History WhiteDwarfStarlet / LiveActionTV

** A SpearCounterpart appears in the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E45TheTroubleWithTempleton The Trouble With Templeton]]", 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.

* Discussed in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode on ''Film/TheGiantSpiderInvasion''. An astronomy lecturer makes mention of "white dwarf stars" and "collapsed stars," each of which is followed up by the bots with, "like Creator/LindaHunt."[[note]]Linda Hunt is a little person, not a former star.[[/note]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
** The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E4TheSixteenMillimeterShrine The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine]]" was about a White Dwarf Starlet, Barbara Jean Trenton, who becomes so obsessed with her old movies she literally gets pulled into one.
** A SpearCounterpart appears in the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E45TheTroubleWithTempleton The Trouble With Templeton]]", 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.
* Faith from ''Series/HopeAndFaith''.
* Nina Van Horn from ''Series/JustShootMe''.
** Victoria Chase on ''Series/HotInCleveland.''
* Not AlwaysFemale: Rembrandt from ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' was a singer whose career had long since declined, but was certain his singing the National Anthem at a baseball game would have restored him to stardom if not for that pesky portal accident. This was only reinforced by him finding out that he had [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]] levels of fame on one of the worlds.
* Creator/WillSmith from ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' was once roped into a date with a thoroughly unpleasant version of this character, who was portrayed as a diva who was rude to everyone and refused to accept that her career was over.

* Jenna Maroney of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' lives in perpetual fear of becoming one. Of course, she can't really become a has-been since she wasn't really that famous to start with. Instead, she'd be more of a never-was.

* ''Series/AllMyChildren'''s Erica Kane may count as either a White Dwarf Starlet or as a {{gender flip}}ped Hugh Hefner; 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.

* The main character of Colombian SoapOpera ''La Diva'' is an actress that, after having a big success in her home country, got a diva-ish attitude and decided to try her luck in Hollywood, leaving her reluctant family behind. After 10 years with no success, she decides to come back, only to find that, while still beautiful and talented, she is no longer relevant, and her sons are still deeply hurt from the abandonment.
* In ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous'': Patsy Stone.
* In ''Series/SlingsAndArrows'', Shakespearian diva Ellen Fanshaw begs her director not to cast her as the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet, because she can't stand to think of herself as being that old. She also spends a lot of time seducing inappropriately younger men. The trope is both played straight and subverted, because while the show makes fun of its aging starlet, Ellen never loses her dignity as an actress, taking on such weighty parts as Queen Gertrude and Lady Macbeth.

* The Norma Desmond character from ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' was frequently parodied on ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow''.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' has former runway model Gabrielle Solis (who somehow managed to be a runway model at five-foot-nothing) returning to New York in one episode to schmooze with former co-workers (including RealLife supermodel Paulina Porizkova), only to find out they all hated her. Another episode features her trying to prove she's still model material, only to find that she's considered too old by the crew because she's in her 30s.
* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':
** Castle's live-in mother Martha Rogers (played by Creator/SusanSullivan) is a past-her-prime actress who still gets work (although not the kind of roles she ''used'' to get) and is remarkably well adjusted to her later years for a fading starlet, but still wanting to retain some of her former glamour. The show has included Martha watching a clip from ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk|1977}}'' movie (which Susan starred in) and several of her glamour shots from her ''Series/{{Dynasty|1981}}'' days; later in the series she opens a theater school.
** Castle's first ex-wife Meridith (his daughter Alexis's mother) is an early-onset case, and not so well adjusted to it: she's flighty, mercurial, and more than a little bit of a prima donna. Castle once compares dealing with her when she's in town to "a deep-fried Twinkie": you know it's bad for you, so you only have one once in a long while.
* Discussed in the ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' episode on ''Film/TheGiantSpiderInvasion''. An astronomy lecturer makes mention of "white dwarf stars" and "collapsed stars," each of which is followed up by the bots with, "like Creator/LindaHunt."[[note]]Linda Hunt is a little person, not a former star.[[/note]]
* Sidra from ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'''s episode "Inject-icide". She's an elderly former beauty queen who injected her face with corn oil as a cheap substitute for Botox (as she couldn't afford the actual treatments). Some of that got into her bloodstream, and then it started leaking out of her face...

* Daisy Adaire from ''Series/DeadLikeMe''. Although it helps that, being dead, she doesn't age.
* On an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', Creator/CarolBurnett played a former ballerina whose rich husband is accused of murdering his mistress and her lover. When Benson comes to question her, she's sitting in her den watching old films of herself dancing while drinking herself into a stupor. She points at the screen and tells Benson,"You see that girl? She used to be me."

