What the Hell Happened to Madeleine Stowe?

Madeleine Stowe was a rising star in the late 80s and early 90s.  She worked with A-list directors like Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Robert Altman and Terry Gilliam.  Stowe seemed destined for a long and distinguished career as a leading lady.  And then, poof, she vanished.  In the mid-nineties, her movie career cooled off.  It warmed up briefly in the late 90s, but ended just a few short years later.

What the hell happened?

But wait a second, you say.  Stowe is on the TV show Revenge.  She looks fantastic and was nominated for a Golden Globe.  That’s what the hell happened to her.  Fair enough.  Pre-2011, Stowe was high on my WTHH list.  But since she’s been on a network TV show, I’ve had her on the WTHH back-burner.  But people still ask about her.  A lot.  So we’re going to go ahead and cover Stowe’s career even though she’s had a pretty impressive resurgence.  The question is, what the hell happened to Stowe’s movie career?

Stowe trained as a concert pianist from age 10-18.  She was a shy child and threw herself into her training as a way to avoid having to socialize with her peers.  Her Russian instructor continued teaching her on his deathbed.  After he passed at the age of 92, Stowe quit training.  According to Stowe, “I just felt it was time to not be by myself anymore.”  At the age of 18, Stowe started dating.

While attending the University of Southern California, Stowe appeared in a production of Solaris at a Beverly Hills theater.  An agent discovered her in the play and started getting her work on TV.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Amazing Spider-Man – 1978

In 1978, Stowe made her TV debut on the cop show, Baretta.  She also played a damsel-in-distress on the live action Marvel super hero show, The Amazing Spider-man (pictured).  

My favorite part of the episode is when Spidey fights Odd Job (well, a henchmen played by Harold Sakata of Goldfinger fame anyway) who throws ninja stars instead of a bladed bowler hat.  Once he dispatches of the henchmen, he rescues Stowe, stuffs her in a car and drives away… you know, like the webslinger does in the comics.  In the next scene, he swings off a balcony with her for absolutely no reason other than to prove he can.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Nativity – 1978

Later that year, Stowe played Mary in the TV movie The Nativity.

John Shea played Joseph.  The movie focused on their relationship.  It was kind of When Joseph Met Mary…

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Madeleine Stowe – The Deerslayer – 1978

The next day, Stowe appeared in the TV movie, The Deerslayer.  The movie was an adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel.  Stowe’s dialogue was redubbed by another actress.

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Madeleine Stowe – Barnaby Jones – 1979

In 1979, Stowe appeared on an episode of the Buddy Ebsen detective show, Barnaby Jones.The episode was called School of Terror and Sean Penn was also a guest star.

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Madeleine Stowe – Beulah Land – 1980

In 1980, Stowe appeared in the Civil War mini-series, Beulah Land.  Lesley Ann Warren and Eddie Albert starred.  The cast also included Don Johnson and Meredith Baxter.

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Madeleine Stowe – Little House on the Prairie – 1980

Later that year, Stowe played a blind painter on an episode of Little House on the Prairie titled, Portrait of Love.

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Madeleine Stowe – Trapper John, M.D. – 1981

In 1981, Stowe appeared in an episode of the MASH spin-off, Trapper John, M.D.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Gangster Chronicles – 1981

Stowe also appeared in the TV mini-series, The Gangster Chronicles.

Michael Nouri starred as “Lucky” Luciano.  Joe Penny played “Bugsy” Siegel and Brian Benben played a character named Michael Lasker.  Benben’s character was a stand-in for  Meyer Lansky.  But since Lansky was still alive at the time the movie was made, his name was changed to prevent legal complications.

Later, a two-hour version of the mini-series was released theatrically as Gangster Wars.  This was technically Stowe’s big screen debut even though it was filmed as a mini-series.

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Madeleine Stowe and Brian Benben

Stowe and Benben met while filming The Gangster Chronicles.  They were married the following year.  The couple has defied the Hollywood marriage odds.  They have one child together and have remained married to this day.

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Madeleine Stowe – Amazons – 1984

Stowe didn’t get right back to work.  Following her marriage to Benben, Stowe took a couple of years off.  She returned in the 1984 TV movie, Amazons.  Stowe played a doctor who is charged with malpractice after an important patient of hers dies.  An investigation reveals the existence of a cult of sexy, powerful women who secretly kill men in positions of power so that they can take over the world.

