MovieChat Forums > Brendan Fraser Discussion > Why Is There So Much Mystery Surrounding...

Why Is There So Much Mystery Surrounding His Career Decline?


I mean where's the mystery?

He became famous as a tall, boyishly handsome actor and now he's middle-aged and no longer as handsome. Actors and actresses fall off all the time; especially those famous for their looks.

Granted Fraser was a solid actor but still; actors have a shelf life. It takes connections and a bit of luck to stay in the game after the looks have faded.

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he's middle-aged and no longer as handsome


According to whom??
That's all in the eye of the beholder.šŸ˜€

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The general public.

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There's mystery because he still has a lot of dedicated fans. He was one of my favorite actors growing up, I wonder all the time why he's not doing much in his career.

He can still be handsome, he just hasn't put in the work for it. I really hope he does make a big comeback one day.

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to me hes absolutely beautiful and very handsome xxšŸ˜

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Basically, the OP is saying that only young men can be handsome. That would have come as news to Paul Newman, Cary Grant or Sean Connery. NOBODY else does action-comedy as well as this guy, and he is also very easy to like. Compare his Mummy character to Tom Cruiseā€™s. Cruise has his own production company and gives good head. Fraser does not.

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I don't think that's what the OP is saying. He is saying that Fraser lost his looks when he became middle age. Some people don't transition well from childhood to teenage years, some don't transition well from teens to adulthood, and some don't transition well from youth to middle age. Not everyone is like Paul Newman or Tom Cruise even. Some become better looking when they age or reach middle age, Bendan isnt one of them.

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A prime example is Patrick Swayze. Hot, very hot, smoking hot. Then not.

Anthony Michael Hall
C. Thomas Howell
Michael J Fox
Rob Lowe
Andrew McCarthy
Mathew Broderick
Christian Slater
Emilio Estevez
Robert Russler
John Stockwell

For whatever reasons they didn't transition to adult roles from child/teen/young adult or didn't have the longevity as the lead actor.

I don't get it when people point out certain actors and cry foul when many others didn't make it either. There's only so many spots. Not everybody can be the quarterback.

Heres a link to my 80s teen actor list. Not many from this list made it past a decade of being the hot new thing and either went on to smaller roles, low budget films or TV.

https://lucid.app/lucidchart/a8dca696-af6e-4d4c-9437-2d9b78e23b05/edit?page=0_0#?folder_id=home&browser=icon

"Paul Newman, Cary Grant or Sean Connery"

That's just cherry picking 3 success stories from over a century of film. How many 1000s of actors fell by the way side while they held longevity.

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To be fair though both CTH and MJF had serious illnesses but even without it, I doubt they would've been as successful as they were in the 80s.

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C. Thomas Howell had what illness? Can't find anything relating to illnesses. That didn't stop him working constantly throughout the 80s and 90s. From being prolific as a kid/young adult, E.T., The Outsiders, Hitcher, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Grand View USA the decent roles dried up, his last hurrah was Soul Man. Which he was good in but the subject matter was a little dubious. He went off the boil in the 90's and he was starring in films called "Jailbait", he just didn't transfer from teen/young adult roles to more adult roles and he was in small movies nobody saw or heard about during the 1990s.

Michael J Fox's movie career as the leading man wasn't taking off because of the roles he was choosing and the films he was in before Parkinsons went into later stages which held him back. With early Parkinsons and still being able to act he had multiple average films and box office as leading man which does not help a career. His star power did not propel him into adult roles.

"Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1991 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, and was diagnosed shortly thereafter."

He simply didn't transfer into an adult star into the 90s. His dramatic acting was pretty poor in Casualties of War, Bright Lights Big City. MJF took chance with serious roles but he isn't the best serious actor, it's not his forte. Where he experts in is comedic roles where he plays the charming, plucky young guy and his comedies were middling, Secret of My Success was ok but it didn't propel him further than Back to the Future and Teen Wolf did. The Concierge wasn't successful either in a role he was suited for, same with Life with Mikey. He tried action with the Hard Way, and it did poorly even though its a great movie, very underrated, and the Frightners was a mess of tones and bombed. Then MJF went to back to TV where he's been very successful.

