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“Completely Abandoned Acting”: 30 People Share Celebs That “Disappeared Out Of Nowhere”
While being in media, music or just on TV means that someone will be in the limelight by default, it doesn’t mean it will always stay like that. Fame can wax and wane, but there are also celebrities who really just don’t want to be celebrities. Indeed, a decent amount of folks just take their fortune and retire young.
People online share examples of celebrities that were household names at one point and suddenly just disappeared from the public eye. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts in the comments below.
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#1
Rick Morranis.... His wife got cancer at the hieght of his career and he stopped working to beat full time dad till his kids graduated. ❤️.
RELATED:
#2
Geena Davis.
Jetztinberlin: She's been running a non-profit org advocating for better representation for women in Hollywood on & off-camera since 2004.
#5
David Caruso. Good riddance. He can't act. He always looks like he's trying to hold in a fart. His voice is fingernails on a blackboard.
#7
Danny Lloyd who played Danny Torrance in the Shining only acted in one other small role. He's a professor in Kentucky now.
#8
Charlie Korsmo
Kid from Dick Tracy, Peter Pan's son in Hook, dude was everywhere in the 90s.
Last I know of him he did the smart thing and cashed out for a normal life.
#11
Bobbie Gentry.
She’s still alive, but she stepped out of the spotlight at the height of her career and after a couple of huge hit songs.
She sang Ode to Billy Joe and Fancy.
But she won’t interview. She won’t talk about her career.
#12
Steve Guttenberg.
Boraxo: This one bothers me. Police Academy 6 left me hanging and I might not ever see a 7
#14
One who literally disappeared was Joe Pichler. He was in one of the Beethoven movies. Back in 2006 when he was 18, he disappeared after spending time at his friends house and his car was found the car park of a local restaurant. There was a note in the car, presumably written by him which stated how he wished he was a better brother. Police believe it to be a s*****e note. Despite this, they've never found a body nor any other trace of him. Most likely he's dead by now.
#15
Leelee Sobieski. She was a bit of a celebrity crush for me back in the day. From the look of her IMDb she’s barely been in anything for the last decade or so. Her last credited movie was a Turkish made for TV movie in 2018.
#17
For me its Martin Lawrence. I feel like I used to see him everywhere but I don't know what he's up to nowadays.
#18
Meg Ryan.
alexmo210: Sad that I think of her I remember When Harry Met Sally/breakup with Dennis Quaid/bad plastic surgery. She was It for a while.
#19
Bonnie Hunt.
Anonymous: She’s totally dropped off the map. Had a huge crush on her in the ‘90’s.
#20
Dolores Hart, she was on a movie with Elvis and in her way to the A list in Hollywood when she decided to join a monastic community an become a nun. There's an HBO documentary about it named "God is the bigger Elvis".
#21
Sabrina Lloyd. I last saw her on Numbers and I know she was in a few things after that but, nothing in 10 years.
#22
Action star Michael Dudikoff. Starred in the American Ninja movies in the 80's. Was on track to be as big as the other heros like Arnold, Van Damme and Stallone but faded away.
#23
The guy who played Mitch Kramer in Dazed in Confused.
Also the girl from Matilda and the Miracle on 34th Street remake.
#24
Joe Torres, the guy who played Danny on the old show "Hey Dude!" on Nickelodeon.
Literally no one can find him.
#28
Brandy. I know she's made music and she's still alive, but I haven't heard anything from her even remotely news worthy since the 1997 Cinderella.
#29
There was a movie called Amazing Grace & Chuck. The young man who starred in it as Chuck, a Little League whiz-kid pitcher who decides to stop playing baseball until there are no more nuclear weapons -- and then his quest goes "viral" and all the kids stop playing their sports, across the world, until no more nukes -- and then when that doesn't work, the kids all stop speaking. Just refuse to talk.
The kid that played Chuck has exactly one movie IMDB credit, that movie.
#30
Eva Mendes.
TGrady902: Holy cow you’re right! She has barely been in anything going on almost a decade now. You could have told me she was still in every other movie made and I would have just assumed I hadn’t seen them. Super surprising honestly.
