History WhiteDwarfStarlet / WesternAnimation

* Piella Bakewell from ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit: WesternAnimation/AMatterOfLoafAndDeath''. 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]]. Though given the content of the spoiler, one really does wonder if [[UnreliableNarrator whether her version of events shouldn't be taken with a pinch of salt.]]

* A Norma Desmond-like character was featured on the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "The Uncrashable Hindentitanic." And, at least going by a critic's reaction to her old films being shown, she apparently wasn't a very good actress in her heyday.

** "The New Batman Adventures" episode "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE13MeanSeasons Mean Seasons]]" has a former model intent on killing the people who had led to her downfall, wearing full-body covering and a featureless mask to hide what she's become since her fame ran out. TheReveal shows that she looks to be in her 30s and is still beautiful, but she "can only see the flaws". Wanna know the kicker, though? Her voice actress was former model Sela Ward, which sort of makes the episode TruthInTelevision, although Ward obviously didn't go stark raving nuts in RealLife.[[note]]At the age of 39, she expressed interest in being a Bond Girl opposite 42-year-old Creator/PierceBrosnan, and was told: "What we really want is Sela, but Sela ten years ago."[[/note]]

** Bojack is a male example. He was the star of a surprise hit sitcom called ''Horsin' Around'' back in the '80s and early '90s but quickly fizzled out after the show ended, and has spent the past 20 years pining for the glory days and sabotaging any chances at a comeback because of his massive ego and emotional problems. He spends most of his time, especially in season 1, watching old episodes of the show, to the point where he carries around [=DVDs=] of it!

** 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 ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', 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/BojackHorseman'':
** Bojack is a male example. He was the star of a surprise hit sitcom called ''Horsin' Around'' back in the '80s and early '90s but quickly fizzled out after the show ended, and has spent the past 20 years pining for the glory days and sabotaging any chances at a comeback because of his massive ego and emotional problems. He spends most of his time, especially in season 1, watching old episodes of the show, to the point where he carries around [=DVDs=] of it!
** Sarah Lynn, who played the youngest child on the show, is just on the cusp of becoming one of these. She was by far the most successful of the cast (aside from Bojack, one of the other child actors turned to theater and the other quit acting), and had massive success as a teen pop star and actress. However, by the time the show starts, her career is winding down as she's replaced by younger icons, and she's even dumped by her publicity boyfriend Andrew Garfield. Ironically, she doesn't even like acting all that much, having been pushed into it by her StageMom, but eventually became addicted to the attention and fame (making her a distaff counterpart to Bojack who had the same happen to him). Season 3 ends with her winning an Oscar and seemingly set up a comeback, but she says herself that the win isn't making her feel any happier [[spoiler:and she dies of a drug overdose, making the whole thing moot]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' has Clayface II be Basil Karlo or at least an expy of him; a washed-up former horror movie star whose desire to get back into acting leads to him stealing the experimental mutagenic putty that gave the first Clayface in his universe - Ethan Bennet, a cop - their powers and drinking it to mutate himself on purpose.
* Early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' featured Troy [=McClure=], a B-list actor who had starred in a ''ridiculously huge'' array of {{B Movie}}s, junky commercials 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 a MasterActor; 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.
-->"Hi, I'm Troy [=McClure=], you might remember me..."
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeHillHigh'' has Nimrod, a malfunctioning supercomputer from the 1950s. He yearns for his days when he was the most powerful computer in all the world, and was fighting in the cold war. However, after the cold war ended, more advanced computers were built, and Nimrod was pushed to the side. He kept being handed from government department to government department until he reached what he considers the lowest position possible, a math teacher in a school, teaching a bunch of ungrateful children.

'''Jem:''' So is it an open marriage, or... ''(hacking smoker's cough that continues for several seconds)''

* WesternAnimation/BettyBoop's ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' [[{{Expy}} analog]], Toot Braunstein, is the burnt-out husk left after the collapse of a white dwarf starlet. She's a Planetary Nebula Starlet (not as hot but larger). Unlike most versions of this trope, she still looks exactly the same as she did in her prime since toons don't age, but what was considered an ideal body in the 1920s is seen as chubby and unappealing today (by mainstream entertainment standards).

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeHillHigh'' has a rare male example; Nimrod, a malfunctioning supercomputer from the 1950s. He yearns for his days when he was the most powerful computer in all the world, and was fighting in the cold war. However, after the cold war ended, more advanced computers were built, and Nimrod was pushed to the side. He kept being handed from government department to government department until he reached what he considers the lowest position possible, a math teacher in a school, teaching a bunch of ungrateful children.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeHillHigh'', has a rare male example; Nimrod, a malfunctioning supercomputer from the 1950s. He yearns for his days when he was the most powerful computer in all the world, and was fighting in the cold war. However, after the cold war ended, more advanced computers were built, and Nimrod was pushed to the side. He kept being handed from government department to government department until he reached what he considers the lowest position possible, a math teacher in a school, teaching a bunch of ungrateful children.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeHillHigh'', has a rare male example; Nimrod, a malfunctioning supercomputer from the 1950s, yearns for his days when he was the most powerful computer in all the world, and was fighting in the cold war. However, after the cold war ended, more advanced computers were built, and Nimrod was pushed to the side. He kept being handed from government department to government department until he reached what he considers the lowest position possible, a math teacher in a school, teaching a bunch of ungrateful children.

* On ''WesternAnimation/StrangeHillHigh'', Nimrod, a malfunctioning supercomputer from the 1950s, yearns for his days when he was the most powerful computer in all the world, and was fighting in the cold war. However, after the cold war ended, more advanced computers were built, and Nimrod was pushed to the side. He kept being handed from government department to government department until he reached what he considers the lowest position possible, a math teacher in a school, teaching a bunch of ungrateful children.

** Recurring villain Mary "Baby" Dahl, a White Dwarf Starlet, [[NotAllowedToGrowUp with emphasis on "Dwarf"]], who abducted her long-separated sitcom co-stars. Dahl had a peculiar form of dwarfism that made her look permanently like an 8-year old, making her attempts at legitimate acting after quitting her sitcom doomed from the start. Decades later, Dahl has become delusional and desperate to recapture the happiness she had felt in the glory days of her show, leading to her kidnapping her former co-stars to forcibly reunite the cast (and to get revenge on the annoying CousinOliver character that drove her out of the show). It's a tragic example as Mary eventually breaks down in tears when she sees how she could've been in in a funhouse mirror.

** Clayface in this series is partly based on Basil Karlo (a disfigured, washed-up actor whose desperate attempt to get back into showbiz resulted in him being exposed to an experimental facial cream that mutated him into Clayface), though he has the name of a [[CompositeCharacter different Clayface]] (Matt Hagen).