Jon Polito, Homicide: Life on the Street
John Polito played the character of Detective Steve Crosetti on ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’. When a producer let the actor know he was going to be written off the show temporarily, the actor overacted and went public with negative remarks about the show and its creators.
Unsurprisingly, on the next season, his character tragically commits suicide, with his body being found floating in the bay days later. Polito later admitted that he acted poorly and patched things up with the producer. They even ended up working together again on a different project.
Raymond Cruz, Breaking Bad
Tuco Salamance, played by Raymond Cruz, is one of the most memorable characters from AMC’s acclaimed series Breaking Bad. Tuco is a meth-taking drug dealer with crazy energy, but the actor who plays him is a low-key kind of guy who surprisingly asked to be killed off the show. Cruz expressed apprehension about returning to the series and said the role was extremely difficult to play due to Tuco’s violent and explosive energy.
The producers asked him to do just eight more episodes, but the actor declined. They then mentioned that no one had ever asked to be killed off before, the actor explained that they didn’t understand what the role demanded from him.
Maggie Roswell, The Simpsons
Maggie Roswell did the voice for Maude Flanders’ character on the long-running animated series, The Simpsons, but the actress threatened to quit the show because she didn’t want to pay for her own tickets from Denver to Los Angeles anymore. Apparently, she made untrue claims about her salary and said she couldn’t afford the flights.
Fox was unwilling to pay for her travel and eventually she left the show. Several other actresses voiced the part for a while until in the end Maude was killed off. Fox was willing to get rid of the character rather than pay the bill for Roswell’s commute.
Kal Penn, House
The doctors on 'House' had to deal with a lot from their mentor and no one rose to the challenge quite as well as fan-favorite, Dr. Lawrence Kutner. The cast and crew of the show didn’t seem to share the same attitude towards the actor playing the part, Kal Penn. He was not known for bad behavior or drama on the set, but was apparently mostly focused on politics during filming.
Penn joined the Obama Administration as an Associate Director of Public Engagement for the White House in early 2009. This led to him being written off the show and his character was killed off in a heartbreaking suicide.
Taylor Momsen, Gossip Girl
Taylor Momsen got her start in acting playing the role of Cindy Lou Who in the 2000 film, 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. But the sweet Who girl was soon replaced with a rebellious teenager, as Momsen was cast in CW series 'Gossip Girl' as Jenny Humphrey. She started out as a series regular but began to appear less and less over time. There were whispers about her bad behavior and by the time season four rolled around, she was gone.
Momsen stated that she had decided to take a break from acting to work on her music, but Hollywood Life claims she was actually fired from the show due to her “unreliable and erratic behavior” on set.