dom56

I like Nic Cage in National Treasure the second one was not that good.

inri222

"Nic Cage is no longer an actor. He could be again, but now he's more like a...performer." - Sean Penn

Speaking of a current Oscar winner, people here better start praying for Matthew McConaughey and he needs to be kept away from Kate Hudson.

Ash Ketchum

Some performers have reached the appropriate status for their careers commensurate with their talent and level of star power and then manage to land a role that miraculously makes them an Oscar winner...and then they settle back into their normal groove. I mean, George Chakiris was a dancer who just happened to luck into the Bernardo role in WEST SIDE STORY and turned in a decent enough performance thanks to Robert Wise's direction. He got a few major roles in big studio productions for a couple years after that but stardom just didn't take with him and he wound up in Europe taking supporting roles and then television. He was cast in Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS but was dropped from the film when he refused to do his own motorcycle riding, so they elevated the second lead, Peter Fonda, to the lead role and Fonda became a star. I think that worked better all around.

Dorothy Malone was doing westerns, crime movies and TV roles when she got cast as the wayward sister in Douglas Sirk's WRITTEN ON THE WIND and won an Oscar for it. Again, a few lead roles in major studio films, including her portrayal of Diana Barrymore opposite Errol Flynn as her father, John Barrymore, in TOO MUCH TOO SOON, but then it was back to westerns and TV guest shots and a key supporting role in BEACH PARTY six years after her Oscar win. I like Malone a great deal, but she was never gonna be a big star, just a working actress.

Both Chakiris and Malone are still with us. Chakiris turns 80 on Tuesday and Malone turns 90 in January.

Iron_Giant

Loved NC in:

Leaving LV
The Rock
Con Air
Face/Off
The Family Man (Might be my favorite)
Ghost Rider (Yes, it is not the greatest SuperHero movie, but it was just fun to see it on the screen. Nic was OK, but cool to see the flaming head on the big screen)
World Trade Center
City of Angels (It was a good date movie with my wife)
National Treasure
Next (I love Time Travel movie, my favorite kind of Sci-Fi)
Trespass ("The money is in the house", he played the panic man well...love the little twist in the ending)
Kick Ass (like the movie more than NC, but he loves Comic Books so I thought it was cool he was in it)

***That all said, I would say he has made many more movies I did not like more than ones I did like.
-Most of the time it is because I did not like the movie, no actor could have saved the "Bad Movies" he has been in.

Time Warrior

Some great examples there. I think some actors who were never meant to be leads got lucky - Dorothy Malone is a terrific choice there. Good actress but never had the 'it' factor to be a leading lady.

Brack

Like people have stated, a lot of actors like to get paid like anyone else. Nicolas Cage's career seems impervious to any one movie because he makes so many of them. He has got to have one of the best agents alive.

OldBoy

i did like Port of Call and Drive Angry is a guilty pleasure.

inri222

I'm sure the Coppola/Schwartzman connection also helps.

Brack

That's true. Still, he's in so many different movies and they seem to do more or less decent business. He's not box office poison, but no one sees a film he's in for him alone.

OldBoy

There’s too many that win and then never parlay into much. Of course Cuba Gooding, Nic Cage went down hill. I’m sure many others...

Toddarino

fujishig

Nick Cage? What the heck is the standard here?

I'd say Cuba Gooding Jr. is the poster child with Adrien Brody close behind.

If we're talking actors who won the award and didn't do much afterwards but are lesser known, there are a bunch. Like that guy who won for the Killing Fields.

Mabuse

inri222

Nic Cage is Francis Ford Coppola's nephew, he's fine.

Kind of unfair, but Marlee Matlin.

Decker

Dr Haing S Ngor never had that big movie career we all expected from him.

(actually he was murdered in L.A. in 1996, which totally sucks)

Perkinsun Dzees

JeffTheAlpaca

Tatum O' Neal for Paper Moon though she was a kid when she won it.

Kurt D

GoldenJCJ

GoldenJCJ

OldBoy

yeah he had a few good hits, that were mostly action oriented. some dramaish (The Weatherman, Adaptation, Lord of War, Matchstick Men, others), but now he is straight to video is what i'm alluding to...

riley_dude

redtornado

Heath Ledger never made another movie after winning the Best Supporting Actor Award.

JeffTheAlpaca

He still gets roles in movies and TV shows

JeffTheAlpaca

If amounts to not much meaning not being in other Oscar Caliber or prestigious roles or not having any career at all in movies or doing B movies?