History Main / WhiteDwarfStarlet

* ''Series/AllMyChildren'''s Erica Kane may count as either a White Dwarf Starlet or as a {{gender flip}}ped Hugh Hefner (i.e., an increasingly desperate and creepy has-been who insists on acting like she's still just as relevant {and vital} as she was decades ago).

* Gloria Mitchell from By The Way,Meet Vera Stark is one of these.

* [[HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight Akira Kogami]] qualifies for this at age ''14'', having worked as an IdolSinger since she was 3 years old and now relegated to a three-minute GreekChorus {{show|WithinAShow}} at the end of each ''Anime/LuckyStar'' episode. And boy, [[{{Yandere}} is she bitter about it]].

* Early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' featured Troy [=McClure=], a B-list actor who had starred in a ''ridiculously huge'' array of B-movies and failed TV shows, and persisted trying to chase A-list stardom despite his long litany of flops. Ironically, one episode in which he manages to score the lead position in ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes: TheMusical'', shows he's an InUniverse example of SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct; he's just so desperate to leap into stardom that he makes himself look worse than he really is by constantly appearing in schlocky productions. His myriad vices, including raging alcoholism and [[BestialityIsDepraved an unspeakable fish fetish]], don't improve his chances.

[[folder:Film]]
* The premise of ''Film/TheArtist'', where male superstar actor George Valentin is slowly fading into one as talking movies become the new craze. However, [[spoiler: he somewhat manages to avoid this fate by becoming a dancing performer]].
* The TropeCodifier would probably be Norma Desmond from ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'', a silent film star who never made the transition into talking pictures. Despite her advancing age and secluded existence, she still believes she's big enough to star in one more picture, with Creator/CecilBDeMille to direct her. Includes a double helping of RealitySubtext, as Desmond was played by Creator/GloriaSwanson, who had been one of silent film's biggest stars but who never made the transition to "talkies". In a GeniusBonus, Desmond watches one of her old films, which is the Gloria Swanson movie ''Queen Kelly''. This was directed by Erich Von Stroheim, a once-prominent director whose career behind the camera ended with the silent film era (though he maintained an acting career), who plays Desmond's butler (who, it turns out, [[spoiler:was also her first director...and her first husband]]). (Because ''Queen Kelly'' went grossly over budget, and was never completed, it effectively ended both Gloria Swanson's and Erich von Stroheim's careers in the silent movie business.) Interestingly, Swanson had to be made up as older than she looked to play a character who was younger than she was!
%%* Dame Evey from ''Driving Lessons''.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' finds WesternAnimation/BettyBoop working as a nightclub cigarette girl, having been put out of business by cartoons going to color.[[note]]There actually is one color Betty cartoon, ''Poor Cinderella'' (1934). And Betty's a SignificantGreeneyedRedhead in it![[/note]] She's fairly philosophical about it, though. Counts for a bit of a TearJerker, especially Eddie's sad after she assures him she's StillGotIt[[note]]Eddie: "Yeah, you still got it."[[/note]]. You can thank this movie for helping to [[CareerResurrection revive Betty Boop's career]], if not as an animated film star then as a merchandising icon.[[note]]It should be noted, however, that she technically never "lost" it in the first place, making it a slight subversion of this trope.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'' gives us Nana Noodleman, a former stage actress and singer. Both Buster and Mike express surprise that's she still alive and when the former goes to see her, her mansion is filled with posters and pictures of her in her youth and she wears what appears to be the outfit from her theater days. She also reminisces about the old days when the Moon Theater was "a palace of magic and wonder" and bluntly blames Buster for its downfall.
** Nana is a downplayed example; while she does reminisce about the old days, it's only because Buster brought them up and she never expresses a desire to return to her career nor does she seem to care about whether anyone recognizes her. While her mansion is filled with memorabilia, it's in good condition and she's apparently still very wealthy.

* Balthazar Bratt, the villain of ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe3'', was the star of an 80s TV show about a pre-teen supervillain that was cancelled after his reaching puberty invalidated the show's basic concept. Unable to accept that shows end and find a new job, he becomes his character in real life and tries to reproduce his character's crimes, despite the fact that by the time of the movie he is middle aged.

* ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp'': Pound dog Peg is implied to be this; apparently she'd been performing in shows, and her sultry behavior combined with a worn-down appearance reinforce the impression. Being voiced by jazz singer Peggy Lee helps, too.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' finds WesternAnimation/BettyBoop working as a nightclub cigarette girl, having been put out of business by cartoons going to color.[[note]]There actually is one color Betty cartoon, ''Poor Cinderella'' (1934). And Betty's a SignificantGreeneyedRedhead in it![[/note]] She's fairly philosophical about it, though. Counts for a bit of a TearJerker, especially Eddie's sad after she assures him she's "Still got it."[[note]]Eddie: "Yeah, you still got it."[[/note]] You can thank this movie for helping to [[CareerResurrection revive Betty Boop's career]], if not as an animated film star then as a merchandising icon.[[note]]It should be noted, however, that she technically never "lost" it in the first place, making it a slight subversion of this trope.[[/note]]

* Not AlwaysFemale: Rembrandt from ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' was certain his singing the National Anthem at the baseball game he'd been on his way to attending would have restored him to stardom if not for that pesky portal accident.

