Who are some actors from the past who were once popular or did a few big movies, who have now just seemingly vanished?

Andrew McCarthy.

There was a period in the mid 80’s wherein you couldn’t avoid him.

To name a few movies: St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Mannequin (1987), and Weekend at Bernie’s (1989).

All these movies became sort of American cult films and made dozens of millions in domestic gross. In general he was successful in coming of age/romantic comedy roles, his dramatic roles never got any significant acclaim.

He was considered part of the “80’s Brats”, along with Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall.

Then he sort of vanished from the screen. By the end of the 80’s.

In recent years he has stated that that affiliation with the “Brats” drove away the prime directors of Hollywood, as the group members were classified as lightweights.

McCarthy transitioned into directing and eventually writing, and has experienced success as an author with 4 best sellers thus far.