Bond actors- worst post Bond career

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  • Posts: 2,402
    I think that's just always been it, though, and probably always will be, is they go for some level of anonymity. Connery and even Brosnan have kind of muddled this in the public's mind - probably why whenever a Bond tenure is ending we're bound to have A-list names who will never, ever get the part thrown out in the press - but it's an objective fact that Roger Moore was by about a mile the most famous person to have been cast as Bond at the time he was cast.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited November 2021 Posts: 16,383
    Yeah, I guess Brosnan would be the next most famous but arguably his career was actually slipping away a little bit before Bond after his 80s Remington Steel fame, doing fairly rubbishy straight-to-video stuff; although I know he had stuff like Lawnmower Man and Doubtfire, so he may have edged into proper movies after a while had Bond not come along. Roger had just come off global hits with The Saint and The Persuaders, so his star was only on the rise.
  • Posts: 1,078
    What about that Abba thing? Wasn't he in that, and it was massive?
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,383
    That was a long time after Bond.
  • Posts: 1,078
    Sorry, I didn't know that.
  • edited November 2021 Posts: 628
    mtm wrote: »
    Yeah, I guess Brosnan would be the next most famous but arguably his career was actually slipping away a little bit before Bond after his 80s Remington Steel fame, doing fairly rubbishy straight-to-video stuff; although I know he had stuff like Lawnmower Man and Doubtfire, so he may have edged into proper movies after a while had Bond not come along. Roger had just come off global hits with The Saint and The Persuaders, so his star was only on the rise.

    I agree. The Saint was a huge hit and actually ran on a primetime network in the U.S. for its last two seasons. Had Moore and Robert Baker not decided to end the program, its popularity in the U.S. alone would have kept it going. Whereas Remington Steele got lower and lower ratings and eventually fizzled out.

    The other thing to consider is the gap between the series and when the actor was cast. It was only around three years after Moore finished The Saint that he was announced as Bond (Although The Persuaders did not do nearly as well in the States or the UK, Moore wisely only made the one season and then moved onto LIVE AND LET DIE). Brosnan, however, was trying to keep his career afloat for over six years after Remington Steele ended.
  • edited November 2021 Posts: 628
    Another thing that people tend to overlook is how many box office bombs and/or critical disasters Connery had on his resume prior to his career rocketing off with the Academy Award for THE UNTOUCHABLES.

    With the exception of projects like THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING and to a lesser extent THE ANDERSON TAPES, his '70s stuff consists of quality movies that nobody saw (THE OFFENCE, CUBA) or dreck like THE TERRORISTS, THE NEXT MAN, ZARDOZ, and the mega-bomb METEOR.

    My take on NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is that Connery felt he needed to make the movie to have a guaranteed hit and get his career back on track, because by the early '80s his star was fading. Why else would he be appearing in SWORD OF THE VALIANT and the absolutely unwatchable WRONG IS RIGHT?
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,383
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    Yeah, I guess Brosnan would be the next most famous but arguably his career was actually slipping away a little bit before Bond after his 80s Remington Steel fame, doing fairly rubbishy straight-to-video stuff; although I know he had stuff like Lawnmower Man and Doubtfire, so he may have edged into proper movies after a while had Bond not come along. Roger had just come off global hits with The Saint and The Persuaders, so his star was only on the rise.

    I agree. The Saint was a huge hit and actually ran on a primetime network in the U.S. for its last two seasons. Had Moore and Robert Baker not decided to end the program, its popularity in the U.S. alone would have kept it going. Whereas Remington Steele got lower and lower ratings and eventually fizzled out.

    The other thing to consider is the gap between the series and when the actor was cast. It was only around three years after Moore finished The Saint that he was announced as Bond (and less than a year after The Persuaders). Brosnan, however, was trying to keep his career afloat for over six years after Remington Steele ended.

    Yeah I think The Persuaders was networked in the US too, wasn't it?
  • edited November 2021 Posts: 628
    mtm wrote: »
    Yeah I think The Persuaders was networked in the US too, wasn't it?

    Yes, on ABC, although it didn't perform nearly as well with viewers. I edited my post to add that. Moore made a smart decision with the program and only agreed to do one season.
  • Posts: 1,917
    I'm not completely sure on The Persuaders and Moore leaving after just one season. From what I understand, it was a big hit worldwide, but underperformed in the U.S. For whatever reason, the ABC network chose to run it at 10 p.m. on Saturdays and got routed in the ratings by Mission: Impossible on CBS and the Sunday Night Movie on NBC That combined with the expense of producing it and Curtis having unreliable behavior led to everybody calling off doing more.

    Who knows what may have become of the show had ABC given it a more inviting time slot on its schedule opposed to a night not as many people were watching television.
  • Posts: 15,116
    I think that's just always been it, though, and probably always will be, is they go for some level of anonymity. Connery and even Brosnan have kind of muddled this in the public's mind - probably why whenever a Bond tenure is ending we're bound to have A-list names who will never, ever get the part thrown out in the press - but it's an objective fact that Roger Moore was by about a mile the most famous person to have been cast as Bond at the time he was cast.

    And Roger Moore was cast at a time when they needed a more famous actor with his own fanbase as Bond. Casting the unknown Lazenby hadn't worked very well and people associated Bond exclusively with Sean Connery.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,383
    Escalus5 wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    Yeah I think The Persuaders was networked in the US too, wasn't it?

