I was thinking about this the other night when i was watching Bad Santa and saw John Ritter. I never thought the guy was any good in much but he played this part really well. As for the worst role for a deceased actor in their last movie....i think Raul Julia was terrible (along with everything else) in Streetfighter.

So who else has either done a classic or a dogs dinner in their last movie appearance.

Raul Julia in Street Fighter is what first came to my mind.

The Hunter with Steve McQueen was pretty bad as well.

Worst last film has gotta be Bela Lugosi. Can't get any worse than Plan 9 From Outer Space. Or maybe this should be in the Best Last Film category....suddenly unsure...

How about The Misfits? Crappy film, and the last for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.

Chris Farley: Almost Heroes.

Worst
The Score - Marlon Brando
Angels in Angles - Rodney Dangerfield
John Candy - Canadian Bacon

Best
Brandon Lee - The Crow

I agree that Brandon Lee and the Crow was a great last performance. I actually liked The Score with Brando....i can never understand why this film was panned as much as it was.

Best:
Carol Lombard: To Be or Not to Be
John Wayne: The Shootist
Henry Fonda: On Golden Pond

Often Cited as Worst, But Not That Bad:
Orson Welles as a voice in Transformers the Movie

Another vote for Raul Julia in Streetfighter.

Great performances:
Richard Farnsworth - "The Straight Story"
Jason Robards - "Magnolia" (a flawed film, but IMO the best thing about it is Robards' performance)

Though Wagon's East came out first, one could argue it was his last film (since he died while filming it), and it was even worse than Canadian Bacon.

Best:
John Cazale - The Deer Hunter

Its not bad at all....his voiced worked very well.

Was Tom Horn released afterwards? If so, that would have been a great way to go out.

What a career, huh?

-The Godfather
-The Conversation
-The Godfather: Part II
-Dog Day Afternoon
-The Deer Hunter

Dude was in five movies, all five nominated for best picture (three of which took the prize). Not only were all five nominated for best picture, they earned a combined 40 Academy Award nominations, winning 15. Three of them are on the AFI's top 100 movies list, and all five are on IMDB's top 250 list.

Impressive filmography.

-JP

I think it was Montgomery Clift's last movie also.

Best: James Dean in Giant

I'll add Oliver Reed in Gladiator to the list of Best.

very good one.

Good:
Maria Falconetti - The Passion of Joan of Arc
Peter Finch - Network
Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond
Spencer Tracy - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Ingrid Bergman - Autumn Sonata
John Wayne - The Shootist

Best:

Finch in Network. No one would have ever guessed that he was an Australian actor. He's completely believeable as a crazy and he goes over the edge early and with no visible sign. Greatest performance of one of the greatest-acted movies of all time.

Worst:

Jimmy Stewart as a voice in An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West. Sorry, but even children's movies can come in for criticism.

The career of one of the most authentic, honest and loved actors in film history concludes with a stumbling, wheezy VO of a dog sheriff named Wiley T. Burp.

Fonda and Finch got send-offs that landed them Oscars. Stewart, the light and hope of middle America for half a century on the silver screen, got to voice-act a crusty dog. Sad.

Other mentions not already named (theatrical releases only):

Good:
Lee Strasberg - Going in Style
Gregory Peck - Cape Fear
James Mason - The Assisi Underground

Bad:
Katharine Hepburn - Love Affair
George Burns - Radioland Murders
David Janssen - Covert Action (not counting his scenes in "Inchon," ALL of which were left on the cutting-room floor)

Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams, his last motion picture appearance. Such a memorable character. I don't count the last couple of made for TV movies.

Best:
William Powell - Mister Roberts
Humphrey Bogart - The Harder They Fall
Charles Laughton - Advise & Consent
Burt Lancaster - Field of Dreams
Buster keaton - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum


Worst:
Frank Sinatra - Cannonball Run II
Peter Sellers - The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
Errol Flynn - Cuban Rebel Girls
Basil Rathbone - Hillbillys in a Haunted House
Marx brothers - The Story of Mankind
Charlie Chaplin - A Countess from Hong Kong

Gene Kelly - Xanadu

I win!

Bad
Bette Davis - Wicked Stepmother

hey now, don't be joning on Olivia Newton John and ELO...