10 More Actors Who SAVED Their Careers By Turning Down Movie Roles

The infamous 1981 Joan Crawford biographical drama Mommie Dearest was originally set to star the great Anne Bancroft as Crawford, though during pre-production the Oscar-winning actress departed the project, allegedly due to her distaste for the shooting script.

This led to the part being played instead by the equally brilliant Faye Dunaway, who had considerable momentum coming off her 1977 Best Actress Oscar win for Network.

Mommie Dearest ultimately underperformed at the box office, and though Dunaway's turn was praised by some, the film's campy, theatrical tone proved heavily polarising with critics and general audiences, while Crawford's family condemned the film for its characterisation of the actress as abusive.

Despite her undeniable talent, Dunaway's career never recovered - she received a Worst Actress Razzie for the film and landed few offers for prestigious roles in the decades that followed, ensuring she hasn't scored a single Oscar nomination since winning one in 1977.

Bancroft, meanwhile, continued to enjoy a career as a feted actress - while Dunaway ended up playing a thankless villain role in Supergirl by the mid-80s, Bancroft received her fifth Best Actress Oscar nomination in 1986 for Agnes of God.