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Madeleine Stowe – Blood & Orchids – 1986

In 1986, Stowe appeared in the TV movie, Blood and Orchids.  Norman Katkov adapted his own novel of the same name.  Both the novel and the movie were loosely inspired by  the 1932 Massie Trial in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Stowe played a young woman who was found naked and beaten nearly to death on the beach.  She accuses four young Hawaiian men of raping and beating her.  Kris Kristofferson played a detective who investigates her claims.  Jose Ferrer played a criminal defense attorney and Sean Young played his wife with whom Kristofferson has an affair.

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Madeleine Stowe – Stakeout – 1987

In 1987, Stowe returned to the big screen in John Badham’s cop comedy, Stakeout.

Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez starred as a couple of detectives who are assigned to a stakeout.  They are keeping an eye on a waitress played by Stowe.  Not surprisingly, Dreyfuss’ character falls for the subject of their stakeout.  Unfortunately, her boyfriend (Aidan Quinn) is an escaped convict wanted for killing an FBI agent.

Technically, Gangster Wars was Stowe’s movie debut.  But it was filmed as a TV mini-series.  Stakeout was the first theatrical film Stowe starred in as opposed to a TV mini-series that was recut for a theatrical release.

Stakeout received positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.

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Madeleine Stowe – Tropical Snow – 1988

In 1988, Stowe starred in the crime drama, Tropical Snow.  Stowe played a pick-pocket who dreams of escaping to New York with her boyfriend.  A drug dealer played by David Carradine convinces them to fly to New York as his drug mules.  Tropical Snowis the movie debut of Tim Allen.

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Madeleine Stowe – Worth Winning – 1989

In 1989, Stowe starred opposite Mark Harmon in the romantic comedy, Worth Winning.

Harmon played a weather man who has a way with the ladies.  A jealous friend makes him a bet that he can’t get three women of his choosing to agree to marry him.  Harmon’s character is arrogant enough to accept the bet.  The three women he must win over are a sophisticated concert pianist played by Stowe, a sexy young receptionist and an older married woman played by Lesley Ann Warren.

I’m probably going to ruffle some feathers with this statement, but most rom coms are somewhat sexist.  The genre has a habit of taking short cuts by promoting gender stereotypes.  In rom coms, all women want to be married whether they are willing to admit it or not and all men view marriage as a fate worse than death.  The better romantic comedies subvert or avoid these stereotypes.  But Worth Winning builds an entire movie around them and hopes that Harmon will be charming enough that audiences won’t care.

Critics panned Worth Winning (which wasn’t worth seeing) and it flopped at the box office.  It opened in a dismal 10th place at the box office and grossed under $4 million dollars.

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Madeleine Stowe – Revenge – 1990

In 1990, Stowe starred opposite Kevin Costner in Tony Scott’s erotic thriller, Revenge.

Costner played a United States Naval Aviator who retires after 12 years of service.  Unsure of what to do next, he visits a wealthy friend in Mexico played by Anthony Quinn.  Stowe played Quinn’s sexy, young wife with whom Costner has an affair.  Quinn’s character is a jealous criminal kingpin who plots his revenge.

Revenge was based on a novella by Jim Harrison who co-wrote the screenplay.  It was one of those projects that languished in limbo for years.  Jack Nicholson was interested and considered directing the movie himself.  At one point, John Huston was slated to direct, but he was not interested in Costner as the lead.  After the success of The Untouchables, Costner was in a position to put the project together himself.

Costner wanted to make Revenge his directorial debut.  But producer Ray Stark talked him out of it and Tony Scott was brought on board.  Scott insisted that the sex scenes between Costner and Stowe should not be rehearsed or choreographed in any way.  They were completely improvised on the set.  When Costner viewed Scott’s director’s cut of the movie in 2007 he said of these scenes, ‘Boy, we really got into it didn’t we’?

Revenge was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office.  It opened in third place and grossed around $15 million at the box office.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Two Jakes – 1990

Later that year, Stowe appeared in Jack Nicholson’s sequel to Chinatown, The Two Jakes.

In The Two Jakes, private investigator Jake Gittes (Nicholson) is hired by a realtor (played by Harvey Keitel) to follow his wife and find out if she is being unfaithful.   The realtor ends up killing his business partner for having an affair with his wife played by Meg Tilly.  This puts Gittes in an awkward position where he may be implicated in the crime.

