10 Actors Who Blew Their Big Chance Before They Got Going

8. Crispin Glover

Crispin Glover is still best known as George McFly in Back to the Future, but famously refused to return for the sequel. His turn as George is both funny and slightly tragic for those of us who empathise a little too closely with him, but Glover would not reprise the role despite the recognition it brought him. In an interview with XM Radio in New York last year, he said that his decision was primarily because of a disagreement with director Robert Zemeckis over a change in ending to Back to the Future II, and also because he was to be paid less than co-stars Lea Thompson and Thomas F. Wilson. Glover cemented his estrangement from the A-list with a bizarre appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in 1987, in which he appeared in character as Rubin from his new film Rubin and Ed. He wore platform shoes and a wig, argued with an audience member and arm-wrestled with Letterman, who had no idea what was going on and eventually just gave up and walked out. Rubin and Ed didn't come out until 1991, so for four years, everyone just assumed Glover had lost it. The moral of that story is that appearing in character on talk shows should be strictly reserved for Dame Edna Everage.