Celebrities who were big in their time but are now forgotten

Chris Farley, both literally and figuratively

No one who loved Doris Day can ever forget her.

You may find this old, closed thread of interest.

Another old, closed thread but this one about 70s and 80s stars.

Reta Shaw

Pretty much anyone discussed on DL.

Devon Sawa

Aimee Lou Wood

Andrew McCarthy

Mia Sara

I AM "big"!

It's the infomercials that got small...

Oprah

Tiny Tim

Rona Barrett. And Jeane Dixon.

Hear, hear, R2. Hear, hear!

R13 Tiny Tim was HUGE! His marriage was televised...on the Carson show! It's sad that there is no bio-pic about the guy.

Shields and Yarnell. They owned Las Vegas like Siegfried and Roy but then disappeared...

Jean-Claude Van Gosh Darn

Chris Evans

Incidentally, I find it kind of funny that Bonnie Parker (1910-1934) aspired to become a famous actress and idolized '20s silent film superstars like Clara Bow, who is more or less forgotten today, but Bonnie & Clyde have become literary/cinematic archetypes and part of American folklore/lexicon.

Janet

Ronald Colman Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme Andrew Dice Clay Morton Downey Jr.

Red Skelton

Flip Wilson

Doris Day is not forgotten.

Not as long as i am alive to preach the word!!!

Mason Reese

You really can't compare a flash in the pan like Andrew Dice Clay to people who had decades of fame like Steve & Edie.

We can only hope that Doris "I knew her before she was a virgin" Day is forgotten.

Susan Dey.

Liberace

Ohhh. What’s her name….? You k ow the one I mean.

Fuck you, OP.

Dinah Shore and Perry Como. Julius La Rosa. Eddie Fisher Ruth Roman. Keith Andes. Jeff Chandler. Caesar Romero.

Carroll Baker.

Loni Anderson

Not completely forgotten. So far I’ve recognized every name posted.

Not sure if that validates their fame or just it’s just further proof that I’m older than dirt.

Wallace Reid

Kay Francis

^^^ that's Kay FWancis to those of us who love her best.

Anybody who thinks old movie stars are forgotten obviously does not watch TCM.

This TV channel has operated 24/7/365 for 30+ years with its sole mission to preserving the memories of even the most obscure films and their stars.

The thread linked by R4 is outstanding.

Helen Larson

R38

Exactly! That's how i know who Kay Fwancis is.

I do think it is interesting that a very select few old stars still retain their iconic status:

Chaplin... Marilyn Monroe... James Dean ... if you showed their pictures to the average college sophomore, chances are they would be recognized.

But other equally big stars - for example Elizabeth Taylor or Henry Fonda - would likely draw blank stares.

In general, TV fame is even more fleeting, with rare exceptions (the cast of I Love Lucy - including our beloved Viv).

Estelle Winwood.

Telly Savalas - a household name in the seventies, totally forgotten today.

Gay Test for Keith Andes:

View pic at the URLs and see if you can 'forget' Andes. The average man in the early 1950s was NOT built like this.

Keith Andes URL #2

Keith Andes URL #3. #2 looks like it doesn't work.

Roy Scheider.....utterly forgotten now

Booth Tarkington

People like Arsenio Hall. Very much A list of a certain time and place.

Emile Combes, Henri Bergson, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Lew Ayres, Kay Francis, Lauritz Melchior, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Storm Jameson, J.J. Thomson, Mainbocher

r47 Utterly

Philip Michael Thomas who played Detective Tubbs in Miami Vice.

Ann Jillian and Audrey and Judy Landers. They were on TV every five minutes in the 80s and are pretty obscure now.

Heather Locklear was huge back in the day but now only people of a certain age would know who she is.

All TV stars in their 60s will be unknown to MOST under 40s.

[quote]Reta Shaw

[quote]Roy Scheider

Were they household names?

Most people are familiar with Jaws, and kids still watch Mary Poppins and Pollyanna. Current audiences may not know who the actors are, but they still watch their work.

I’m unfamiliar with most of the names in this thread, and I was born in 1977. I started looking people up and some were born in the 1800s.

[quote]Rona Barrett. And Jeane Dixon

In a Golden Girls dream sequence, Jeane Dixon told Rose that Lady Di and Brooke Shields would star in a Broadway musical; that’s all I know of her.

[quote]Shields and Yarnell

[quote]Ronald Colman

[quote]Eydie Gorme

The name sounds familiar.

[quote]Red Skelton

The name sounds familiar.

[quote]Mason Reese

[quote]Julius La Rosa Ruth Roman. Keith Andes. Jeff Chandler.

I know Ruth Roman as Loretta on Murder She Wrote.

