20 Celebrities Who Stayed Famous Way Longer Than Expected

Not every celebrity is meant to be a Streep or a Spielberg or a Parton, a titan of industry who maintains their acclaim through most of their long life. Some of them are only meant to be internet memes or MTV reality show stars, and that’s fine. They milk the ever-loving shit out of their endorsement deals, get those tech certifications they couldn’t previously afford and toil in obscurity for the rest of their lives. 

Good for them.

Sometimes, though, people stay famous for a lot longer than it seems like they should have. That can be a good thing, like when it turns out an apparently gimmicky performer has actually tapped into an underserved niche. More often, though, they latch onto whatever grift they think can help them stay relevant until they’re on Instagram hawking magical amulets, aka “Russell Branding.” 

The full spectrum was on display when user TonyClifton323 asked r/AskReddit, “Who has most successfully milked what should have been 15 minutes of fame?”