Originally, screenwriter Robert Towne had planned to do a trilogy of movies about Jake Gittes.  Each one would take place eleven years after the previous one and they would chronicle the decline of southern California at the hands of business interests.  Eleven years after the release of Chinatown, Towne, Nicholson and producer Robert Evans worked together to develop the sequel.  The original plan was for Towne to direct.  Evans was going to play the role of the other Jake that was ultimately played by Keitel.

But Towne didn’t think Evans was up to the acting challenge.  Evans had undergone plastic surgery before filming began.  Both Towne and Nicholson were horrified when they saw him because he was “unrecognizable”.  Towne tried to fire Evans from his acting duties.  The two Roberts (Evans and Towne) went to war and the movie fell apart.  A million dollars worth of sets were destroyed and everyone lawyered up.  According to Nicholson:

I was the only person who had any money, so the lawsuits went after me.  It bored me to death. When I work, I don’t just step in and learn my lines. I have to plan a year in advance. And I had to work my schedule around the lawsuits.

But Nicholson stayed with the project slowly putting it back together over the next five years.  He stepped in to direct The Two Jakes himself.  Ultimately, the reviews were mixed and the movie disappointed at the box office.  It opened in seventh place and grossed about $10 million dollars.

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Madeleine Stowe – Closet Land – 1991

In 1991, Stowe starred opposite Alan Rickman in Radha Bharadwaj’s psychological thriller, Closet Land.

Stowe played the writer of a children’s book who has been imprisoned for allegedly embedding anarchistic messages into her book.  Rickman plays an interrogator who tortures her in order to get her to confess to her crimes.  They are the only two actors in the movie which takes place entirely in one room.

Bharadwaj submitted her screenplay  to The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program in 1989.  After her screenplay was selected, it got the attention of several Hollywood directors.  Bharadwaj received offers to sell the script, but she held out to direct the movie herself.

Closet Land played the film festival circuit where it received mixed reviews.  Roger Ebert wrote, “there is a temptation to praise films like this because of their noble sentiments, without asking whether the work is good filmmaking. Is it possible to be against political torture and still dislike this film? I think it is.”  But even critics who did not like the movie, praised Stowe and Rickman for their performances.

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Madeleine Stowe – Unlawful Entry – 1992

In 1992, Stowe appeared opposite Kurt Russell and Ray Liotta in the thriller, Unlawful Entry.

Russell and Stowe played a couple of yuppies who befriend a cop played by Liotta.  Because the cop is played by Liotta, he is of course a complete psychopath who becomes obsessed with Stowe.  Although really, can you blame him?

Reviews were mostly positive and the movie was a modest hit at the box office.  Unfortunately it came out during a glut of similarly themed thrillers.

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Madeleine Stowe – Last of the Mohicans – 1992

Later that year, Stowe starred opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in Michael Mann’s adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans.

The movie, like the novel and the earlier 1936 adaptation, is set during the French and Indian War.  Day-Lewis plays Hawkeye,  a caucasian man who was adopted by and raised as a Mohican.  Stowe played Cora, a British officer’s daughter whom Hawkeye must escort to her father’s fort.

To prepare for his role, Day-Lewis lived on his own out in the wilderness.  He lived off the land just like his character would have.  Had there been any Mohicans around, I’m sure he would have convinced them to adopt him.  Mann was even more dedicated if such a thing is possible.  At one point, he became annoyed by the presence of an orange light.  He demanded that the crew shut it off immediately only to be informed that it was sunlight.

Mann shot about twenty takes per set-up on average.  20th Century Fox ended up sending a rep to the shoot in North Carolina to tell Mann to move along.  Mann’s original cut of the movie was three hours long.  But Fox balked at the idea of releasing a three-hour movie.  They pushed the release date back from summer to fall to allow Mann to recut the movie.  Mann was not happy with the two-hour theatrical cut.  He was allowed to re-edit the movie for a “director’s cut” on DVD in 1999.  In 2010, a “director’s definitive cut” was released which was actually shorter than the 1999 edition.

The Last of the Mohicans opened to positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.

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Madeleine Stowe – Another Stakeout – 1993

In 1993, Stowe made a brief appearance in the sequel, Another Stakeout.

The title kind of says it all.  The cops played by Estevez and Dreyfuss in the first movie go on another stakeout.  Only this time, they are joined by Rosie O’Donnell and her dog.  Stowe appeared in an uncredited cameo.  Most disappointingly both Estevez and Dreyfuss shaved their mustaches for the sequel.

