This is a short list of a few almost weres; actors and actresses who for at least fifteen minutes were quite famous, faces on the covers of magazines, subject of constant chat, and then, suddenly disappearing into the great ‘Who?’
Lori Martin starred in the television serial National Velvet then went on to the crucial role in the original ‘Cape Fear’ in the early sixties. She was big…many said she’d be the next Elizabeth Taylor. She decided to take a little time off to be a child, which has lasted her lifetime.
Troy Donahue was the centre of gravity during roughly the same period. He slipped between the cracks, and between the 60s and the 00s only appeared, briefly, in one important flick…the Godfather II where he played ‘Merle Johnson’ which happened to be his real name.
No mention of Troy would be complete without that of Sandra Dee, who was the archetypical innocent blonde.
She was all that forty plus years ago, and more. Then…she went out of style. Although great things were expected of her. She starred in the Gidget and Tammy movies, which are terribly dated, married a pop star, Bobby Darin, then simply disappeared. Capturing the moments of her greatest celebrity, she is referenced in Grease.
Clevon Little appeared in Blazing Saddles in 1974. Although he did have roles in other dramas, comedies, plays, etc. He never gained the level of focus displayed in that movie, which one expected to catapult him to the level of an Eddie Murphy. It didn’t.
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