For some actors, retirement is either a choice or it's foisted upon them by the prevailing tastes of cinema audiences.

Forced retirement is something that happens, but for a few actors, they simply let it happen to them. Rick Moranis is a good example; he more or less stopped taking roles and then faded into obscurity after a while - all for the best reasons possible. With news that Joe Pesci is coming out of retirement for Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, we've come up with six other actors who should may be consider coming out of retirement for one more role.

 

6. RANDY QUAID

To be fair to Randy Quaid, he hasn't so much gone away as Hollywood has gone away from him. Quaid's personal problems are pretty extensive, to say the least. In 2010, Quad and his wife Evi sought protection in Canada as refugees after the actor claimed that he was being targeted by assassins. Quaid then got into some trouble with America's immigration controls and, currently, he's living in Vermont and posting pretty regularly on YouTube. You only need to look at the likes of 1973's The Last Detail to see that he's more than capable of playing a dramatic role, and there's plenty of evidence that he can easily fit into a comedy role as well. If Quaid sorts out his personal problems and gets back on track, he could do something really special.

 

5. BRIDGET FONDA

Up until around 2002, Bridget Fonda was working pretty steadily and had turned in some unique performances in the likes of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown and, of course, '90s cheese-thriller Single White Female. So what actually happened? Fonda married composer Danny Elfman in 2003 and basically retired from acting to start a family with him. Fonda's last credited role is a TV movie for Hallmark about the Snow Queen, but her last major role was in Sam Raimi's underrated crime drama A Simple Plan - which, funnily enough, also starred Randy Quaid.

 

4. RICK MORANIS

We've talked before about Rick Moranis and why he decided to leave Hollywood behind, but as recently as 2015, studios were trying to coax him out of retirement. Moranis very smartly refused to come back for the Ghostbusters reboot, because look how that all turned out for everyone. Moranis could easily walk back into work if he wanted to, but clearly there hasn't been anything out there that's interested him enough. In a way, that says a lot about the state of studio comedies today and how they've all become so homogenised and unoriginal. Someone like Moranis, who was one of the key people behind Second City and is a comedy legend, is staying away for a reason. Somebody needs to give him a reason to come back.

 

3. JACK NICHOLSON

To be fair, Jack Nicholson is apparently coming out of retirement for the US remake of Toni Erdmann, but until we see a trailer or some sort of verifiable proof that it's happening, we're staying skeptical. After all, Joe Pesci was asked something close to 50 times to star in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman - so it's quite possible that Nicholson could do the same and pull out. Do we need to talk about what an incredible talent Nicholson is? Of course not. Let's just wait and see how Toni Erdmann pans out.

 

2. SEAN CONNERY

It's a real shame that Sean Connery's final film was The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a piss-poor superhero film that had such a terrible production, it caused Connery to retire. Empire Magazine did a brilliant spread on the whole thing a few years ago, but essentially, Connery clashed with director Stephen Norrington to the point where they barely spoke by the end of production and Connery was essentially fed up with trying to deal with young directors like him. Spielberg approached Connery for Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull, but couldn't manage to get Connery back on for it. A shame, but probably just as well that Connery stayed as far away from that as he possibly could.

 

1. GENE HACKMAN

Can you name Gene Hackman's last film off the top of your head? Any guesses? It's Welcome To Mooseport, a schlocky comedy-drama with Ray Romano, where Hackman plays a former US president who retires to a small rural community and clashes with local Ray Ramano. Hackman's range and style always tended towards more mature roles, but he always retained a certain youthfulness and vibrancy. Look at The Royal Tenenbaums, for example. He's basically playing a giant kid and it totally works because Hackman is able to deliver that kind of energy on screen, but with his trademark authenticity.