I’m going to give Hollywood a little free advice.  If you are making a sequel, don’t use the word “another” in the title.  Why do I want to see “another stakeout.”  I already saw the first one.  Give me something more.  By 1993, it had been six years since the original Stakeout which was a modest hit to begin with,  So there wasn’t a huge appetite for Another Stakeout … even one with the questionable box office allure of Rosie O’Donnell.

Reviews were negative and the movie opened at an embarrassing 9th place at the box office.  In the end, it grossed about $20 million dollars on a $30 million dollar budget effectively ending the Stakeout franchise.

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Madeleine Stowe – Short Cuts – 1993

In 1993, Stowe appeared as part of a star-studded ensemble in Robert Altman’s drama, Short Cuts.

Short Cuts adapted several short stories and a poem by author, Raymond Carver.  As such it told several loosely connected stories featuring a staggering 22 principal characters.  Stowe played the wife of a philandering cop played by Tim Robbins.  His character is trying to hide his affair with a woman played by Frances McDormand.  Stowe’s sister is played by Julianne Moore is married to a doctor portrayed by Matthew Modine.

Stowe was originally supposed to play Moore’s role.  But she balked at the prospect of full frontal nudity.  So she switched roles.  The role she ended up playing also involved nudity, but she went topless instead of bottomless.

The rest of the cast included Fred Ward, Anne Archer, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Bruce Davison, Andie MacDowell, Lyle Lovett, Jack Lemmon, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey, Jr., Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lori Singer and Peter Gallagher.

The film won a special Golden Globe for the best ensemble and got good reviews from critics.  Stowe also won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.  But Short Cuts was not a box office hit.

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Madeleine Stowe – Blink – 1994

Stowe starred in three movies in 1994.  The first was Michael Apted’s thriller, Blink.

Stowe played a musician who has been blind most of her life.  She has a surgery that restores her vision, but she has complications.  She has “vision flashes” and is uncertain about whether what she sees is real or not.  One night, she believes she has witnessed a murder, so she goes to the police.  Aidan Quinn (who played her jealous boyfriend in Stakeout) and James Remar play the cops who take up the case.  While protecting Stowe’s character, Quinn falls for her.

Stowe’s character was originally written as a poet.  Stowe requested that she be a musician instead and then learned to play violin for the role.  Reviews were mixed to positive and the movie did so-so at the box office.

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Madeleine Stowe – China Moon – 1994

Later that year, Stowe starred opposite Ed Harris in the neo-noir thriller, China Moon.

Harris played a cop who falls for Stowe.  Unfortunately, she has a rich, abusive husband played by Game of Thrones star, Charles Dance.  Harris shoots Dance and reluctantly agrees to help Stowe hide the body.  Unfortunately, his partner played by Benecio Del Toro keeps turning up clues.

The movie was actually filmed between 1990 and 1991.  But when Orion went bankrupt, the movie went into limbo for three years.  After the studio restructured, China Moon was finally released.  Reviews were mixed to negative and it was not a hit at the box office.

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Madeleine Stowe – Bad Girls – 1994

Stowe ended the year starring in the girl-power Western, Bad Girls.

Stowe played a prostitute who shoots a customer who gets rough with her friend played by Mary Stuart Masterson.  She is sentenced to hang for her crimes, but is rescued by fellow prostitutes-turned-gunslingers, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore.

The original director, Tamra Davis, was fired by the studio after a few weeks of shooting.  Barrymore, who was friends with Davis, threatened to leave the project.  Production was shut down for two weeks during which a completely new script was written and director Jonathan Kaplan was hired.  Kaplan had directed Stowe in Unlawful Entry.  The actresses were sent to “cowboy camp” to learn to ride and shoot during the two-week delay.

Reportedly, not all the actresses got along.  The original production design for the movie was monochromatic.  This resulted in all four lead actresses fighting over a red costume designed for Stowe.  Bad girls indeed.  The production design was completely reworked during the two weeks that production was shut down.

Considering that the whole movie was reconceived in fourteen days (ten if they took off weekends) it’s probably no surprise that Bad Girls was panned by critics.  It opened in first place at the box office but ended up grossing only $15 million dollars.

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Madeleine Stowe – Twelve Monkeys – 1995

In 1995, Stowe starred opposite Bruce Willis in Terry Gilliam’s trippy sci-fi thriller, Twelve Monkeys.

