carl weathers

80s Celebrities That Just Disappeared

The 80's Blog Jan 16, 2015 No Comments

Most movies from the 80s were… just bad. However there were some iconic ones, and some of them produced mega stars like Sly Stallone and Arnold. Even though they may have seemed incredible at the time, very few stand the test of time and are just as good today as they were 30 years ago.

Movie stars are normally a bit different though. They tend to get better over time, becoming more experience and getting into better, higher-paying roles. However many of the biggest stars of the 80’s seem to be nowhere to be found these days.

There are quite a few 1980 stars that went from success to seemingly nowhere. Here are some of the more surprising ones.

Sonny Landham

Sonny was in some of the biggest movies of the 80s. Two of his most popular movies were Predator and 48 Hours. And even though he wasn’t exactly the star, he did play a major role.


Sonny Landham
Sonny Landham as “Billy” in Predator


But over time, Sonny went downhill. He tried to get into politics later, but made the huge mistake of saying racist remarks against Arabs, saying that all of the “ragheads” should be killed.

Not a good move, Sonny!

Carl Weathers

Carl hasn’t fallen too far from stardom, as he has been able to have a few decent acting jobs since the 1980s. But considering how far the star has fallen, he’s definitely not living up to the standards he made us expect.

One of the most popular movies of Carl’s is, like Sonny, good old Predator. However, he had a much larger, better role in the Rocky movies as Apollo Creed. As you probably remember, Apollo was the primary antagonist in the first few movies, but later became Rocky’s friend. Who could forget his iconic training scene with Sylvester Stallone in Rocky III?



Bill Duke

Yet another Predator star, he also had a short role in Commando. I’m not sure what’s with these Predator stars being cursed, but it just seems like not many of them can keep up the great work!


Bill Duke
Bill Duke as “Cooke” with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando


Bill had roles in a few more movies, and was responsible for putting together Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act 2. Unfortunately his role in putting together decent movies ended there.

Christopher Lambert

Even though the first few names may have been unrecognizable to you, you’ve probably heard of this guy. Christopher Lambert was in the very popular Highlander movie, which was an unexpected cult classic in the 80s.


Christopher Lambert
Christopher Lambert playing “Connor MacLeod” in Highlander


The problem was that Highlander 2 was a disaster. It didn’t have nearly the kind of success the first movie did, and Mr. Lambert’s career was proven to be mortal after all.

Marc Singer

Marc was in Beastmaster, a popular movie from the 80’s about a warrior that could also befriend and communicate with animals.


Marc Singer
Marc Singer in “The Beastmaster”


Unfortunately, Marc was never able to have great success again. He has performed in a few television series and small movies, but his most successful work has been in showing how Beastmaster was done… 30 years ago.

Want More?

It’s a bit sad to say, but there are hundreds of 80’s celebrities that never really made it past the 80s or just completely fell off the map. Even these folks we mentioned here did a lot better than some other celebrities we found!

Are there any celebrities in particular you’d like to learn more about?  We could always find a few more 80s stars that went from success to failure, just let us know!

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