12 Actors Whose Careers Were Destroyed By A Single Movie
3. Mark Hamill - Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
The Actor: As we enter the top three, were sticking to one movie franchise here; such is the effect of Star Wars on its lead actors (watch out future star of Episode VII). Now the two that follow are obvious, but this one is a bit more ambiguous. Mark Hamill had next to no experience in acting before he became Luke, but was quickly catapulted into the big leagues once George Lucas space fantasy revolutionised cinema. But its fair to say the series was also the end of him.
The Film: Return Of The Jedi closed off the Star Wars trilogy in relatively repetitive fashion, but did help cap off what is still one of the best trilogies of all time. It marked the end of Luke Skywalker's evolution from naive farm boy to confident hero, although Han Solo was still coolest by far (likely part of the problem). By the time it came out, Harrison Ford had already done one Indy film, with another well on the way and Carrie Fisher had a handful of smaller projects on the horizon, but poor Hamill had nothing
What Happened Next: It's hard to pin the blame on ROTJ directly, but it was this film that was Hamill's last major on screen appearance. The issue here is that he was Luke too long; he didn't carve out another niche like Ford and ended up indistinguishable from the character. Hamill did get a relatively successful career in voice acting, defining the character of the Joker as much as Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger. Still, looking at Harrison Ford, he could have gone much further.