When Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen
Pompeo recently said she was seriously considering ‘giving up acting’ everyone
flew into a tizzy. But there have been a fair few ‘stars’ that have turned
their back on the fame and glamour of the film
industry.
Sean Connery
What’s the you say? You just saw him in a film? Well if you did,
you were either watching a rerun on TV or thinking about The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen, which released way back in 2003.
For
the last 11 years Sir Sean has barely felt the need to get back in front of the
camera. In 2007, he that he had no interest in starring in another
“Indiana Jones” movie, because “retirement was just too much damned fun”.
But if you think he spends most of his retirement drinking single
malts and getting trollied on wine with his old pal and Knight in Crime Sir
Alex Ferguson, think again. He lent his voice to the animated film Sir Billi,
and also was the voice of James (pronounce it Jamesh for the full effect) Bond
in the 2005 videogame From Russia With Love.
John Hughes
If you grow up in the 1980s, then it’s more than likely that The
Breakfast Club was the film you looked to for inspiration. Hell! I even had the
poster on my wall, along with…well…read on.
The Breakfast Club told a tale that millions of students across
the world could relate to, and we loved it. The writer and director, John
Hughes, suddenly became our storyteller; the chronicler of our woes – real or
imagined. And then in 1986, Hughes wrote and directed, the legendary Ferris
Bueller’s Day Off, a film so in tune with the times it’s eerie. We were all
Ferris Bueller for 90 minutes and we waited eagerly for Hughes’ next project.
But three projects later there was sense that Hughes had lost the
passion. By 1991’s Curly Sue, his voice was muted and the hilarious angst that
propelled his early work had all but disappeared.
And although Hughes continued writing (Home Alone) until 2008, he
never directed again. Hughes died in 2009, and it’s hard not to feel that an
achingly poignant talent left the spotlight far too soon.
Phoebe Cates
OK, so I had the Breakfast Club poster up, but I also had one of
the gorgeous Phoebe Cates. Cates was very close to being the 80s generation’s
Farah Fawcett or Bo Derek. And although she was certainly more girl-next-door
than those two stars, it just added to her appeal.
She first came to our attention in Cameron Crowe’s outrageously
fun Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and then captured out hearts in Gremlins and
Bright Lights, Big City. By Princess Caraboo (yes it was as bad as it sounds)
she was older but still stunning.
We last saw her in 2001, and she then vanished, ostensibly to
spend time with her family and husband Kevin Kline. We’ll miss her, but you’ve
gotta do what you’ve gotta do.
Shirley Temple
Before there were the Olsen twins…much, much before…there was
Shirley Temple, a child star of such wattage that even back in 1933, people
thought she’d be peerless for millennia. And they could have been right, but
Temple had other plans.
In 1950, a 22-year-old Temple, already a veteran of 38 feature
films decided that she had lost the appeal that made her such a popular child
star and rather than be pulled kicking and screaming off the stage as it were,
she’d just draw the curtains herself.
Temple would return to TV in the 60s, but she never graced the big
screen again. Who knows what might have been had the precocious talent
continued in films, but then again, sometimes things are better left
unexplored.
Cary Grant
Cary Grant may have been 62 when he decided to call it a day, but
the superstar had more than a few good years left in him.
Fans always believed that the star of An Affair to Remember and
North by Northwest would act forever. But when he became a father, late in
life, Grant decided to dedicate all his time to bringing up his daughter, on
whom he would dote till his death in 1986.
But even though Grant retired from acting he would play an active
role in the industry.
Rick Moranis
Watching Rick Moranis in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Ghostbusters and
Spaceballs was watching a comedian at the top of his game. His perfect timing
and hilarious expressions made him one of the most-recognised actors of his
generation.
But six years after his wife died from breast cancer, Moranis
decided that his children were far more important than his acting career. He
told USA Today: “I’m a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult
to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So
I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a
longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it.”
Moranis has since lent his voice to the animated film, Brother
Bear, but there’s little chance of him ever returning to the big screen any
time soon. We’ll miss him, but we’ll always have My Blue Heaven.
