"This Actor Made a Career of Shamelessly Acting in Just About Anything" Award

[The Burgomaster]

Okay, let's hear the nominations.

Mine are:

* John Carradine - the undisputed king of shamelessness (and to think that he used to be in good movies like THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE)

* Cameron Mitchell - he wins the special "I'll Go to Italy and Act in Just About Anything" Award

* John Saxon - even appeared as a guest star on THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN

* David Carradine - from the Oscar caliber BOUND FOR GLORY to incredible trash like P.O.W. - THE ESCAPE

* Linda Blair - I think that her complete lack of talent has something to do with this

* Rod Steiger - a great actor (see IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and THE PAWNBROKER), who quickly fell from grace

* Charles Bronson - solid character actor in movies like THE GREAT ESCAPE and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, later signed a deal with the devil and appeared in movies like DEATH WISH III and ASSASSINATION

* Lou Diamond Phillips - from LA BAMBA to BATS (need I say more?)

* Brian Dennehy - has some talent, but JUST WON'T GO AWAY!

* Bo Svenson - from WALKING TALL, PART 2 to INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (has anyone seen that movie?)

[Squishy]

Don't forget Michael Caine! Highly-respected, yet still willing to make grot like "Jaws The Revenge," "Beyond The Poseidon Adventure," "Dressed To Kill," and (let us never forget) "The Swarm?" And that's hardly a complete list. There is no way in Hell he could read the scripts and NOT know he was making some of the worst movies of all time.

Likewise John Lithgow! Skilled and filled with charm early on, now he never passes up an opportunity to being hooting, shrieking, and whooping like an overcaffinated chimp. "Ricochet," "Cliffhanger," and "Raising Cain" are some of the more horrifying examples. (One has to assume wearing a dress in a Brian DePalma film is a bad sign for the career of the guys. But then, it didn't do poor Nancy Allen much good either...)

[BryceDavid]

Gene Hackman. He had ups and very low lows in his career. It seemed at one point that a new movie starring Gene was released every week.

Then there's GEORGE KENNEDY! 'nuff said.

[Greywizard, The Unknown Movies]

Klaus Kinski freely appeared in a lot of movies he knew were junk just for the money. He turned down a role in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to appear in VENOM, because he was offered more money.

[Steve B]

ummm...did we all forget about Bill Paxton? Need I say more?

[fireal]

Better not forget Roger Moore. What was he thinking when he signed up to work with Jean Claude Van Damme on that piece of trash "The Quest" or as it is better known as " a crappy remake of Bloodsport".

Actually come to think about it what the hell is Van Damme thinking about these days!

[Vermin Boy]

Christopher Lloyd is my top pick. I swear, there was a period where he was in every movie released. James Earl Jones, too. Christopher Walken is getting there (two words: Kangaroo Jack!)

[Reed Rothchild]

Walken in Kangaroo Jack? Say it isn't so!Maybe his kids pushed him into it.

I actually enjoy it when I see certain well respected actors in crappy movies. Micheal Caine would be the first to admit he made a lot of guff in the 70's and 80's, solely for the money.

As he said about Jaws 4 : " I haven't seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. But I have seen the house it built, and it's fantastic. "

Hats off all round, I say. I'd do exactly the same.

[kriegerg69]

....but with a reason: Carradine had said he mostly was only acting in movies to support his first love...Theatre. I like to think his last words, though, might have been:

"I sure made a lot of crappy movies!"

:-)

[Pete B6K]

I think it's pure luck that Bruce Campbell didn't make a whole lot of really bad films.  Through his career he pretty much has taken everything he's been offered but it just so happens that his school buddy who asked him to be in a load of films was a highly talented director.  There are still plenty of blotches on his CV though, McHale's Navy, Dusk Til Dawn 2, Serving Sara, the Love Bug, Assault on Dome 4 etc. I'm sure these films were just jobs to him.

Plus has anyone seen 'Sundown'. Its described as a comedy/horror/western starrring Bruce Cambell, so it sounds like my kinda film.

Pete

[Dr. X, Yyz, Sr. .]

ANY & ALL that stared in the Police Academy series

Jeff Goldbloom (obviously)

Jack Palance (who is staring in a local TV add for funiture here in good ole Mempho - Jolly Royal Furniture)

[raj]

Burt Reynolds has gone from Deliverance to Cannon Ball Run II

I can't fault those who admit they're doing a movie for the paycheck.

[Neville]

My personal picks are Dennis Hopper (does he get a discount in the 7-11 if he mades more than three films per year?), Eric Roberts (I saw him in four different movies last weekend, his roles ranging from pilot on a falling airplane, mobster and hitman) and Ice T. Funny fact, they use to be in the same bad B thrillers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up making movies together. Probably they have already.

Another good one may be Santiago Segura (he played vampire Rush in "Blade II", he is the one who dies in the epilogue, and he appears in the "Beyond Re-animator" trailers), but he is hardly known outside Spain, though the creator of "Ain't it cool news" mentioned him as one of his favourite actors ever.

[nshumate]

Yes, he's a good actor, and yes, he's currently riding high on The West Wing, but our beloved Ramon Estevez ("Martin Sheen" to you) has always been willing to take any role if the paycheck's right, which means that any time a movie producer has said, "Hey, we need someone who looks like a militant hardass for a confined cameo role," Sheen's name has been at the top of the list.

[Bernie]

I dunno, I'd have to go with Carradine and Jack Palance.  My God, I mean, Palance was in Angel's Revenge.  Angel's Revenge!

Oh, the horror.