10) Harvey Keitel
In the 1970s, Harvey Keitel worked with some major filmmakers: Robert Altman, Ridley Scott, Paul Schrader. He was also Martin Scorsese’s muse, for a brief while, taking parts in Mean Streets, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Taxi Driver. Then came the 80s, and a period of lulling in films and TV movies that nobody remembers today.
With Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Quentin Tarantino gave Keitel one of his great roles (as Mr. White) and allowed the actor to prove why he was once something of a minor star. Then, more work with QT followed with Keitel playing Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction.
It brought Keitel back into the mainstream, his new role as an elder statesman of cinema bagging him prominent roles in movies like The Piano, Bad Lieutenant and Copland.
[zergpaid]9) John Travolta
John Travolta had a similar career path to Harvey Keitel: breaking out as a star practically from nowhere in the 70s, before losing it spectacularly in poor and unmemorable 80s fare, and finding his career resurrected after working with Tarantino. In the 70s Travolta had Carrie, Saturday Night Fever and Grease; in the 80s he had Staying Alive and Look Who’s Talking.
Then there was Pulp Fiction in 1994, and an Oscar nomination for Travolta for playing the heroin-using gangster Vincent Vega. After Pulp Fiction came Get Shorty, Primary Colors, The Thin Red Line and a brief flirtation with becoming an action cinema star.
He’s stumbled since somewhat, but Travolta’s barely been off-screen since 1994.
