When Actresses Go Bad

Sometimes one, while watching a motion picture, will see an actress that one sees some promise as a proper actress in. And often one is disappointed in that said actress decides that she would rather be a "Star" instead of an actress.
This is a short post about the two Kates - Kate Winslet and Kate Beckinsale. One decided to become an actress and the other decided to become a "Star."
Both women entered the motion picture industry at about the same time. Beckinsale perhaps a bit earlier. The first time this writer became aware of Beckinsale was when she co-starred in a movie version of Much Ado About Nothing. Your faithful correspondent first saw Winslet in Beautiful Creatures. And he hoped that both women would go on to become skilled and real actresses.
Beckinsale went on to star in Cold Comfort Farm, Emma and The Last Days of Disco. All three films, while not art films, were movies that demanded acting skills. Winslet went on to star in Titanic and was in danger of becoming a "star", but she seems to have come to her senses and has deigned to go into movies that were examples of acting and writing instead of special effects. Meanwhile Beckinsale has gone into a series of vampire/werewolf themed action pictures and the result has been that, while she's been pulling down a bit of coin, has not shown that she has any acting chops anymore. She'll occasionally co-star in a bit quieter movie, but she's the co-star and is not asked to do much than support another actor. A walking stick could do that.
It's a sad thing to see a woman of such talent as Kate Beckinsale fall to the "action star" bit. In a few years she'll be too old to be an action star and she'll have a hard time finding a job as a middle-age actress. She'll always be thought of by the casting directors as the lanky Limey carrying a sword.