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It’s a sad day when you learn one of the greatest actors of our time is quitting, but he’s not the first of the celebrities to live a normal life.
Daniel Day-Lewis announced he would quit acting and Hollywood altogether after his next role in the upcoming untitled P.T. Anderson film this year. While he only pops up in our lives once every five or so years (his last film, Spielberg’s Lincoln in 2012), Lewis has carved out some of the most spot-on, timeless roles in Hollywood history. Between Bill “The Butcher” in Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, 30-year-old classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Anderson’s last mega-hit 10 years ago There Will Be Blood, there is really nothing left to be desired by the 60-year-old actor, who has previously taken long breaks from acting to live the quiet life, farming and what not.
After being the first and only man to receive three Best Actor Academy Awards (For My Left Foot, Lincoln, There Will Be Blood), he leaves quite a legacy and an even higher bar. As far as specifics go, his publicist claims it’s private, but hopefully, it’s only that he’s over acting. Sadly, we’re now stuck with a bunch of actors we’ve hated.
It’s a Sad Day Without Daniel Day-Lewis and These Other Actors Who Got Out Of The Business
Enjoy one of the best scenes in cinematic history (There Will Be Blood, 2007).
Now let’s switch gears: Ranking the Most Rocking Vocalists of ’90s Rock Music
Daniel Day
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Phoebe Cates
She might've peaked with her poolside scene in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, you know, the one that made all us boys into men. It's been more than 15 years of silence from Phoebe, and even more from those breasts.
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Rick Moranis
Once you shrink the kids, then blow them up, then blow yourself up, it's safe to say people won't trust you with their kids, let alone with a lead role in a movie. While he was a big name in the '80s, Moranis has stepped away from acting entirely outside of voice work, having had no features since 1996 and turning down (wisely) a role in the Ghostbusters reboot.
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Jack Nicholson
Maybe it's that he's already had 50-plus years in the movie business, or that he's already mastered more roles than any actor (think The Joker circa 1989), or maybe it's that he's just 80-years-old and wants to relax court-side. But Jack hasn't been in anything since 2010's How Do You Know, following The Bucket List in 2007. Seems like his list is cleared.
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Sean Connery
The best of the Bonds quit his acting more than 12 years ago after The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen once he realized just how extraordinary he was. Connery has been out of the public eye entirely for the last five years, but it's his voice and the half-baked impressions of it that will live on forever.
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Gene Hackman
Gene's no hack, all of which came very familiar after decades in the saddle followed by writing three historical fiction novels since his last film, Welcome to Mooseport.
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas
One of those '90s heartthrobs that's old as hell now is JTT, who retains his youthful glow after getting out and going back to school (Harvard, Columbia). It was more than 10 years out of the business that he gave us a short-lived spot on the new show spearheaded by Tim Allen, his longtime movie father.
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Cary Grant
One of the first greats, Cary got his start in film around his late 20s, finishing strong in 1966 more than 30 years later with Walk, Don't Run, a phrase that would be coined by lifeguards the world over long after Grant quit to become a father figure in real life.
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Michael Schoeffling
Hard to believe it's been more than 25 years since we've seen Mike. After 1991's Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken it probably became very clear to him he would never have another Sixteen Candles kind of role.
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The Olsen Twins
While their names pop up on IMDB every once in awhile (though not for several years), the Olsen twins essentially bowed out of acting when they quit making those twin-mix-up, world traveler movies and declined on the Fuller House reboot. Although, can you blame them (worst reboot ever)?
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So Long, Daniel
While we like to think we haven't seen the last of him, we're still pretty bummed to see him go. Daniel, if you're listening, could you take Nic Cage and his terrible hairstyles with you?
