Many actors have retreated from the spotlight
over the years, sometimes setting the stage
for a big comeback, and sometimes never to
return.
Whether a star has an illustrious résumé
or is known for a single iconic role, taking
on the wrong part can be the final nail in
an acting career's coffin.
Here are some roles that made actors quit
Hollywood for good.
Peter Ostrum in Willy Wonka and the Charlie
Factory
The first and only role Peter Ostrum ever
took was the sweetly naive Charlie Bucket
in the original screen adaptation of Roald
Dahl's classic.
As Charlie, Ostrum was poised to inherit a
delicious empire, but after the movie wrapped,
he stepped away from the spotlight.
Ostrum later told The Daily Express,
"Being in the film industry as a child was
hard, and I couldn't keep it going.
But in the end leaving was the right decision."
Ultimately, he turned down a three-picture
deal after Willy Wonka, but he remains close
to his co-stars even today.
Using his earnings, he bought a horse — his
first step towards his ongoing career in veterinary
medicine, which is a whole lot better than
running a factory notorious for mutilating
curious children.
Jake Lloyd in The Phantom Menace
Landing the leading role in one of the most
hotly anticipated films of the '90s should
have been a dream come true for Jake Lloyd.
Sadly, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace wound
up being the first — and arguably the worst
— installment in a disappointing prequel
trilogy.
As bad as it was for viewers, though, Lloyd's
experience a complete nightmare.
"I'll try spinning that's a good trick."
According to Lloyd years later, playing the
part made his life "a living hell," and no
amount of spinning would help.
He was bullied mercilessly when he wasn't
being bombarded with interviews, at times
doing as many as 60 a day.
"Have you still got all the paraphernalia,
all the little figurines, all the merchandise?"
"No."
"You shunned it a bit?"
"No.
I just didn't keep the merchandise."
Following a string of voice acting parts for
Star Wars pod racing video games, Lloyd's
most notable brush with fame was a high speed
police chase in 2015.
Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game
He may have earned an Oscar nomination for
his performance in the sleeper hit The Crying
Game in 1992, but Jaye Davidson never considered
himself an actor.
In fact, he tried to back out of the role
twice after he was cast.
A very private person, Davidson had it written
into his contract that he would not have to
do any publicity following the film's release,
though he did attend a 25th anniversary reunion
in 2017.
Upon seeing an initial screening, Davidson
explained to Rolling Stone that it made him
very uncomfortable, saying,
"I'm not a performer, do you know what I mean?
I don't leave messages on answer phones, in
case of the hideous possibility that I will
hear my own voice."
Davidson promptly returned to his roots as
a fashion assistant and model.
He appeared in just one other major film,
1994's Stargate, presumably because he loved
the costumes.
Carrie Henn in Aliens
Nine-year-old Carrie Henn was living in Lakenheath,
England, where her military family was stationed,
when a casting call for the 1986 space horror
flick Aliens rolled through town.
Henn caught the eye of director James Cameron,
and though Henn had never acted, Sigourney
Weaver voted to cast her as the orphaned survivor,
Newt, after their very first meeting.
The chemistry between the two was immediate,
cementing the mother-daughter bond as a central
theme of the film.
After primary filming had ended and Weaver
and Henn were the only two actors left on
set for effects shots, the two became close.
"She and I really bonded because everyone
left us, and we used to always joke that we
were the orphans that nobody wanted."
While she has fond memories of filming the
gooey bug-hunt, she never took another acting
part.
She did not want to live
in L.A. after returning to the States because
it would mean being separated from her family.
It also didn't help much that Newt's character
was killed off in hypersleep prior to the
events of Alien 3.
Aliens is Henn's only IMDb credit, and today,
she's an elementary school teacher… who
occasionally signs copies of the Aliens DVD
for her students.
Heather Donahue in The Blair Witch Project
The release of The Blair Witch Project in
1999 marked the arrival of found-footage horror,
a subgenre which seemingly just will not die.
Sadly, the career of the film's lead star,
Heather Donahue, did not have the same staying
power.
Donahue managed to make a variety of appearances
in indie horror flicks and on TV, including
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but despite
her convincing performance as a terrified,
lost camper, she never found a niche in high-profile
roles.
Ten years later, she finally cashed in her
chips, and hasn't sought acting work since,
telling People,
"I took all my stuff into the desert relating
to my acting career and burned it all."
Donahue turned to writing instead, and had
her first book, Growgirl, published in 2012.
The memoir chronicles her experience growing
medical marijuana on a pot farm in California.
She probably needed the stuff after that one
time she totally freaked out in the woods.
"What was that?"
Sean Connery in The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen
You can thank the 2003 flop The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen for the retirement
of legendary actor Sean Connery.
Despite the great hype surrounding this comic
book adaptation, it was a disaster on all
fronts, and the trouble started well before
the movie ever saw a screen.
Connery was reportedly perpetually at odds
with the film's director, Stephen Norrington,
a tension that resulted in heated verbal exchanges
during filming and post-production.
It was the last straw for the screen legend,
and this extraordinary mess of a movie marked
Connery's last appearance in front of the
cameras.
Always ornery, he remarked to GQ:
"I was fed up of dealing with f***ing idiots.
For years there has been a widening gap between
people who can make films and people who can't."
His last role on record happened in 2012,
when he produced and provided the lead voice
for Sir Billi, which was another critical
disaster...for obvious reasons.
"Can this octogenarian….
And his goat…..
Save the day?"
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