Willis played a man who claims to be from the future.  He believes he has been sent back in time to prevent a plague from wiping out humanity.  He comes across as a raving lunatic so he is put in an asylum where he is treated by a sympathetic psychiatrist played by Stowe.  Brad Pitt played a fellow inmate with clues about the origin of the virus.

Gilliam’s original choice to play the lead was Jeff Bridges with whom he had worked on The Fisher King.  But the studio wanted a bigger star.  Gilliam had met Willis when he auditioned for The Fisher King.  They had talked about the improvisation Willis had done to add vulnerability to his character in Die Hard.  Gilliam was impressed and decided to cast him in Twelve Monkeys.  Willis had to agree to a pay cut to get the role.

Gilliam gave Willis a list of “Willis acting clichés” not to be used during the film, including the “steely blue eyes look.”  I’m guessing “devil-may-care smirk” was number one on the list.  Gilliam was unsure whether or not Pitt was up to the task of delivering his character’s rapid-fire manic rants.  He sent him to a speech coach.  But eventually he decided it was more effective just to take away Pitt’s cigarettes.

Twelve Monkeys performed poorly at test screenings.  Gilliam had final cut unlike his previous movies.  He considered altering the ending, but ultimately decided against making any changes.  Reviews were positive and the movie was a hit at the box office.

In 1996, Stowe put her career on hold to concentrate on motherhood.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Proposition – 1998

When Stowe returned to work, it was in the 1998 drama, The Proposition.

Kenneth Branagh starred as a priest who travels from England to Boston in 1935.  He avoids the most prominent parishioners played by Stowe and William Hurt.  They play a couple trying to have a child.  But since Hurt is sterile, they hire a young man played by Neil Patrick Harris to impregnate her.  However, things get complicated when Harris falls for Stowe.

Reviews were negative and the movie was only shown at seventeen theaters.

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Madeleine Stowe – Playing by Heart – 1998

Later that year, Stowe appeared as part of an ensemble in the romantic comedy-drama, Playing By Heart.

Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands played a mature couple preparing to renew their vows.  She stars on a cooking show he produces, but she is starting to ask questions about an affair from several years ago.  Gillian Anderson played a woman who has been unlucky at love who is pursued by Jon Stewart.  Jay Mohr played a gay man dying of AIDS and Ellen Burstyn played his mother who struggles to accept him.  Ryan Phillippe and Angelina Jolie played a couple of club kids who hook up.  Stowe and Anthony Edwards played a couple having an affair and Dennis Quaid played a man with a tragic life story.

Reviews were mixed to positive, but Playing By Heart did not receive a wide release in theaters.

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John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe – The General’s Daughter – 1999

In 1999, Stowe starred opposite John Travolta in the erotic thriller, The General’s Daughter.

Travolta and Stowe played a couple of military investigators who used to be involved romantically.  They are tasked with investigating the murder of the daughter of a prominent general played by James Cromwell.  The cast also included Timothy Hutton and James Woods.

The movie received negative reviews and opened in third place at the box office.  It grossed over $100 million dollars in the US which sounds like a decent figure until you take into consideration the production budget.  The General’s Daughter barely broke even which qualifies it as a disappointment.

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Madeleine Stowe – Imposter – 2001

In 2001, Stowe starred opposite Gary Sinise in the sci-fi thriller, Imposter.

Sinise played a scientist who may not be human.  Vincent D’Onofrio played an investigator who believes that Sinise is an android sent to earth by aliens to destroy the human race.  Stowe played Sinise’s wife who wants to believe she hasn’t been sleeping with an alien  robot.

Imposter was originally intended to be a 40-minute segment in a science fiction anthology film titled Light Years.  But the project fell apart before the other two segments could be shot.  So the 40-minute segment was padded out into a feature and released on its own.  It actually reused footage from movies like Starship Troopers and Armageddon.

Not surprisingly, critics panned Imposter and it flopped at the box office.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Magnificent Ambersons – 2002

In 2002, Stowe appeared in the A&E TV movie, The Magnificent Ambersons.

In 1942, Orson Welles adapted Booth Tarkington’sPulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name.  But Welles did not have final cut over the movie and it was significantly changed by RKO.  The idea behind the remake is that it would remain true to Welles’ original screenplay.  However, the remake did not strictly adhere to Welles’ script either.  It omitted several scenes included in Welles’ screenplay and retained RKO’s happy ending from the original movie.

The cast included Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gretchen Mol, Jennifer Tilly and James Cromwell.

