For various reasons, many actors once considered to be among the most acclaimed and profitable of their generations have gone through major slumps – dismissed by studios and audiences as past their best and no longer at the peak of their powers.
Below we've spotlighted twelve of the most notable Hollywood comebacks – from Golden Age icons like Joan Crawford to modern day examples such as Brendan Fraser. Scroll down to check out our picks!
1. Marlon Brando
The star had become one of cinema's most important leading men in the 1950s thanks to roles in films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, The Wild One and On the Waterfront, but by the time the early '70s rolled around, he'd appeared in a string of critical and box office duds and developed a reputation for having a short temper.
Author Mario Puzo was especially keen for Brando to take on the role, however, and eventually a somewhat complicated arrangement – involving a secret screen test and a bond deal – was struck that let the actor grab the role.
More success would follow – including another Oscar nod a year later for The Last Tango in Paris – and Brando is now regarded as one of the most successful actors to ever grace the silver screen.
2. William Holden
But just like Brando, he also suffered something of a slump in the 1960s, with most of the films he starred in that period failing to set the box office alight or get him much critical attention, while he also suffered from alcohol addiction during this period.
His performance was hugely acclaimed and helped bring about a new phase in his career into the 1970s, with key roles in that decade including an Emmy Award-winning performance in TV movie The Blue Knight and parts in major films such as The Towering Inferno, Network and Fedora.
He sadly passed away and 63 in 1981, but his impressive legacy saw him named 25th on the American Film Institute's list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.
3. Joan Crawford
Crawford originally established herself as a flapper in the 1920s and enjoyed a hugely successful career that made her one of the biggest stars – and indeed, one of the most highly paid – in the first half of the 1930s.
By the time the iconic film noir Mildred Pierce was released in 1945, Crawford – who was then 41 – hadn't appeared on the big screen for two years, and in fact she herself campaigned for the role after director Michael Curtiz initially had his eyes on Barbara Stanwyck.
A more successful period followed, but after another slump later in her career, Crawford was once again forced to become her own publicist to land a role in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane in 1962 (more on that below), the success of which once again revived her fortunes.
4. Bette Davis
But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the gothic thriller was that it served as a major comeback vehicle for both of its stars (and indeed the reports of the feud may actually have played their part in helping to revitalise public interest in their careers.
In fact, such was the slump in her career that just a month before the film was released, Davis had taken out an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter in which she wrote – perhaps not entirely seriously – that she was seeking "steady employment in Hollywood".
In the end, she was nominated for best actress at the Oscars for the role – now very much back in the Hollywood big time and without any need to advertise her services in the paper.
5. Ingrid Bergman
But just a few years later, she became the subject of an affair which became a major scandal in Hollywood. After travelling to Italy to star in Roberto Rossellini's Stromboli, it was revealed that the two had begun an affair and that she had become pregnant, while both had been married to other people.
Still, she remained successful away from the US and eventually returned in 1956 to star in the historical drama film Anastasia. The result? Her second best actress Oscar and her reputation in Hollywood now fully restored, with several more major roles following throughout the rest of her career.
6. Demi Moore
Of course, Moore had first broken out as part of the "Brat Pack" in the 1980s, with roles in films such as Blame It on Rio and St Elmo's Fire, before establishing herself as a major movie star in the early 1990s with a string of box office hits such as Ghost, A Few Good Men and Indecent Proposal.
Ahead of its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, not many would have predicted that The Substance would be the film to propel her firmly back into the spotlight, but it did exactly that – with her performance earning all sorts of plaudits and nominations.
She certainly proved that producer wrong.
7. Robert Downey Jr
But this was very much not the first phase of his career. Downey Jr had first broken out in the 1980 – like Moore, he was considered a member of the Brat Pack – with roles including Weird Science and Less Than Zero.
Soon afterwards, he entered a court-ordered rehabilitation program, and he has remained sober since 2003, with his comeback well and truly sealed when with the release of Iron Man in 2008, after he had gradually rebuilt his reputation in the five years prior.
8. Brendan Fraser
However, his career slowed considerably from the late 2000s, due in part to waning box office appeal but also because of the fallout from an incident in which he was allegedly groped by an industry exec at a Hollywood luncheon.
He began to pick up more film roles again in the early 2020s, and it was his lead role in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale that propelled him back to the spotlight – also earning him one of the most popular best actor wins of recent years at the Oscars.
He's continued to work steadily since, with key credits including Killers of the Flower Moon and Rental Family, while he's now also set to reprise his role as Rick O'Connell in a new entry in The Mummy franchise.
9. Pamela Anderson
Anderson had become a major global star due to her leading role in 1990s TV sensation Baywatch, but – due in part to the leak of a sex tape in 1995 – she became the subject of much controversy and was rarely seen as a serious actor.
In 2024, she attracted much acclaim – and a Golden Globe nomination – for her role in the drama The Last Showgirl, while she also showed off her comic chops in the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun, while she has numerous other film projects currently in development.
10. Ke Huy Quan
The Vietnamese-American achieved huge success as a child actor in the 1980s thanks to his memorable roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, while he also had TV roles on Together We Stand and Head of the Class.
But it was with his role in Everything Everywhere All at Once the following year that he truly made his comeback complete.
After receiving huge acclaim for his role, Quan capped off a dominant awards season by winning the Oscar for best supporting actor, and all sorts of roles have followed since – including supporting parts in Loki and Zootropolis 2.
11. Winona Ryder
She received Oscar nominations for her roles in The Age of Innocence and Little Women as her career continued to go from strength to strength, but after she was arrested for shoplifting in 2001 she became the subject of intense media scrutiny and took a break from acting in major projects for much of the decade.
She also reprised her role as Lydia Deetz in Tim Burton's 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, while next year she's set to join the cast of yet another major Netflix hit in the form of Wednesday.
12. Lindsay Lohan
Lohan is one of the most famous child stars of all time, breaking through with her incredible dual performance in The Parent Trap and going on to win further acclaim for her lead roles in hits such as Freaky Friday and Mean Girls.
But more recently, she's returned to the spotlight with roles in Netflix original films such as Falling for Christmas and Irish Wish, while last year she reprised one of her most iconic roles in sequel Freakier Friday.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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