11 Great Actors With Terrible Last Roles

Awesome careers ruined at the final hurdle.

There's some air of mystique around an actor's final performance. Elevating an average turn or adding extra poignancy to an already great one, they can serve as an encapsulation of their career and a bittersweet consolation to losing an incredible talent. Of course, it'll never be a happy watch, but any film starring a recently deceased actor feels like a must-see. A Most Wanted Man, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's final lead role (although his final performance full stop will come in the last Hunger Games next year), has been wowing people over the world, with an unshowy turn as spy Gunter Bachmann showing just what a talent he was. Fast And Furious 7, which halted production to deal with the death of Paul Walker, has now continued to provide an epitaph to the beloved actor. And Absolutely Anything, already enticing as a Monty Phython reunion, will also mark Robin Williams' cinematic swansong. It's not always the case, however, that a final performance is good. Whether an unexpected death meant a more deserving final project was cancelled or a formerly great career went south in their formative years, many actors can leave behind a enduring legacy marred by an iffy final turn. Today we look at eleven of those actors with final roles that don't stand up to the rest of their filmography.
Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.