MovieChat Forums > Major League (1989) Discussion > Why didn't Margaret Whitton have a bigge...

Why didn't Margaret Whitton have a bigger film career?

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (19392)
5 replies | jump to latest

Her on-screen work just about stops at 1994 (shortly after reprising her role as Rachel Phelps in Major League II), which was 22 years prior to her death. Other than Major League, her most recognizable film role was probably that in The Secret of My Success with Michael J. Fox. She also did this show with Teri Garr in ABC called Good & Evil, where Margaret was playing decidedly against type as the "good" sister. But it seemed like after Major League II, she practically fell off the face of the earth for the remainder of her days.

[–] SpikeMike (470) 5 years ago

Too old.

She hit it big right before the age where Hollywood gives up on women until they're old enough to play the grandma parts. It's getting better, but back then there just weren't roles available to her age range.

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 4 years ago

What's ironic is that Major League was Rene Russo's first major film role. And she was already pushing 40, when she made Lethal Weapon 3, which is generally seen to be her breakout role (i.e. the film that officially made her a "star").

https://lebeauleblog.com/2013/11/15/what-the-hell-happened-to-rene-russo/

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rlbVTcBKgLQJ:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-24-9202160443-story.html+&cd=19&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000623/bio

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 3 years ago

I don't know if Margaret was "too old". If you mean that she's too old to be a leading lady post-Major League, then maybe. But still, she could've carved a nice niche for herself as a character actress. So I wonder if she retired from on-screen acting relatively early due to her health.

[–] kungfulord (957) 3 years ago

Is already difficult to have a career at all in Hollywood, just having a few big roles is really hard, not everybody who achieves some notoriety can make it big or even repeat his success. Hollywood is full of just one recognizable roles career is really not that strange

And there is another factor when people hit some age they might re-considered his acting aspirations and ask themself if it is worth all the effort knowing there is not much they can do anymore, and maybe they choose to abandon and move on in life, wich I think might be the most healthy decision

I remember an episode of the Rogan experience when he was talking about all the delusional middle-aged people in Hollywood who are still trying, and become bitter and disconnected from reality and continue behaving like they were still in their twenties, I suppose a lot of actors don't want to see themself in that mirror

[–] TMC-4 (19392) 2 years ago

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/30148848-celebrities-who-married-rich-and-disappeared

I don't know if this counts as a celebrity, as she was more a steadily working character actress, but Margaret Whitton, who was in the "Major League" movies and also worked a lot onstage, was married to Bear Stearns executive Warren Spector (who had been widely tipped to become the next CEO of the firm, had it not crashed and burned).

After she married Spector, she basically didn't have to do shit until she died in 2016.

by Anonymous reply 20 January 24, 2022 4:35 PM