Same deal with Patrick Dempsey, amazing start to his career then he was lost. He found his home on TV. I love Patrick Dempsey but I'm not afraid to admit he lost his way during the transition to adult star and is now a TV guy, not a leading man movie guy.

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"Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1991 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, and was diagnosed shortly thereafter."


But Doc Hollywood was a big success, and his career could have gone further had the Parkinsons not sidelined him.

He was a likable actor, so much so that even when he transitioned to TV in the form of Spin City it was another big success... just until Parkinsons sidelined that venture, too.

We'll never really know how successful Michael J. Fox could have become because just as he was hitting his apex the illness took over and derailed his momentum.

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First I'm not arguing about the popularity of either actor regardless of illness.

2nd, I don't recall CTH's illness specifically but he was hospitalized for a long time and aged him dramatically.

3rd MJF was diagnosed in 1991 but had symptoms as early as BTTF2 as Bob Gale and others have mentioned during interviews.

4th Al Pacino hitbit big in the 70s but slumped in the 80s. Despite Scarface being a classic now, it was panned when it came out. Now I'm not saying either are the same caliber as Pacino but rather an actor can make it out of a slump with the right projects like RDJ or AP.

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>CTH: he was hospitalized for a long time

2nd: I still can't find anything regarding C. Thomas Howell being ill for a long period of time. He hasn't stopped acting with multiple roles a year in every year since he started out. There are no long terms where he dropped out of acting. Either provide links or drop it. I've wasted enough time trying to google your ramblings.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001367/

https://www.thethings.com/c-thomas-howell-what-happened-to-career/

This piece sheds more light on what happened to his career. He was hot as a child actor into young adulthood in the 80s, a few bum roles, poor box office and he fell out of favour by the 90s. He wasn't a draw as a Hollywood leading man and moved onto roles in smaller lower budget films and TV.

3rd:
"MJF was diagnosed in 1991 but had symptoms as early as BTTF2"

Strange because principal photography began on February 20th 1989 for BTTF2 & BTTF3.

No where does MJF state that he had symptoms during BTTF2.

He even says that he only showed symptoms in 1991 during Doc Hollywood. No sooner than that. Multiple sources confirm this.

https://www.michaeljfox.org/michaels-story

Early stage Parkinson's did not wreck his career as he worked consistently and comfortably in multiple films and long running TV shows every year since diagnosis in 1991 (apart from 1992), he retired from Spin City then kept on acting well into the 2000s with more severe Parkinson's. If the illness wrecked his career where he couldn't act in the 90s, how come he was acting all through the 90s and 2000s?

His career trajectory as leading man didn't hold into the 90s down to not having the same successes as the 80s then he went back to his home, on TV in 1996. A few middling films and box office in a row as leading man hurts a career. He tried dramatic roles and he wasn't suited for it. He tried action comedy and his name failed to draw box office. He went back to his wheel house of comedic roles in the 90s and they weren't successful and his name didn't put bums in seats. Doc Hollywood was his final hurrah in a comedy vehicle, The Concierge, and Life with Mikey did his film career no favours then the Firghtners was his final straw.

I love Michael J Fox, who doesn't, but lets not pretend that he was hitting home runs with his film choices after Back to the Future. If his name can't put bums in seats and multiple films in a row are not successful financially compared to the money mens predictions it's a pretty good explanation as to why and how his leading man film career subsided. His star power didn't transition into the 1990s.

And lets not pretend that he wasn't in films or being offered roles during the 90s because of early stage Parkinsons because he was acting throughout the 90's (apart from 1992). (If you have any proof of that can you please deliver links rather than random statements that don't hold any ground)

4th:
Al Pacino? You're just throwing random names around now.

