Actors Who Disappeared After One Huge Role

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. Keep watching the video to see all the actors who disappeared after one huge role.

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Robert Duncan McNeill | 0:00
Leonard Whiting | 1:06
George Lazenby | 1:56
Peter Ostrum | 3:14
Jennifer Grey | 4:28
Avery Brooks | 5:28
Robert F. Chew | 6:17
Eric Da Re | 7:24
Zach Galligan | 8:16
Dan Lloyd | 9:14

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