The Worst Performances Following an Academy Award Win

Why is it the after an actor wins an Academy Award they seemingly have a choice of any role they want and sometimes make the worst choice of their careers? Is it all about the money or the exposure to a wider audience? Do they believe they can do no wrong or does the final product hardly resemble the original script? Whatever the reason some actors have made absolutely terrible acting choices just after winning the coveted award. Some actors like Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Mira Sorvino have yet to capitalize on their wins despite a decade passing. Marisa Tomei went almost a decade with one disaster after another until she scored a second nomination.

Here is a list of my choice for the 10 worst choices by an actor following up their Academy Award victory. All of these actors have worked steadily and most have overcome this poor decision. A few have remained employed but never came close to the moment every actor dreams of and few achieve.

RICHARD DREYFUSS - Dreyfuss was on a career high most actors only dream of. Having co-starred in the smash Jaws, Dreyfuss had two more big hits over the Christmas of 1977 with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Goodbye Girl, the latter which brought him the Award for Best Actor (he was the youngest ever to win that award, a record which stood until Adrien Brody won for The Pianist). Dreyfuss decided that for his next film he should also serve as Producer so he could have more control over the project. That film, The Big Fix, turned out to be a convoluted mystery with Dreyfuss as a modern day private eye (named Moses Wine) who gets caught up in political intrigue and murder. As producer Dreyfuss has only himself to blame for a script that is talky, slow and uninteresting. Viewers hardly cared who the killer was and those that did care could easily guess the solution by the end of the second act. Dreyfuss would later admit he was heavily into cocaine at this time of his life which would cause him to go into a career slump appearing in duds and quitting films (The China Syndrome; All That Jazz) that would turn into award winning hits.

FAYE DUNAWAY - Dunaway was considered one of the best actresses of the 1970's and by the time she won the Academy Award for Network, she was already on her third nomination (following Bonnie and Clyde; Chinatown). She waited almost two years for her next film which makes it all the more perplexing that she chose the thriller Eyes of Laura Mars, about a fashion photographer who can see murders from the point of view of the killer through her camera lens. This ridiculous waste of talent (Tommy Lee Jones and Brad Dourif are among the co-stars) is needlessly bloody with no thrills and a solution so obvious you'd kick yourself if you didn't figure it out. Future Halloween director John Carpenter wrote the original script (called Eyes) but it was re-written and his original story was changed. Carpenter still received a co-writer credit but disavowed the final version of the film. Dunaway barely recovered from this debacle enough to kill her leading lady status a few years later with such duds as Mommie Dearest, Supergirl and The Wicked Lady.

SALLY FIELD - Before becoming an accomplished film actress, Field was best known for her small screen roles on the television series' Gidget and The Flying Nun and her Emmy winning performance in Sybil. She was also well known as Burt Reynolds' girlfriend and Field did her best to break out of the shadows of all those identities. In 1979 she finally got her chance with Norma Rae and walked away with the Best Actress Award. Her first film after that film's release was the horrendous Beyond The Poseidon Adventure for which she can be forgiven as she made that film before Norma Rae was released. But how can you explain her winning the Oscar and then choosing to reprise her slight role from the 1977 box office sleeper Smokey And The Bandit? The answer was that she and Reynolds were at the crossroads of their relationship and Field took the part in an effort to save the relationship. Unfortunately the two spent most of the movie arguing (no doubt mirroring real life) making for a joyless on-screen reunion. Field would soon move on though her career hit the skids some until she triumphed (and won a second Oscar) with Places In The Heart.

LOUISE FLETCHER - Fletcher is best known, and perhaps only known for her Academy Award winning performance as Nurse Ratched opposite Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Fletcher has worked often since but usually in a supporting role and almost always in bad films. Here are some of her less memorable film appearances post-Oscar: The Lady In Red, The Magician of Lublin, Momma Dracula, Firestarter, Invaders From Mars (where she famously is seen eating a frog), Flowers in the Attic, Two-Moon Junction, Best of the Best, Return to Two-Moon Junction (apparently one visit wasn't enough), Mulholland Falls and High School High. But the granddaddy of all the bad movies she appeared in came in her first post-Oscar performance as a doctor trying to cure the newly re-possessed Regan MacNiel in Exorcist II: The Heretic. This awful, awful movie was one of the greatest flops of the 70's and was as renowned for customers walking out of it as the original was for people lined up for blocks to see it. Fletcher spends a good portion of the movie with wires on her head looking into the camera in a daze-like hypnotic state doing things the viewer has trouble understanding thanks to a clueless script. Fletcher has continued to work steadily but has never come close to her most famous performance.

