14 Actors Who Became Absolute Legends With Just One Movie

12. Robert Patrick - The T-1000 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

You can often gauge the success of an actor by how often they are persuaded to reprise their most famous role: the more they do it, the less other work would appear to be coming in. Robert Patrick reprised his role as the T-1000 on two occasions in more comedic films, namely in Wayne's World and Last Action Hero. While the original role was iconic, breaking new ground in the blending of live action and CGI, his subsequent career has left a lot to be desired. Patrick started off as a house painter, until he almost drowned in a boating accident in 1984. After moving to California and getting a few small roles in low-budget films, his first significant credit came as a henchman in Die Hard 2. James Cameron had originally cast Billy Idol as the T-1000, but Idol was involved in a motorcycle accident and couldn't take the part. Cameron picked Patrick because he was a complete contrast in appearance to Arnold Schwarzenegger, quipping, "If the T-800 series is a kind of human Panzer tank, then the T-1000 series had to be a Porsche." Patrick did a really good job on the T-1000, portraying a villain of cold determination who is seemingly indestructible and relentless in its mission to destroy John Connor. The problem was that he took the business of not showing emotion a little too liberally in his subsequent work, turning in performance which lacked any real charisma. He has his moments here and there but nothing that indicates either that he deserved better or that a comeback is on the cards any time soon. What He Did Next: Patrick has continued to work consistently but enjoyed little mainstream success, the exceptions being his supporting roles in Cop Land and Walk the Line.