Why Actors Do or Don't Retire

Why Actors Decide To or Not To Retire

It’s all speculation, of course. Some retiring actors give reasons; other go mysterious on us. In both cases, we’ll never really know. But it’s fun to come up with our own theories.

Some categories:

Actors who retire too soon.

• Shirley Temple. The soonest for sure, in her early 20s. But too soon? Perhaps not. Her post-puberty film performances were serviceable, but hardly memorable. She was probably well advised to shed not only a spousal symbol of Hollywood, the equally limited John Agar, but also Hollywood itself. She successfully parlayed dimples into diplomacy and did a damn good job of it.

• Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Hedy Lamarr. I think it was all about personal vanity. I think these gloriously beautiful ladies—Lamarr being arguably the most beautiful woman on the past, present, or future planet—had a hard time facing the film façade of their fading beauty. I most regret La Dietrich, whose later performances in Witness for the Prosecution and Judgment at Nuremberg, were clearly among her finest.

• Greer Garson and Jennifer Jones. Two very different, but equally successful actors. Greer stuck to her proven formula through thick and thin; Jennifer was always taking chances with wildly divergent results. Both married extremely well, and the film output dwindled to a trickle. I admire them both.

• Bette Davis. The paradigm of hanging on. Stricken by stroke, she managed to eke out a final film about autumnal whales and spent her last year covering the globe collecting well deserved lifetime achievement awards. The boots in which she died were surely well worn, but those of us who, through decades, were inspired by her art and sense of camp will hardly be heard to begrudge this cinematic comet her final burst over the Hollywood skies.

• Joan Crawford and Tallulah Bankhead. An odd couple, considering that Joan almost exclusively inhabited film (with a notable exception when she took over for her ailing daughter in a TV soap) and Tallu was predominantly a stage actor and a TV curiosity. But in their declining years, both sought solvency in horror movies, many intentionally so. Both forged a stunning and long career, and our memories will be informed and enriched by their performances.

Of course, we all hope that the Holy Trinity of Smith, Mirren, and Dench will foray on forever. They seem to be willing to do so.

Today, we’re living in new days. But would it be too much to hope that Justin Beeber and Mylie Cyrus discover true love with each other and be adopted by Pat and Debbie Boone and live happily ever after in a white cottage well away from all of us?

© Gordon Osmond 2014