If anybody is going to argue that biggest fame and fortune simply means salary + ticket sales, then hell, most actors would qualify. Worldwide population increase plus increasing global distribution, plus inflation, means actors today are paid more and seen more.
Consider Harrison Ford. He was 35 when he did Star Wars, and that was undoubtedly his breakthrough role. It was not, however, his highest paid at $650,000. He didn’t start getting $20,000,000 paychecks until The Devil’s Own, which is “late” for our purposes. But you’d be silly to think he qualified for the thread.
Now consider Alec Guinness. He was 63 when Star Wars came out, and it was one of his highest-paying roles and his most famous — however, he received less than a quarter of what Ford was paid ($150,000 + 2%). He shouldn’t qualify for this thread either; he was cast in Star Wars precisely because he was already famous.