    Yes, on ABC, although it didn't perform nearly as well with viewers. I edited my post to add that. Moore made a smart decision with the program and only agreed to do one season.

    Well I guess he may have done another, but Bond came along.
  • Posts: 387
    He couldn't have made another season of The Persuaders if he wanted too because it was not possible to produce a second season.

    Regarding Brosnan, remember he had family tragedy in the early 90's, so I think his appearances in all kind of low budget films had to do with him needing money for his family. He couldn't have given a toss about quality when the urgency was keeping everything including his life afloat.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,383
    Stamper wrote: »
    He couldn't have made another season of The Persuaders if he wanted too because it was not possible to produce a second season.

    How do you mean? I believe there were early plans to do a second series, potentially recasting both and making it in the States.
    Stamper wrote: »
    Regarding Brosnan, remember he had family tragedy in the early 90's, so I think his appearances in all kind of low budget films had to do with him needing money for his family. He couldn't have given a toss about quality when the urgency was keeping everything including his life afloat.

    He tried to get a rival Bond film with McClory going in the 90s.
  • Posts: 15,116
    In Brosnan's case, I think his post Bond career appears particularly good in comparison to his pre Bond career. He had a few really good projects, either artistically or BO wise, but I don't think he had any truly outstanding roles like Connery had (well who can really).
  • Leon12Leon12 England
    Posts: 16
    BT3366 wrote: »
    I'm not completely sure on The Persuaders and Moore leaving after just one season. From what I understand, it was a big hit worldwide, but underperformed in the U.S. For whatever reason, the ABC network chose to run it at 10 p.m. on Saturdays and got routed in the ratings by Mission: Impossible on CBS and the Sunday Night Movie on NBC That combined with the expense of producing it and Curtis having unreliable behavior led to everybody calling off doing more.

    Who knows what may have become of the show had ABC given it a more inviting time slot on its schedule opposed to a night not as many people were watching television.

    From what I have read the show was very expensive to make but underperformed in America, also I believe Tony Curtis behaved terribly during the making of the serious and was mostly out of it on dope which also added to the decision to cancel it after 1 season.
  • KenAustinKenAustin United States
    Posts: 226
    Dalton probably had the worst post Bond career...I don't even remember seeing him in much except the double agent in The Rocketeer where his cover was a crappy cheesy actor.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    I heard he was in three series of Penny Dreadful, but I can only remember seeing Eva Green... ;)
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited January 2022 Posts: 7,547
    Venutius wrote: »
    I heard he was in three series of Penny Dreadful, but I can only remember seeing Eva Green... ;)

    The best poster in all of television:
    penny_dreadful_season_3_poster.jpg
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Venutius wrote: »
    I heard he was in three series of Penny Dreadful, but I can only remember seeing Eva Green... ;)

    The best poster in all of television:
    penny_dreadful_season_3_poster.jpg

    That is indeed excellent.
  • Venutius wrote: »
    I heard he was in three series of Penny Dreadful, but I can only remember seeing Eva Green... ;)

    Dalton appears as a main character through all seasons of Penny Dreadful. I think it's the best project outside of Bond that he's starred in.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    Dalton was in CHUCK. Dalton is in Doom Patrol. Dalton is awesome, then & now.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    Dalton appears as a main character through all seasons of Penny Dreadful. I think it's the best project outside of Bond that he's starred in.
    Agreed. I suffer from Eva Green tunnel vision, though, so it's difficult for me to notice much else - I dunno how Ridley Scott shot the seige of Jerusalem when she's the only person in Kingdom of Heaven...😉

  • Does anyone have seen "The Man Who Wouldn't Die" (1994) with Roger Moore? I haven't seen the movie in years (maybe I will watch it again soon), but I remember it's a nice little TV movie with solid performances from Moore, Nancy Allen and Malcolm McDowell and with a decent direction by Bill Condon.
  • Posts: 6,709
    Venutius wrote: »
    Dalton appears as a main character through all seasons of Penny Dreadful. I think it's the best project outside of Bond that he's starred in.
    Agreed. I suffer from Eva Green tunnel vision, though, so it's difficult for me to notice much else - I dunno how Ridley Scott shot the seige of Jerusalem when she's the only person in Kingdom of Heaven...😉

    Oh, my… I suffer from the same condition. They told me it’s chronic. For me it started with The Dreamers. Been sick ever since.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,629
    Kojak007 wrote: »
    Does anyone have seen "The Man Who Wouldn't Die" (1994) with Roger Moore? I haven't seen the movie in years (maybe I will watch it again soon), but I remember it's a nice little TV movie with solid performances from Moore, Nancy Allen and Malcolm McDowell and with a decent direction by Bill Condon.

    No, I haven't. I still think that Malcolm McDowell would have made (and still could) a great Bond villain.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited September 2023 Posts: 3,152
    Univex wrote: »
    Oh, my… I suffer from the same condition. They told me it’s chronic. For me it started with The Dreamers. Been sick ever since.
    Yes, same! There's no cure, man - and if there is, I don't want it... Saw it on tv back in the mid-00s, totally unprepared, no idea what it was about or who was in it, etc. There she was and I was like 'oooh...'. Next day at work there was a point where I sort of realised I hadn't done anything for about 10 minutes or so and then it dawned that I'd drifted off into a sort of fugue, thinking about Eva in The Dreamers! :D
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