10 More Great Actors With Terrible Last Movie Roles

8. Joan Crawford - Trog

Robin Williams
Warner Bros.

It’s been said in the past that “nobody decided to make Joan Crawford a star, Joan Crawford became a star because Joan Crawford decided to”. Despite being a deeply divisive figure during her decades in Hollywood, in the early 20th century Crawford was undeniable in films such as Mildred Pierce, Sudden Fear and Our Dancing Daughters.

Though having had her fair share of success, Crawford continued to push the envelope. In 1970, she shocked the world by signing on to play the lead in the sci-fi horror film Trog: a film about as good as the name suggests. Unfortunately, it would be her last as soon after she chose to retire from acting.

Dr Brockton is an English anthropologist who discovers and intends to tame a troglodyte which she adorably nicknames ‘Trog’. In actuality, the audience can plainly see it’s just a man in an ill-fitting monkey suit left over from the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Made on a shoestring budget (Crawford herself proudly proclaimed she provided her own wardrobe), the movie has gone down in history as an accidental B-movie with all of its campy frights and ridiculous dialogue. Director Freddie Francis even went as far as to say he regretted making the picture, saying: “Joan shouldn’t have done it and neither should I”.

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