You're seriously comparing Brendan Fraser to Al Pacino? Michael Corleone, Tony Montana, Frank Serpico? Pacino was in the Godfather. Fraser was in Encino Man!

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Didn't read past ramblings. You seem very hostile and I wasn't even disagreeing with you. I think I just realized I wasted my time condescending myself to someone as hateful and trollish as you are. Bye.

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> I wasted my time

I wasted mine trying to look up your statements.

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I don't see anything hostile about this.

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If Rob Lowe hasn't had a Successful Career, then I'm a Monkey's Uncle !

And I have a very Curious Nephew and a man named Scopes who will back me up on that.

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He shifted from the leading man into a character actor and carved out a career on TV. You could say the same about Christian Slater but they both transitioned away from leading man into supporting roles and Rob Lowe starred in some god awful straight to video and Tv movies through the 90s after being one of the hottest stars of the 80's.

If you looked at the line up for Outsiders, St. Elmos Fire, and Class (John Cusack,
Andrew McCarthy, Alan Ruck, Virginia Madsen) at the time then had a guess who the biggest stars of the 90's and 2000s would be from the casts.

You would probably guess Rob Lowe, Swayze, Matt Dillon. By the 2000s you were asking "where's Rob Lowe".

Which is my point. Their careers didn't hit the same highs when they transitioned from child/teen/young adult into leading man adult roles and they had to adjust their career paths away from being the hollywood leading man that is capable of putting bums in seats.

Which is my point. Brendan Fraser was and still is acting, he has 4 projects in post-production as of August 2021, and has a career, a pretty good one.

The trajectory just altered from leading man in high profile movies to leading man in lesser budget movies, supporting roles and TV. Brendan had a shot and hit a high, he still had a pretty good career, he just didn't end up being the lead of for every summer blockbuster after the Mummy.

If there was an outside factor it would probably be when he was sexually harassed by a producer and he punched some Harvey Weinstein type dude out. But after that he still carved out a decent career, he just wasn't in the Matrix, Pitch Black, Mission Impossibles, Minority Report etc after The Mummy 1 & 2.

Not every actor can be Tom Cruise or Will Smith. There's only so many spots. Not everybody can be the quarterback.

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And the problem with picking the best examples to support my statement is what, exactly? I gladly concede that most people age badly. I truly admire people who age well, because we are rare, and it takes work. But US culture in particular worships youth and tosses maturity aside, and I object.

Iā€™m a gym rat. I know many great-looking mature adults, but their names would mean nothing to you.

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What's your point? People do claim that Brendan Fraser aged badly, and that's maybe the reason why he "lost his career". But during the 90s and early 2000s, he was still pretty good-looking. He was in Scrubs in 2004 and still looked good, so that's a theory we can throw out.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/scrubs-brendan-fraser-ben/

My point is he did have a career, but not everybody can be the quarter back. Just look at his IMDB. It's still very impressive, and he's worked constantly. Just not as the leading man in summer blockbusters.

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Hey, uh, Vickey, the OP made sweeping generalizations about the degradations of aging, without exception. I stand by my post. The OP is ageist. Are you?

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well that's not the most flattering photo might I say. besides...that's over 2 years ago,
not very up to date.
This one is pretty much up to date, at least according to a fan-facebook
(march) https://www.facebook.com/134475086628526/photos/a.261404150602285.61924.134475086628526/971106976298662/?type=3

Nothing wrong with that, now is it... (something with, eye and beholderšŸ˜)

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Hey he does look pretty good there! He lost some weight and seems to be back in shape.

Now he should get a new agent and aggressively pursue a limited run drama. Or maybe he can give directing or producing a shot. Brendan's been in the business for years, so I bet hes developed a good eye.

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Wow, he looks great! I think the studios don't realize the appeal the man has and how many millions of fans who still love him he would attract if they signed him for a big movie.

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I think he had also just chosen to work less, having a child with special needs demands a lot of attention. As a parent, I work less to spend more time with my kids. They grow up to darn fast!!

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