The ebb and flow of superstardom is something of a regular thing in Hollywood. It can collapse suddenly and without warning. Or, it could take years of bad choices that suddenly render you irrelevant. Here are our choices for the greatest celebrity comebacks of all time.
The ebb and flow of superstardom is something of a regular thing in Hollywood. It can collapse suddenly and without warning. Or, it could take years of bad choices that suddenly render you irrelevant. Here are our choices for the greatest celebrity comebacks of all time.
#Robert Downey Jr.
Between the drugs, the arrests, and the court cases, it’s doubtful that anyone could have predicted Downey Jr’s meteoric rise to become one of the world’s most expensive actors. Not only did he take Iron Man from being a relatively unknown superhero to the one all the kids fight over being in the playground, but his appearances in Tropic Thunder and the Sherlock Holmes films have cemented his massive stardom.
#Marlon Brando
Even the greats experiences slumps. In Marlon Brando’s case, it was a ten year one. Brando was box office poison in the 60’s, and gained a bad reputation on set. However, In 1972, Brando made his major comeback with his most famous and award-winning role in Francis Ford Coppolla’s The Godfather.
#Neil Patrick Harris
Teenage Neil Patrick Harris broke out as the star of "Doogie Howser M.D." in the early '90s, but he couldn't mimic the success in the years that followed.
Finally in 2004, he made a cameo as a fictionalized version of himself in the stoner comedy "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." He followed that up with the role of Barney on "How I Met Your Mother," which earned him four straight Emmy nominations, and his career has boomed.
#Matthew McConaughey's
Matthew McConaughey broke out in Hollywood thanks to "Dazed and Confused." But by the early 2000s, he was being typecast in romantic comedies. But in 2013, McConaughey's rise began again in what The New Yorker writer Rachel Syme dubbed the "McConaissance."
He was nominated for an Emmy for "True Detective," won an Oscar for "Dallas Buyers Club," and starred in "The Wolf of Wall Street."
#Ben Affleck
While he nabbed an Oscar in 1997 for his Good Will Hunting screenplay, things went south for Affleck with Box Office flops like Gigli and the god awful Daredevil. Thankfully, he’s stuck at it. Argo which he both starred in and directed got an Oscar, and in 2015 he’s set to have another crack at playing a superhero. Some guy called Batman?
#John Travolta
After Grease, it wasn’t all rama lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong (sadly). A series of 80’s flops led to his fall from grace. However, a role in a little film called Pulp Fiction showed that he was capable of shaping up, and things have been pretty good for him since .
#Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin gained early recognition for parts in "Beetlejuice" and "The Hunt for Red October." His reputation was tainted in 2007 when a voicemail for his estranged daughter went public. In it, he called her a "rude, thoughtless little pig."
Baldwin worked to get his career back on track through various film and TV roles. After landing the role of Jack Donaghey on "30 Rock," Baldwin won "Best Actor" Emmy Awards in 2008 and 2009.
#Michael Keaton's
Michael Keaton's career was strong in the '80s and '90s, but the velocity didn't continue through the 2000s until he was cast in "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)."