* Daisy Adaire from ''Series/DeadLikeMe''.

** A SpearCounterpart appears in the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E45TheTroubleWithTempleton The Trouble With Templeto]]n", in which aging actor Booth Templeton misses his late wife and his time as a Broadway actor in 1927. He escapes to a speakeasy in the past, only to find his wife and close friends callous and indifferent to him. He runs out of the speakeasy and returns to the present. But, when he reads a playbill he snatched from his wife in 1927, it says ''What to Do When Booth Comes Back''. He then realizes that the whole thing was a charade, and that his wife and friends were [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim just pretending to be mean]] so he would return to the present and appreciate his life there rather than getting stuck wallowing in nostalgia.

* Anthem in ''The Order'', a washed-up actor and friend in long standing of Comicbook/IronMan's. How bad is he? Not only had he sunk into depression and become a severe alcoholic, he was resistant to the idea of a comeback because he felt he didn't deserve it. Luckily, he got better before the series began.

* Looney Leo from ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' is a [[RefugeeFromTVLand living cartoon character]] who used to be a major movie and television star, but now spends his day as a restauranteur and living novelty. While he's somewhat used to his life now, he used to be ''much'' worse off, having spent time as a homeless drifter after his career faded, made worse by a romantic liaison where the girl turned out to be underage. On top of that, he was haunted by memories of his lover and his three nephews back in the cartoons he came from, people who never actually existed.

* Lola of the Music/BarryManilow song "Copacabana".

* A number of Creator/AdamWest parodies, [[AdamWesting 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 ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' 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. In fact, he even ropes Ron Stoppable into becoming his successor when he discovers his secret (a shoutout to Batman Beyond, especially since Ron's voice actor also voices the titular Batman of the future.) An actor who played a skunk-themed one-shot villain fell into the same delusion but went further to actually commit a plot. Eventually, the two recognize each other and proceed to greet each other warmly before happily enjoying themselves in Ferretcon with the fans who do still care and remember while savoring the old times:

''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'' gives us Nana Noodleman, a former stage actress and singer. Both Buster and Mike express surprise that's she still alive and when the former goes to see her, her mansion is filled with posters and pictures of her in her youth and she wears what appears to be the outfit from her theater days. She also reminisces about the old days when the Moon Theater was "a palace of magic and wonder" and bluntly blames Buster for its downfall.

''WesternAnimation/
{{Sing}}'' gives us Nana Noodleman, a former stage actress and singer. Both Buster and Mike express surprise that's she still alive and when the former goes to see her, her mansion is filled with posters and pictures of her in her youth and she wears what appears to be the outfit from her theater days. She also reminisces about the old days when the Moon Theater was "a palace of magic and wonder" and bluntly blames Buster for its downfall.

''WesternAnimation/Sing'' gives us Nana Noodleman, a former stage actress and singer. Both Buster and Mike express surprise that's she still alive and when the former goes to see her, her mansion is filled with posters and pictures of her in her youth and she wears what appears to be the outfit from her theater days. She also reminisces about the old days when the Moon Theater was "a palace of magic and wonder" and bluntly blames Buster for its downfall.

* Joey from ''Series/Friends'' is an atypical example of this, since he's a main character who was made into a White Dwarf by events that happened after the start of the series. The reason he counts as a White Dwarf is because he is so often portrayed as a has-been ever since the time he lost his job at Series/DaysOfOurLives. Ever since then, his acting career consists of getting jobs that are nowhere near as glorious as his role on Series/DaysOfOurLives, and of constantly boasting about his role as Dr. Drake Remore; not only this, but he often thinks that this success entitles him to be seriously considered anytime he auditions for the high-status acting gigs that he fails to get. He never has any further successes that would make him just as proud as the one time he got lucky and became a star of Series/DaysOfOurLives.

* Joey from {{Friends}} is an atypical example of this, since he's a main character who was made into a White Dwarf by events that happened after the start of the series. The reason he counts as a White Dwarf is because he is so often portrayed as a has-been ever since the time he lost his job at DaysOfOurLives. Ever since then, his acting career consists of getting jobs that are nowhere near as glorious as his role on DaysOfOurLives, and of constantly boasting about his role as Dr. Drake Remore; not only this, but he often thinks that this success entitles him to be seriously considered anytime he auditions for the high-status acting gigs that he fails to get. He never has any further successes that would make him just as proud as the one time he got lucky and became a star of DaysOfOurLives.