By "barely remembered", I mean a star (and no, a random kid among many on a tween show is not what I'd consider a star) who was a media / tabloid fixture and / or was a major spoke in the Hollywood hype machine wheel once upon a time who has all but faded into oblivion (a stark contrast from their heyday).

Kate Jackson

Bruce Boxleitner

Susan St. James

Jane Curtain

Susan Dey

Andy Gibb

Irene Cara

Richard Chamberlain

Anastacia

Darren Hayes

I remember seeing Leif Garrett all over the teen magazines, although I could never tell you why he was a star because I never actually saw anything he might have done. Never really knew even then how and why he got to be famous other than young girls seemed to think he was hot. Never did anything for me!

And although I know what Bobby Sherman has been doing for years (LAPD), I think it's safe to say that unless people follow music and tv from the 70s and earlier (which I do), they wouldn't have heard of him.

I guess one could go back to the silent film era since that's pretty much a lost art and the films rarely shown but some of those people were huge, huge players back in their day. I think once most people get past Charlie Chaplin (arguably the most recognizable), and possibly Buster Keaton...very few people these days would have any idea about folks like Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Fatty Arbuckle, Rudolph Valentino, Harold Lloyd, etc..

If Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff are remembered, it's more for one or two characters they were stereotyped by and imitated. In other words, it's Dracula, Igor and Frankenstein that people know, not the actors.

I don't know, maybe it's just me but ever since I was a kid, I was always interested in not just the tv, movies and music of the day but also from past eras. They may have come before my time and I may not necessarily have been a fan of some of them, but I knew who they were. I don't think there's as much of that exposure to non-contemporary stuff these days unless one purposely seeks out that kind of niche network or radio station. I think tv, back when there were fewer stations, in some ways had more variety than what there is now.