White Dwarf Starlet: Difference between revisions

[[File:norma_desmond.png|link=Sunset Boulevard|frame|"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up!"]]

 

Now it's a [[Deader Than Disco|disco]], but not for Lola<br />

Still in the dress she used to wear, faded feathers in her hair"''|'''[[Barry Manilow]]''', "Copacabana (At the Copa)"}}

* {{spoiler|Shiho's mother Sayuri Nagasawa}}, in ''[[Private Actress]]''. {{spoiler|While she ''was'' genuinely talented, being scarred ruined her career. }} At the same time, {{spoiler|Sayuri}}'s old rival Ruriko Daichi deeply fears to become this.

** Beautifully lampshaded by Shiho:

 

 

* Another male example: Buddy Young Jr. in ''Mr Saturday Night''.

* Vitriolic producer Les Grossman uses these exact words to describe Tugg Speedman if ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' (the [[Show Within a Show|movie-within-the-movie]]) fails.

* [[Bela Lugosi]] in ''[[Ed Wood (film)|Ed Wood]]'', which makes him perfect for a starring role in [[Show Within a Show|one of the worst movies ever]].

* Velma Von Tussle in ''[[Hairspray]]'', especially in the later versions. Her song "The Legend of Miss Baltimore Crabs" details her beauty queen past.

* Nina Simone's ''Stars''

* Dog Fashion Disco wrote a rather creepy song, "Plastic Surgeons", that is a plastic surgeon's serenade to his white dwarf starlet clients.

''A plastic surgeon to the stars of old'' }}

** Prefab Sprouts "The King of Rock And Roll" is about a one-hit wonder who becomes one of these. It was their only hit.

*** ...In the US.

* Faith Hill's "When The Lights Go Down", dedicates a verse to this phenomenon.

without a sound, when the lights go down. }}

* "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" by Harry Nilsson, about a (male) teen idol who goes from the heights of fame to being "a fallen star who works in a bar where yesterday is king."

== [[Theater]] ==

* The Stephen Sondheim musical ''Follies'' is full of elderly showgirls. Though most of the songs are period pastiches, "I'm Still Here," an anthem to ex-stardom, practically sums up this trope. Some poignant lyrics include:

And I'm here." }}

* Grizabella the Glamour Cat from ''[[Cats]]''.

* Slappy Squirrel from ''[[Animaniacs]]'' is an aversion of this. The gag behind Slappy isn't really that she's a fallen starlet seeking to regain her fame — it's that she's a retired slapstick comedy star whose old antagonists don't seem to have let go as well as she has, only now, she's not only smarter than her opponents, she's old, grumpy, sarcastic and arthritic (think of an aged, vindictive [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]]), so not only is great harm befalling her geriatric rivals, it's gotten easier with practice and she enjoys it more.

* A number of [[Adam West]] parodies, [[Adam Westing|most of them voiced by West himself]], tend to fall under this trope. Most notable is "Timothy North," who used to star as "The Fearless Ferret", a ''[[Kim Possible]]'' universe analog of Batman that ran during the same era, and in his old age has come to think he ''is'' the hero. He spent a considerable amount of his fortune having his home redesigned into a replica of the Ferretcave and his alter ego's mansion so accurate that everything actually worked. An actor who played a skunk-themed one-shot villain fell into the same delusion. When they finally work out and/or accept the truth, at a Fearless Ferret convention, they cheerfully greet each other:

'''Whitestripe:''' Same, same. }}

** And played dead serious for drama in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' as the Grey Ghost, ''[[Batman]]'''s hero. The actor who played the Ghost in the [[Show Within a Show]] Bruce Wayne watched as a kid winds up broke in a run-down one-room apartment hoarding memorabilia from his one starring role, until events make him a real hero, and get him back in the spotlight to boot. (It's worth noting that the real Adam West lives in a mansion and gets plenty of work.)

* Big Food from [[Chowder]] is a perfect example of this trope, even using the line "I am a big star, it's the roles that got small!" with her name and fridge replacing "a big star" and "roles" respectively.

* In the [[Futurama]] episode "That's Lobstertainment!", Dr. Zoidberg's uncle [[Harold Lloyd|Harold Zoid]] is a silent film star who now lives in obscurity in a retirement home. While not as delusional as Norma Desmond, Harold still believes he's one film away from getting back into the business, and tries to use his nephew's money to make that film. At other times, he seems resigned to his fate as a has-been.

'''Harold Zoid:''' I'm a seat-filler, Joan's head. My only marketable skill is to occupy space. }}

* Piella Bakewell from ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]: A Matter of Loaf and Death''. Wallace recognizes her as the spokeswoman for Bake-O-Lite Bread, but she was fired as the "Bake-O-Lite Girl" when she became too heavy to fly the balloon they used in advertising. She's more broken-up about this than she lets on, as Wallace and Gromit learn when she {{spoiler|turns out to be the "cereal killer" who's been offing bakers all across town.}}