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Mel Gibson and Madeleine Stowe – We Were Soldiers – 2002

Later that year, Stowe starred opposite Mel Gibson in the Vietnam War drama, We Were Soldiers.

The movie is an adaptation of the book We Were Soldiers Once… And Young by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway.  The book and the movie recount the events of the Battle of Ia Drang which is considered to be the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War.  Gibson play Moore who leads 400 young Americans in a battle against 2,000 Vietnamese troops.  Stowe played Moore’s wife back at home.

The cast included Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Jon Hamm and Clark Gregg.  Chris Klein also appeared in the movie.  The release date was actually pushed back to accommodate Klein’s commitment to American Pie 2.

Despite mostly positive reviews, We Were Soldiers was not a hit at the box office.  It opened in first place, but only grossed $78 million in the US which was weak for a Mel Gibson movie at the time.  On a budget of $75 million, that qualifies as a disappointment.

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Sylvester Stallone and Madeleine Stowe – Avenging Angelo – 2002

Stowe ended 2002 by starring opposite Sylvester Stallone in the crime comedy, Avenging Angelo.

Stallone played the bodyguard of a mafia boss played by Anthony Quinn.  When the mob boss is killed, Stallone finds his long-lost daughter played by Stowe.  He reveals the true identity of her father and together they seek revenge on the men responsible for his death.

Ironically, twelve years earlier Quinn had played Stowe’s jealous husband in Revenge.  Now, in his final film, he played her father whom she must avenge.

Avenging Angelo was panned by critics.  While it received an international release, it went straight to video in the US.

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Madeleine Stowe – Octane – 2003

In 2003, Stowe starred in the final theatrical film of her career (to date), Octane.

Stowe played the divorced mother of a rebellious teen played by Mischa Barton.  Barton picks up a hitch-hiker played by Bijou Phillips and before you know it she is mixed up in a blood-letting cult led by Stowe’s Magnificent Ambersons co-star, Jonathan Rhys Meyers.  A pre-Walking Dead Norman Reedus shows up as a drifter who has lost his sister to the cult.  He warns Stowe that the same fate awaits her daughter.

Octane was released under the name Pulse in the US.  It received lousy reviews.

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Madeleine Stowe – Saving Milly – 2005

In 2005, Stowe resurfaced in the TV movie, Saving Milly.  The movie was based on Morton Kondracke’s nonfiction book of the same name.  Stowe’s Magnificent Amberson‘s co-star, Bruce Greenwood, played Kondracke a political journalist who supports his wife as she deals with Parkinson’s disease.

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Madeleine Stowe – Southern Comfort – 2006

In 2006, Stowe starred in a TV pilot for the show Southern Comfort.  Stowe played a well-to-do woman who is shocked when her house is raided and her husband, played by Eric Roberts, is arrested.  While he is in jail, she must assume control of her husband’s criminal empire.  Ultimately, Fox passed on the pilot which never aired.

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Madeleine Stowe – Raines – 2007

In 2007, Stowe appeared in the short-lived detective show, Raines on NBC.  Jeff Goldblum starred as a brilliant detective who interacts with imaginary manifestations of the victims of the crimes he is investigating.  Stowe played a psychologist who helps Goldblum cope with his visions.  NBC cancelled the show after airing 7 episodes.

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Madeleine Stowe – The Christmas Hope – 2009

In 2009, Stowe starred in the Lifetime movie, The Christmas Hope.

Stowe played a woman who is still coping with the death of her son.  The loss has strained her relationship with her husband played by James Remar.  Reluctantly, they take in a girl who has recently been orphaned in a car accident similar to the one that took their son’s life.

The movie is the third in a series of Christmas-themed tear-jerkers from Lifetime all of which feature former 90210 star, Ian Ziering.  The first was The Christmas Shoes which is indeed based on the song of the same name.  

Somehow, the song by the Christian rock band Newsong, spawned a series of books which resulted in adaptations on Lifetime.

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Madeleine Stowe – Revenge – 2011-2015

In 2011, Stowe starred in the pulpy TV soap opera, Revenge (no relation to the 1990 movie starring Stowe and Kevin Costner)

Emily VanCamp stars as a woman seeking revenge (d’uh) on the people responsible for framing her father for treason.  Stowe plays the matriarch of the wealthy Grayson family and the primary target of VanCamp’s vengeance.  The show has been a hit on ABC and Stowe was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress.  She lost to Claire Daines who won for Homeland.

So what the hell happened?