JANE FONDA - By 1971 Fonda was best known as much for being Henry's daughter as she was for her opposition of the U.S. in regards to the Vietnam War. She was well liked by some but hated by just as many in Hollywood. Fonda turned heads in 1969 with her stellar (and nominated) performance in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and then gave a dazzling performance as a high class call girl in Klute and won the Best Actress Award (for which some in the audience refused to applaud). Fonda then spent a good deal of time on the road promoting her political beliefs ignoring her career for two years. When she came back she chose to work with fellow outspoken actors Donald Sutherland and Peter Boyle in a dumb comedy called Steelyard Blues about a group of misfits trying to restore a boat. Sounds like a perfect night of entertainment doesn't it? The film came and went so fast most people never even heard of it and obscurity is just where it belongs.

LOUIS GOSSETT, JR. - Gossett was a well respected television and film character actor who became famous for his role as Fiddler in the epic mini-series Roots. One of the all-time head scratchers is Gossett's follow-up choice after his award winning performance as the tough drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman. Gossett, apparently believing he needed to be in a high profile summer movie next chose JAWS 3-D, playing Calvin, the top dog at Sea World whose job is going to likely be put into jeopardy when a large shark infiltrates the waters of the theme park. The film did have some average 3-D effects but the story was too silly to believe and the film plays even worse on television without the 3-D gimmick. Gossett, like Louise Fletcher, has worked steadily but has appeared in few quality films since he won the award.

SHIRLEY MACLAINE - MacLaine is a veteran actress who had already been nominated 4 previous times (Some Came Running; The Apartment; Irma LaDouce; The Turning Point) when she finally won the big award for her triumphant turn as over protective mother Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment. Having come out of a six-year career slump MacLaine was again at the top of her game. But instead of cashing in on her renewed fame she next made the still inexplicable choice of playing in the all-star dud Cannonball Run II. No doubt she did this to work with old pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. (with an agonizing cameo by Frank Sinatra that is obviously shot separately and then inserted into the scene with the actors pretending to react to him) but a weekend in Vegas would have been more substantial for them. After this dud she was missing from films for 4 years.

LIZA MINNELLI - Minnelli was never a big movie star and her appearances have become more sporadic over the last 20 years but she did receive two early nominations, winning on her second try for Cabaret. It was no surprise that she waited over three years for her next project and it was further no surprise that she chose a big budget adventure co-starring two of the biggest actors of the 1970's, Burt Reynolds and Gene Hackman. The film, Lucky Lady, turned out to be a multimillion dollar disaster with director Stanley (Singin In The Rain) Donen having to shoot four different endings and choosing possibly the worst of the bunch. Minnelli came out the most scathed as critics singled out her performance as one of the reasons the film was so bad. Her career took further hits with the duds A Matter of Time and New York, New York though she did bounce back with a nice supporting performance in Arthur.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR - When Taylor won her first Best Actress Academy Award for Butterfield 8, many cried foul. Taylor had recently almost died of a virus and needed a tracheotomy and many felt she received sympathy votes. To watch the film now it is hard to disagree that Taylor may not have deserved the award but no one can argue her tremendous performance which one her a second Academy Award, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She was lucky to be cast in it following a string of flops after her first award but her biggest goof may have been tackling the lead role in the epic disaster Cleopatra. The film went through different directors and writers and a budget that almost destroyed 20^th Century Fox. Taylor was hopelessly miscast but she did win the heart of co-star Richard Burton in a much publicized affair while the two were married to others.

JON VOIGHT - Voight got his career off on the right foot with his nominated performance in Midnight Cowboy. He then stringed together a group of hits including Catch-22, Deliverance, The Odessa File and Conrack in which he gave acclaimed performances in each. Then came Coming Home and Voight got the honor many thought he was long overdue for. He next tried to get a movie off the ground he had written about gambling addiction called Lookin To Get Out but had trouble raising money. Voight reluctantly took on the lead and title role in the remake The Champ co-starring Ricky Schroeder and Faye Dunaway. Director Franco (Romeo and Juliet) Zefferelli made the film terribly maudlin with Schroeder so cute and lovable in one scene and then able to cry on cue in another that what little audience saw the film felt manipulated by the ranging emotions shooting back and forth at rapid pace. Because of this the film's admittedly powerful conclusion is somewhat muted. Voight is hopelessly mis-cast. He looks out of place as a boxer and he had precious few scenes with Dunaway. The film flopped but Voight's salary allowed him to get his gambling movie made which then sat on the shelf for over a year. Voight continued doing leading roles (and was even nominated again for Runaway Train) before settling into a comfortable career as a character actor (which lead to a supporting nomination for Ali).