* Kandi Buress from ''Series/TheRealHousewives Of Atlanta'' was a member of the '90s GirlGroup Xscape. She sees the show as a chance to re-enter the spotlight.
* One unsub on ''Series/CriminalMinds'' was the son of a onetime starlet, and has several conversations with her during the episode that makes it clear that she's a ''very'' gone-to-seed version of this trope. [[spoiler: Subverted in the final scene, which reveals that the "conversations" were her son's hallucinations as he talked to her long-mummified corpse. Black Dwarf Starlet?]]
* ''Series/QuincyME'' investigated a suicide that led to exposing malpractice. Although he was actually a gynecologist who knew nothing about cosmetic surgery, the unscrupulous Dr. Emile Green was making money preying on women who fit this trope. One of his victims, Dorie Larkin, always hid behind scarves and veils. Bravely appearing on television, she explained that she wanted the surgery because roles that she felt should have gone to her were going to younger actresses, and she was being cast as maiden aunts. When no reputable surgeon would help, because she had the wrong skin type, she turned to Dr. Green, and he butchered her face.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E26TheGuests The Guests]]" features Florida Patton, the series' version of Norma Desmond. She was famous during the silent era, but her career suffered when talkies began and she's still salty about it:
-->I'm a star. Audiences hear stars with their ''souls'', not with their ears!
* 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 ''Days'', 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.
* In ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'', Rita Farr was a reasonably-sized star back in the 40's, before a freak accident turned her into an amorphous blob. She has spent the past six or seven decades holed up in a mansion, bitterly reminiscing about her lost stardom.
* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Sam Malone often pines over his days in the Boston Red Sox, which ended due to his severe alcoholism, but several times through the series it's shown he wasn't a terribly good player even in his heyday, to the extent the Sox don't even bother inviting him to reunions.
* An episode of ''Series/BigBadBeetleborgs'' has the Hillhurst house being visited by an old former star of silent horror movies. The kids are forced to play along and pretend they are scared of her so as to not to make her upset.
* Creator/TheBBC Three 2015 {{Mockumentary}} ''Gordon'' portrays former Creator/{{CBBC}} mascot Gordon T. Gopher as a recovering alcoholic trying to restart his career, over-estimating how much the BBC remembers him (when he says he has "broom cupboard experience", referring to the old nickname for the CBBC continuity booth, they think he's applying to be a cleaner), and tormented by posters reminding him that former co-star Philip Schofield is now the presenter of Creator/{{ITV}}'s ''Series/ThisMorning''.
* The eponymous Richie Rich from ''Series/FilthyRichAndCatflap'', a minuscule actor and comedian now long-forgotten, but with delusions of importance and relevance. He expects everyone to know him and shower him with praise every time he enters a room (even though no one, not even those old enough to remember his meagre heights, are aware of his existence), is vain, egotistical, desperate for any kind of showbiz job, tries to live an upper class lifestyle, and is thoroughly past his prime (even if it is implied this "prime" was purely illusory).
** Also the case of all the celebrities present on the ShowWithinAShow ''Ooer Sounds a Bit Rude'', who rely on their gimmicks and are only slightly less desperate for attention as Richie. The show is presented as a place for people who fit this trope.
** This trope is viciously lampooned throughout the entire show, and at one point [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] by Eddie, Richie's [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] minder, in one of his tirades:
--> '''Eddie:''' Look. If there's one thing I hate in [[BritishMedia British entertainment]] more than you, it's that vast army of ex-[[StandUpComedy stand-up comics]], who did one half-funny gag on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in [[TheSixties the middle 60s]], and have made a fortune doing GameShows ever since!

* ''Series/OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding'': Charles and Oliver are male versions. Charles is an actor whose biggest claim is starring in the procedural drama ''Brazzos''. Even though the show ended decades ago and his other acting gigs have dried up as well, he still counts on people remembering him. As for Oliver, he is a disgraced stage producer whose magnum opus, ''Splash'', became OvershadowedByControversy due to its TroubledProduction. At the start of the series, both men are elderly and hoping for their next big break. [[spoiler: This break comes at the end of the second season when Oliver is called on to produce a new big-budget musical, with Charles in a lead roll...just in time for the other lead to be murdered]].

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has Martha Rogers (played by Creator/SusanSullivan) as a past-her-prime actress who still gets work (although not the kind of roles she ''used'' to get) and is remarkably well adjusted to her later years for a fading starlet, but still wanting to retain some of her former glamour. The show has included Martha watching a clip from ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk|1977}}'' movie (which Susan starred in) and several of her glamour shots from her ''Series/{{Dynasty|1981}}'' days. There is also Castle's first ex-wife Meridith, who is an early-onset case, and not so well adjusted to it.

* 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. This was only reinforced by him finding out that he had [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]] levels of fame on one of the worlds.

* Nina Van Horn from ''Series/JustShootMe''. Wendie Malick does this very well, just look at Victoria Chase on ''Series/HotInCleveland.''

* Faith from ''Hope and Faith''.

* 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.

* Parodied in ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' when Sally began to act like one when her "15 minutes of fame" ran out.

* Creator/TheBBC Three 2015 {{Mockumentary}} ''Gordon'' portrays former Creator/{{CBBC}} mascot Gordon T. Gopher as a recovering alcoholic trying to restart his career, over-estimating how much the BBC remembers him (when he says he has "broom cupboard experience", referring to the old nickname for the CBBC continuity booth, they think he's applying to be a cleaner), and tormented by posters reminding him that former co-star Philip Schofield is now the presenter of Creator/{{ITV}}'s ''This Morning''.

* Discussed in the ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' episode on ''Film/TheGiantSpiderInvasion''. An astronomy lecturer makes mention of "white dwarf stars" and "collapsed stars," each of which is followed up by the bots with, "like Linda Hunt."[[note]]Linda Hunt is a little person, not a former star.[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E26TheGuests The Guests]]" features Florida Patton, the series' version of Norma Desmond. She was famous during the silent movie era, but her career suffered when talkies began and she's still salty about it:

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E26TheGuests The Guests]]" features Florida Patton, the series' version of Norma Desmond. She was famous during the silent movie era, but her career suffered when talkies began and she's still salty about it: "I'm a star. Audiences hear stars with their ''souls'', not with their ears!"

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has Martha Rogers (played by Susan Sullivan) as a past-her-prime actress who still gets work (although not the kind of roles she ''used'' to get) and is remarkably well adjusted to her later years for a fading starlet, but still wanting to retain some of her former glamour. The show has included Martha watching a clip from ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk|1977}}'' movie (which Susan starred in) and several of her glamour shots from her ''Series/{{Dynasty|1981}}'' days. There is also Castle's first ex-wife Meridith, who is an early-onset case, and not so well adjusted to it.