It’s an unfortunate reality that actresses are often forced to choose between family and career.  Stowe showed early on where her priorities were.  Shortly after marrying Brian Benben, Stowe took off work for two years.  After the birth of their daughter in 1996, Stowe was absent from the screen for two more years.  In 2003, Stowe seemed to retire.  She and her family moved to a ranch in Texas.  After her daughter was grown, Stowe returned to television.

Stowe appeared in some pretty popular movies during the 90s.  Unlawful Entry, The Last of the Mohicans and Twelve Monkeys were all hits.  Short Cuts was very well-reviewed.  But none of those movies were Madeleine Stowe movies.  The movies in which she had the starring role were movies like Blink and Bad Girls which just didn’t make much of an impact.  If those movies had been more popular, perhaps Stowe’s absences from the screen would have had less of an impact on her career.

Instead, Stowe’s career lost momentum pretty quickly.  She was still able to get work in movies like The General’s Daughter and We Were Soldiers.  But by then her chance at A-list stardom had passed.  Once she found herself stuck in direct-to-video dreck like Avenging Angelo and Octane, Stowe made the sensible choice to spend more time with her family.

Fortunately, Stowe’s career has found a second life on TV.  Although its doubtful that Revenge can carry on too much longer, one suspects Stowe will continue finding work on TV for the foreseeable future.

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Joboots
Joboots
9 years ago

In spite of her success on Revenge,you think some folks are still asking of her partly because
they still haven’t watched it,perhaps?????

Joboots
Joboots
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Exactly!!! Seems Stowe has been its heart & soul from the start….too bad some folks
tend to dismiss it as just another soap or too depressing for those who seen her prior
work,IMO!!!!!

RB
RB
9 years ago

Share your feelings on that awful Christmas Shoes song FO SHO!
(the comic is a bit crude for my taste but his points are spot on)

jeffthewildman
9 years ago
Reply to  RB

Christmas Shoes may very well be the worst song ever. I admit to a certain sense of personal hatred of it, Mainly on account of having lost a mother to cancer, partly because no one noticed how it celebrates materialism and how it seems to matter what shoes someone is wearing when they die. For fun, I re-wrote it a while back as The Christmas Undies It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line Trying to buy that last gift or two, an iPad touch for cousin Sue Standing right in front of me was a pre-teen… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago

I actually really liked Unlawful Entry. I thought that for a thriller it was actually above-average and quite entertaining, even engrossing. Kurt Russell is just always good when on-screen and Ray Liotta, still fresh from the brilliant Goodfellas excelled here at playing a creepy, intimidating cop obsessed with Russell’s wife.. A lot of actors would have overplayed the obsessed crazed cop and made it a more one-note role but Liotta was able to give some depth to the performance, I thought. This was also where I first took notice of Madeleine Stowe. I know I had seen Stakeout a few… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago

I cannot get over the coincidence that before her comeback role in the current tv series Revenge, she starred in a theatrical film 20 years earlier called…… Revenge! I haven’t seen either of them, but I love the coincidence of it all.

dorydarko
dorydarko
9 years ago

Another great article, Lebeau. I love Madeleine Stowe, and I really wish she could have been a more prominent leading lady – she certainly possesses more beauty and charisma than most of the “A-list” actresses you see nowadays.
Twelve Monkeys and The Last of the Mohicans are awesome movies. And I know Bad Girls is a total cheese fest, but it’s one of my guilty pleasures… I watched it many times in my early teens.

Jestak
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  dorydarko

I have sat through Bad Girls more than once, almost entirely to see Madeleine Stowe.

Jestak
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I remember that before I watched it the first time, my thinking was “it has Madeleine Stowe and Mary Stuart Masterson–how bad could it be?” Turns out the answer was, pretty bad.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Jestak

Here’s the one Drew Barrymore movie Drew Barrymore doesn’t really love

http://hellogiggles.com/drew-barrymore-movie/2/

“I wish that film Bad Girls was more bad,” Drew confessed. “I was like, ‘Let’s be like, dudes! But like, women. But dudes.’”

Drew is referencing her 1994 female Western film. In Bad Girls she co-stars with Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson and Andie MacDowell, a group of ladies on the run from detectives. Though it might not be her favorite film, Drew was quick to defend the film’s director, Jonathan Kaplan, calling him “wonderful.”

