The worst final roles for actors before they died?

[Ellsworth Toohey]

We all wish our favorite actors could go like Henry Fonda, winning an Oscar for On Golden Pond before checking out.  Sadly, however, most actors die after doing an unglamorous "in it for the money" role instead.  You have:

 

- Jimmy Stewart dying after voicing "Marshall Wiley Burb" in An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West.  Not that The Magic of Lassie would have been much of an improvement.

 

- Paul Newman kicking the bucket after appearing alongside Larry the Cable Guy in Pixar's Cars: Mater and the Ghostlight.  If only he'd called it quits after Road to Perdition.

 

- Bette Davis in the extremely low budget Wicked Stepmother, a film so bad that Ms. Davis quit halfway through and was replaced by Barbara Carrera.

 

- Unless Gene Hackman comes out of retirement, his final role will be Welcome to Moose Port.

 

[J.T.]

I think Raul Julia as M. Bison in Street Fighter may be the right answer despite the amount of retro love that Street Fighter gets.

[piranesi]

Joan Crawford: TROG.

[cool arrow]

Since Raul Julia was already mentioned, Orson Welles in that Transformers cartoon.

[pipGofern]

I've seen people mention Orson Welles in Transformers: The Movie.

But they're just e-cigarette smoking scarf wearing movie snobs 'cause Transformers was awesome...

[The Comedian]

Since Raul Julia was already mentioned, Orson Welles in that Transformers cartoon.

 

NONONONONONONO

 

Unicron was Orson Welles' crowning achievement, no matter how many critics fed on that "cartoons based on toy lines can't have artistic merit" horseshit say otherwise...

[cool arrow]

Y'all must be trolling.

[The Comedian]

no I'm 36

 

to this day the greatest experience I've ever had in a movie theater was seeing Transformers: The Movie as a kid

[J.T.]

Man, I keep forgetting that Elizabeth Taylor's film role was the live action Flintstones joint and she even got a Razzie for her performance.

 

The real right answer was Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space.

[The Comedian]

Well it's kinda sad that Pamela Franklin never did another film after Food Of The Gods. She was great in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie and Legend Of Hell House.

[Ellsworth Toohey]

As much as I loved Captain America: The First Avenger and I'm sure I'll enjoy the sequel, I do hope that either Robert Redford, given how few films he's done over the last decade, either does another "Oscar bait" movie after Winter Soldier or that that movie where he's sailing on a boat comes out after Winter Soldier so that won't be his final film role in case he decides to focus on directing/Sundance in his waning years.

[JMFabiano]

Not an actor, but Bob Clark of "A Christmas Story" directing "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2." 

 

/And now the poor guy must be rolling in his grave because of ACS2 from last year.

[JMFabiano]

I think Raul Julia as M. Bison in Street Fighter may be the right answer despite the amount of retro love that Street Fighter gets.

 

Realistically, yes, though decades later I can appreciate its narm.  But like Barry Darsow, George Gray, and Keith Franke, Julia put his heart into the role that it's hard to call really crappy. 

[BrianS81177]

John Candy in Wagons East

[Victator]

Since Raul Julia was already mentioned, Orson Welles in that Transformers cartoon.

Transformers: The Movie is great. And the Street Fighter movie sucked, but man did Raul Julia give it all he had. 

[driver]

John Belushi-Neighbors.

[pipGofern]

no I'm 36

 

to this day the greatest experience I've ever had in a movie theater was seeing Transformers: The Movie as a kid

 

If you're a member of GenX, Transformers: The Movie was truly a seminal experience.

 

If you're in a room full of guys ages 34-42, I'm pretty sure you can ask, "Remember when Optimus Prime died?" and not only would every one know what you're talking about, they'd remember when and where they watched the movie for the first time.

[piranesi]

John Belushi-Neighbors.

 

I haven't watched that in ages, but I remember when I was a kid thinking it was rad as fuck.  It felt subversive somehow and I liked it.

[LooseCannon]

I hear that Gene Kelly (if you don't count co-hosting the documentary That's Entertainment III) and Peter Sellers often get mentioned in threads like this.

[piranesi]

This thread led me to google for lists like this and I was sad and disturbed to see what Veronica Lake's last role was in.

[Swift]

Jack Lemmon - The Legend of Bagger Vance

[driver]

Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas and Doulgas Fairbanks, Jr. were all in Ghost Story and I believe it was their last role as well. Didn't think it was too bad, then again last time I saw it I was 13.

[elizium]

Yeah man, I fucking balled like a baby in the theatre when Optimus died. Orson Welles was dead-on casting for Unicron, it's a shame that he didn't live 10-15 years longer, he would have been awesome as one of the DCAU voice actors. Besides, his last released role was in Someone to Love, which was filmed before TF:TM, but released a year later. According to imdb, his character was "Danny's Friend". They hire Orson Welles and can't even bother naming his character?

[sydneybrown]

I hated Transformers as a kid.  They kill off half the toys I already had, and then after saving for a month to buy Optimus Prime, they fucking kill him off too.  I went home and couldn't figure out who I had left who could be a leader.

 

While he had a few minor roles after this, Richard Pryor's last starring role in Another You is REALLY painful to get through.  It's a terrible movie to watch anyway, but it's even worse seeing a comic icon just struggling to get his lines out.

 

Neighbors isn't a great movie but it's a pretty ballsy one since it's clear Aykroyd and Belushi should be playing each other's role.  I'd rather that be Belushi's last film than something forgettable like Continental Divide.

 

And come on, Xanadu?  Trog?  Those movies are hilarious. 

[mco543]

Chris Farley's uncredited appearance in Dirty Work screaming "SAIGON WHORE" may not be the worst but I think it may be one of the more depressing.