In the world of entertainment, there are numerous stories about celebrities who, at the peak of their fame, chose to retreat from the public eye. This phenomenon often mirrors real-life situations where individuals go missing or choose a life of anonymity.
For example, some of the reasons people might disappear deliberately range from wanting more privacy to escaping personal challenges.
#31
Andrew Lincoln.
dan0314: He went back home to spend time with his family, AFAIK he’s done some smaller stuff in the UK
#33
Brittany Murphy. I loved her in Don’t Say a Word. Later found out that she’d passed away but the cause of death is so weird. Especially with her husband passing away half a year later.
Still not over it.
#36
Hale and Pace. Pretty much everywhere during the late 80s/early 90s cusp, then disappeared.
#39
Jack Dee - He was really popular once and I love Lead Balloon but you don’t see much of him these days.
#40
Gaz Top. Used to be on every kids TV show or so it seemed.
He told me to f**k off at some sort of roadshow (can't remember what it was for) when I asked him for his autograph when I was about 11 or 12. Happy days.
#41
Seann Walsh.
He got caught cheating on his girlfriend with his Strictly partner in 2018 (it feels much longer ago than that jfc time flys) and I remember seeing an interview with him on Russell Howard’s Good News in 2020 and he *looked* f****d. The whole experience f****d his career and it’s really only last year that he has made any significant come back to TV. .
#42
Johnny Vaughan. He was a loved host of the big breakfast and when he interviewed Madonna, he seemed to have a global appeal for a while.
I saw him on some random history channel program once but never again.
#43
Geoffrey Durham aka "The Great Soprendo", a TV magician. He would also regular guest on Countdown in the Dictionary Corner, amongst other shows and was a very likeable chap I think.
I know his marriage broke down with Victoria Wood and after that he seems to have gotten very into Quakerism and shied away from the public light.
#44
Well he didn't disappear without a trace but they f****d him up and blacklisted him Randy Quaid.
#48
The awful Louie Spence- he was everywhere and then after his Celeb BB appearance he dropped off the face of a cliff thankfully.
#49
The two blokes who weren't David Baddiel or Hugh Dennis from.The Mary Whitehouse Experience.
I know full well their names are Steve Punt and Rob Newman. All four of them were huge in the early 90d, but those two... Imagine Michael McIntyre just going out of all consciousness.
#51
Donna Air. Although weirdly her daughter, who looks a lot like her, popped up on my Instagram hanging out with gorillas as her dad's side of the family are very involved in conservation and she was basically raised by some of them!
#52
Mark Lamarr
I remember listening to what I think is the last ever God's Eternal Jukebox on Radio 2, then he just disappeared.
#54
Clive Anderson. Hosted Who's Line Is It Anyway, did talk shows for a while including the infamous one with The Bee Gees. Then disappeared.
#55
Anne Heche. I havent heard anything about her since the 90s when she had that nervous breakdown... or whatever it was. Last I heard she was found wandering around in the desert or something. Ellen has a bad influence on people. I feel sorry for Portia de Rossi.
#56
I was watching the same episodes of TOTP as you so (although not very UK!) I'm going to say PM Dawn, Kris Kross and Color Me Badd.
UK wise: Tasmin Archer, the dude from KWS and Mick Hucknall has been suspiciously quiet of late.
#57
Clive Anderson was quite a big star in the mid 90s. He’s never seen nowadays but paradoxically has arguably the biggest gig of his career: a daytime weekend Radio 4 slot.
#58
Dave Benson-Philips. Since gunging people has gone out of fashion he’s vanished. I know he turns up at unis occasionally.
#59
Christian Hayden.. the one playing Anakin in star wars prequels... now hes gonna be in Kenobi show but after 2005 movie he just went to live off the money he made in his ranch or farm or whatever and just kinda tapped out of acting and public eye.
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What do you think ?
kissmychakram 1 year ago
I suspect this list was culled from a UK site or Reddit as a lot of the ones further down were British.
Load More Replies...
Michael Largey 1 year ago
John Wilkes Booth. One highly unpopular theater appearance, and career over.
kissmychakram 1 year ago
I suspect this list was culled from a UK site or Reddit as a lot of the ones further down were British.
Load More Replies... Michael Largey 1 year ago
John Wilkes Booth. One highly unpopular theater appearance, and career over.
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