Jestak
Editor
9 years ago

Thanks for this nice appreciation of Madeleine Stowe’s career; she has been a favorite of mine for over 20 years now. She was terrific as a courageous frontier heroine in Last of the Mohicans and although Blink was not a huge success, I thought she was equally good as the protagonist there (and for me, having her character be the fiddler in a Celtic-style band was icing on the cake). More recently, I loved her as the staunch army wife in We Were Soldiers–not a huge role but a very good performance. She would easily make any list I made… Read more »

Brad Deal
9 years ago

LeBeau, Thanks for reviewing the beautiful and talented Madeleine Stowe. I will never forget the swimming pool scene in Unlawful Entry where she is swimming across the pool. Her beauty rivals that of my wife’s, and as such forces me to seek out her performances at every opportunity. I do not think it’s fair to say What the Hell Happened to her movie career. I suspect that she earned enough money to have the freedom to choose her roles according to her personal preference. …I think she is just taking it easy while her grand kids grow up. This is… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I’m sure Stowe largely paved her own path in Hollywood.

frankgrimesleb
frankgrimesleb
9 years ago

how about one on michael cera

Joboots
Joboots
9 years ago

You had Stowe’s fellow Bad Girl Andie MacDowell on your possibilities list…….since her
Hallmark Channel hit Cedar Cove is going into season 3,I’ll bet you’ll spare her from the list
for now,perhaps?????

HHGeek
HHGeek
9 years ago

Possible for WTTH: Aidan Quinn.
Possible for How The Hell Did They Ever Have A Career Anyway, Given Their Complete Lack of Talent*?: Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

*I feel that this could be a popular thread. Full of venting, spleen, & disputation, yes, but popular nonetheless. 😀

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Who were the up-and-coming actors that never became huge stars?

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/12175595-post308.html

Some of these people like Madeline Stowe failed because you realize their acting skills are limited.

Leo
Leo
8 years ago

Retrospective / Review: 12 Monkeys (1995)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7p2onsRl_s

brokencandy
brokencandy
8 years ago

I think the real question is, what the hell happened to Brian Benben? Not that he was ever a star, but he was on ‘Dream On’ and then ‘poof!’ Disappeared from showbiz forever. If Madeline Stowe’s been home with the kids, what the hell has he been doing all this time? Did he go behind the camera, focus on the stage, or into a totally different field?

brokencandy
brokencandy
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Oh, I see. He made a living off of guest spots. Some actors can manage that.

Nick
Nick
8 years ago

I just began reading this wonderful blog about two weeks ago, and it’s great to finally get some closure on some of these talents that seemed to disappear. Anyway, Madeleine Stowe is phenomenal. I was born pretty much after her peak in feature length films, but first noticed her on Revenge – the television show. It was a show some of my friends watched, and I paid little attention to it at first. The only reason I kept up with it was because of Stowe. It was often very soap opera-y and the writing could be sharp one episode and… Read more »

Jestak
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I’m another who thinks Blink is very good, as I indicated upthread. Stowe and Quinn have such great chemistry onscreen.

Jestak
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

My take has always been that the thriller elements of the plot are not really integrated well with the rest of the story–they feel grafted on a lot of the time. I do, however, like how Stowe’s character is ultimately able to save herself from the killer at the end, without a rescue from her detective boyfriend.

Italo-reader
Italo-reader
8 years ago

I think a big reason for Stowe’s decline was plastic surgery. Too much plastic surgery, particularly facelift. At the time of Avenging Angelo, I remember I remained a bit bewildered to see her plastified face. Would had more peacefully accepted her aging, maybe Stowe would had received some better offers than unpicked pilots and Lifetime TV-movies. And another problem, probably linked with the one above, she was almost never considered a real actress but rather just seen as a beauty. Probably not enterely her fault, more producers’ and agents’ fault. Yet, when she eventually had a chance to work in… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Madeleine Stowe lands on 12 Monkeys

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/25/12-monkeys-madeleine-stowe-season-2-syfy

The Revenge alum will guest on the season finale.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

[R186], I agree. M. Stowe’s career didn’t collapse. She had a few good years and she faded a bit as she aged which basically is the career trajectory for every actress over 35 years old. And that’s true for many actors too. But someone like JRM? In his late 20’s/early 30’s, award nominated/winner, carrying a Showtime drama and getting busted for drunkenness at airports. That’s a collapse. —Anonymous reply 189 Last Thursday at 7:20 PM Someone up-thread inquired about Madeline Stowe, and she has just been cast in the second season of Syfy’s 12 MONKEYS, which is based on the… Read more »

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