[quote]Wallace Reid

[quote]Estelle Winwood

[quote]Booth Tarkington

[quote]Emile Combes, Henri Bergson, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Lew Ayres, Kay Francis, Lauritz Melchior, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Storm Jameson, J.J. Thomson, Mainbocher

Helen Lawson is a popular name on DL, but I don’t know who she is.

That's OK, son. Now tell us, are you a power bottom? Coinslot or rosebud?

Glenn Close

George Clooney

Julia Roberts

Tabatha Coffey - one of the biggest names from reality TV. And then she faded back into oblivion.

Nancy Grace, thankfully.

With YouTube, no one is forgotten.

I never thought I'd be watching the Perry Como Show in the year 2025.

Myrna Loy aka Nora Charles in The Thin Man. One of the greatest movies ever.

I think everyone knows who Doris Day is. Like everyone knows who knows who Rock Hudson is.

Now Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who were about as big as anyone could ever be I'm not so sure.

Tuesday Weld.

Lorna

Susan Powter

Farrah Fawcett is sadly on the edge of this status.

Demi Moore

Georgie Jessel

[quote]Myrna Loy aka Nora Charles in The Thin Man. One of the greatest movies ever.

What are you talking about?

There are people who love classic movies. Those great Hollywood films of the Golden Age of American cinema will NEVER be forgotten.

On YouTube, mere 3 minute CLIPS of "The Thin Man" have 10s of thousands of views.

There was a thread here a week ago about a "forgotten" 1947 film "The Red House" with Edward G. Robinson.

It has nearly 850k views on YouTube. People are still interested.

Fred Flintstone

I wish I could remember one.

R54: We're better off not knowing about Heather Locklear.

r71 gay men of a certain age are one thing, but these old stars are really not known anymore to the general public.

I’ll never forget Andrew McCarthy.

[R-9] Believe me, I’ve tried to forget Andrew McCarthy. But I can’t. Look at that punim !

Im Irish and Doris Day movies were always shown on irish and uk tv, which we watch. They are still shown regularly; the Rock Hudson films are on regularly. Calamity Jane is up there with Oz in our eyes: Secret Love is a fan favourite. She would be most peoples, of certain generations, most popular golden age star this side of the pond. Bette Davis, Judy, Cary Grant, Gene Kelly and Marilyn were the most popular.

[quote]Roy Scheider.....utterly forgotten now

R47 Except every time JAWS is viewed.

[quote]Georgie Jessel

I'm in my 70s and I remember seeing him being interviewed by IRV KUPCINET in Chicago. Who remembers either of them?

[quote]Susan Powter

R67 Was she the white haired diet or exercise queen? She was HUGE at one time but I can't remember what she was pushing.

Jennifer Lawrence.

Connie Selleca

Betty Hutton, though she burned out quite quickly compared to some mentioned here.

Faye Dunaway.

Jenny Jones -- Her show was on for 4 years before it, 8 years after it, yet the only thing anybody remembers is "the murder show."

Morton Downey, Jr.

Barbara Parkins

Dorothy Lamour

Wayland Flowers

R52 Do you remember the interview he gave during the first season of Miami Vice?

Bragged how within a year he’d be an EGOT winner and he’d be the biggest star in Hollywood.

Within a year of Miami Vice’s cancellation he was forgotten, never to be heard from again.

What an asshole.

Dennis James.

[quote] Until 1976, he had appeared on TV more times and for a longer period than any other television star. Alternately referred to as "The Dean of Game Show Hosts" (along with fellow emcee Bill Cullen) and the "Godfather of Gameshows", he was the host of television's first network game show, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry (1946).

Beyoncé.

I'd argue that Day is better-remembered than a lot of stars from that era

Doris Day was a superstar and as such she will never be forgotten. Younger generations of course won't know who she is but she will live for a long time in the history of Hollywood.

Jackie Gleason

Anna Mae Wong

R54 Very true. There were so many stars like that in the 80s and 90s. You couldn’t call them B list because monoculture had become so popular but not exactly permanent legendary status typical of most A list stars.

Boris Karloff.

Linda Gray, Linda Evans and Victoria Principal

Cybil Shepherd

Billy Dee Williams

Natalie Ambruglia

Did anyone mention Janet Jackson? She had a few hits decades ago and now nobody even knows who she is.

Karloff was never big--always a character actor. The Frankenstein films were a blip in his film history and made by an small inferior company at the time (Universal).

He was a star character actor. And he's probably better known today than a lot of stars from that era, due to stuff like The Grinch

Gloria Swanson

Victoria Principal (except here)

Bea Arthur (except here)

Charlotte Rae (except here)

Liberace

Tammy Lauren

Kaleena Kiff

Pamlyn Ferdin

Bea Arthur is still very well known because of the Golden Girls. People in their twenties know that show.

George Raft

Gloria Swanson is eternal!