It's weird they have been in some movies together and now both vanished from Hollywood by focusing on marriage and their children. You're right, they likely had the misfortunate of poor agents who didn't get the right scripts that would further their careers. I wonder if the retirement came upon because of the lack of quality films coming towards her, even though she was offered many big roles in the past. The Terminator was written for Bridget when she was just eighteen but she turned it down to pursue her academics. There should be some entertainment interviewer who should do an interview with Bridget to talk about her life after Hollywood and her career. Was she's satisfied with what she achieved despite not reaching the commercial or prestige peaks that was expected of her? That's why I'm fascinated if she would return to acting, unlike Nicholson or Hackman, she left too soon and had not gotten the roles that showed her talents to the world. She wasn't going to be the next Meryl Streep but she has a screen presence and charisma that was not well-utilized by Hollywood.
You know if anything Cameron Crowe could try and write something that could bring both Cates and Fonda out of retirement. Just get JJL in the cast and I could see them committing to the project just with her involvement, Phoebe because they are close friends.

A lot like Phoebe Cates marrying Kevin Kline and then retiring after a string of box office disappointments. Cates and Fonda were only one year apart in age and were even in a couple of movies together. I really liked both of them. Fonda was probably the stronger actress. Cates also suffered from picking a lot of truly terrible scripts that her agent should've known were going to go nowhere. I'd still much rather watch either of them than Demi Moore, Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock. I can imagine Cates returning if they ever do a Gremlins 3. Unfortunately Bridget never did anything there's going to be a sequel to.

I never saw anything all that special about her except her cute nose.

We all miss Jack presence. The movies have been a sadder place without him. Same with Gene Hackman who is retired as well.
She was very good in Jackie Brown and A Simple Plan, that look like a point in her career where she could have transformed from being a ingenue to a character actress. Being married to Danny Elfman, she has the luxury of just sitting back and relaxing while watching her son. She look good at the Inglorious Bastards premiere, when she was 45 and looked about 38. Tarantino would be the one filmmaker that could give her the acting bug if the script is there.

Well I miss his perfoances.
Maybe Bridget just doesn't feel hungry enough to be in a movie. I think I saw her in something a few years back. She still looks pretty good considering her age. I didn't notice any growth in her acting.

Again, it's speculation that Jack might have dementia. Name that should not be mentioned tried getting Jack to appear on his miniseries but he'd prefer to lay back and read books.

So people that have dementia never make public appearances.

Jack has reported has unconfirmed dementia, having trouble memorizing scripts, which is why he has retired from acting. I find Fonda absence more peculiar just because she never announced it to the public or through her agent.

I honestly have no idea. And Jack Nicholson disappeared into thin air after he retired from showbiz news. Weird.