, Cates branched out into the world of retail when she opened her gift boutique,
Blue Tree, located in New York City's Upper East Side.
Craig Kilborn came to prominence while anchoring the late-night edition of ESPN's SportsCenter,
a gig he held from 1993 until 1997. In 1996, he was tapped to host Comedy Central's new offering,
The Daily Show. He remained there until 1998, when he was replaced by Jon Stewart. When host
Tom Snyder parted ways with The Late Late Show in 1999, Kilborn stepped in, hosting more than
1,900 episodes before deciding to leave in 2004. In a 2010 interview with the Los Angeles Times,
he explained how disenchanted he'd become with the five-nights-a-week grind, saying,
"I didn't leave to do anything else, I left to leave. [...] I achieved my goals,
and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be."
"I say I lost interest in the comedy of late night. I got bored of the comedy of late night."
Meanwhile, Kilborn dabbled in acting, appearing in such films as Old School, The Shaggy Dog,
and Benchwarmers. His most recent credit is a 2020 episode of the sitcom United We Fall.
In 2010, Kilborn made a brief return to the talk-show format with The Kilborn File,
but it was canceled after a six-week trial run. Nearly a decade later,
Kilborn opened up even further about why he exited late night, telling The Philadelphia Inquirer,
"Creatively I lost interest. I just developed a specific,
aristocratic comedic sensibility that didn't mesh with late night. Fortunately,
I have an outlet for it with my personal life. And now, it appears, Instagram."