Question: Which actress paid a high price for her career decisions?
Multiple ones (And Yes, I’ll answer the same question concerning male actors)
- Shirley McLaine – Basically has pissed off EVERYONE she ever worked with over her career and now instead of being a grand dame of the American cinema, she’s a cranky old lady who no one wants in their projects. Given her talents, this is particularly sad as she really should be working more while she’s still with us.
- Faye Dunaway – Imagine Shirley McLaine burning out earlier. Dunaway also put herself on the shelf by being so distinctly unlikable that most of her former costars don’t want to have anything to do with her in any form.
- Molly Ringwald – Decided to turn down Pretty Woman AND Ghost and THEN moved to France. Obviously the two films hit, and when Ringwald came back to the States, everybody forgot her. She was on track for perhaps a Julia Roberts/Demi Moore level career (and the accompanying millions of dollars that came with it) and she made several unwise decisions.
- Elizabeth Taylor – Following the disastrous dip in her career in the late 1960s, Taylor decided to step away from the big screen after The Comedians and Reflections in a Golden Eye both bombed at the box office. While Taylor had earned a staggering amount of money earlier in the decade, the 1970s were a minefield for Taylor as she bombed when she worked and when she worked it was varying degrees of terrible. By the time that she gained the nearly 300lbs that made the National Enquirer savage her (See below), Taylor’s career had hit bottom. All during this time many of Hollywood’s top directors were wooing her and for reasons that were not explained she declined to work with them. Although Taylor was known for her activism later in her life, her film career of consequence ended in 1970. Unfortunately for her,she lived another 41 YEARS.
Elizabeth Taylor at her lowest point