What ever happened to ...
They won Oscars — and then they vanished
There may or may not be prospective one-hit wonder Oscar winners at the Academy Awards party Sunday. But the possibility exists almost every year.
Indeed, the one-and-done list is a long one. Here’s a look at some of the most notable stars who fizzled out not long after their acceptance speeches:
Tatum O’Neal (Paper Moon, 1973)
Her future looked bright. At 10, Tatum O’Neal was the youngest Oscar-winner to take home a trophy. But then the bottom fell out. The daughter of Ryan O’Neal (who was Paper Moon’s headliner) recovered briefly with a co-starring part in The Bad News Bears three years after charming the Oscar crowd.
But she eventually became a Tinseltown cautionary tale of too much, too soon. A recent reality show stretch could be considered a comeback of sorts. Some might remember her on Dancing With the Stars and the short-lived father-daughter reunion, Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals.
Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite, 1995)
Those were the days. She was escorted to the Oscars by wunderkind filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. And her father-actor Paul Sorvino (he played mafia kingpin Paulie in GoodFellas) gushed about how proud he was after she picked up the statue for her hooker with a heart of gold in Woody Allen’s film.
The following year, Sorvino earned an Emmy nod for her Marilyn Monroe in HBO’s Norma Jean & Marilyn. Trouble was, not many of her projects afterward lived up to great expectations.
Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire, 1996)
Cuba “show me the money” Gooding Jr. was a popular winner at the Academy Awards in 1997. Unfortunately, he went from somebody to watch to “where did he go?” after a series of unfortunate choices. That included a bunch of direct-to-DVD productions from 2008 to 2013.
The good news is this: The former breakdancer and Boyz N The Hood actor finds himself with a second life thanks to recent co-starring film performances in The Butler and Selma, and his Emmy-nominated portrayal of
Adrien Brody (The Pianist, 2002)
Brody might be forever recalled as the Oscar winner who liplocked with a surprised Halle Berry before accepting his best actor award. Before the kiss, though, viewers at home and in the glitzy audience were trying to figure out how he beat out Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York).
Post Oscars, the actor had a few hits (2005’s King Kong and 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel) but also had lots of misses. Though he did win an Emmy Award in 2014 for his portrayal of Houdini in a TV miniseries.
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls, 2006)
In 2004, Hudson was a popular finalist on the third season of American Idol. Her Dreamgirls role of Effie White was her moment to shine, and she even overshadowed Beyonce in the picture. Following up on the Dreamgirls momentum, Hudson had featured roles in Sex and the City and The Secret Life of Bees.
Instead of acting, however, she chose the path of least resistance to focus on her singing career and as a spokesperson for Weight Watchers which she resigned from in 2015. Last year, she won praise for her Motormouth Maybelle portrayal in TV’s Hairspray Live!, but Dreamgirls it was not.
Honourable mentions:
Roberto Benigni — the Italian writer, director and actor who shocked everyone at the 1998 Oscars when he scooped up a best actor award for his role in the concentration camp comedy-drama Life is Beautiful. Frenchman Jean Dujardin did the same unexpected thing with his best actor triumph — a black-and-white silent movie performance from 2013’s The Artist. Some other members of the club are Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, 1980), Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, 1986) and Anna Paquin (The Piano, 1993).