# Famous People's Whose Wealth (or Lack of) Surprised You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147 "2005-01-17T03:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/41 "2005-01-17T17:03:41Z")
> [@The Punkyova](#): > > I put these together because when I read your paragraph on Gore Vidal, my mental question was how much of it was inherited. Vidal comes from a very wealthy background. His given name is Gore as in Al Gore, as in a very wealthy southern family. He is somehow related to Jacqueline Kennedy’s stepfather, a nephew I believe, and there was a lot of money in that family as well. So while I don’t doubt that he handled his money well, I suspect that his wealth gave him leisure to write, rather than his writing leading to wealth. He claims to have inherited almost nothing. His mother died in “genteel poverty” in Mexico, having long since divorced Auschinschloss (who then married Jackie O’s mother) and exhausted her inheritances from him and her father. (Vidal and his mother absolutely hated each other, so any estate she had would have gone to his younger half-siblings.) Vidal’s father was a wealthy man (he founded three airlines) but he lived until Vidal was well into middle age and had several other children from subsequent marriages who would have shared any inheritance. Vidal talks of being broke in the 1950s due to several books flopping in succession and to the insane income tax laws of the time (he claims to have earned $100,000 one year in the early 50s and paid $90,000 in agents fees and income tax). That’s when he went to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter (insert his famous and highly disputed by Charlton Heston _Ben Hur_ gay-subtext anecdote here) for several years strictly to become financially secure. So- he says he inherited nothing but he’s definitely prone to embellishment. I do know that Howard Austen (his live-in partner for half-a-century) managed his investments full time. (They were apparently never a romantic item- Vidal claims they never had sex.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/42 "2005-01-17T17:09:46Z")
> [@The Punkyova](#): > > I put these together because when I read your paragraph on Gore Vidal, my mental question was how much of it was inherited. Vidal comes from a very wealthy background. His given name is Gore as in Al Gore, as in a very wealthy southern family. He is somehow related to Jacqueline Kennedy’s stepfather, a nephew I believe, and there was a lot of money in that family as well. So while I don’t doubt that he handled his money well, I suspect that his wealth gave him leisure to write, rather than his writing leading to wealth. Oh i think I actually know this one: Gore’s mother was married to Hugh Auchincloss, and after they divorced Hugh went on to marry Jackie’s mom making them step-siblings. He is a very distant cousin of Al Gore. According to a bio I read of him since he wasn’t directly related to Auchincloss or the Bouvier/Kennedys he was far less wealthy than his roots would suggest. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/43 "2005-01-17T17:16:12Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I’ll have to dig up a cite but I remember reading a few years ago that he spends his money extremely frivolously - something like 50,000 a month in flower purchases alone (I can’t remember the figure, but it was some obscene amount of money. For flowers.) Yeah, Elton John spends money like it’s effing water. The _Atlanta Urinal-Constipation_ used to run the occasional oddity of his spending, like how Elton tried to put a $60,000 Range Rover on his AMEX. If I remember the story correctly, the salesman didn’t recognize him and actually laughed at him when he pulled out his card - one of those supposedly super-rare black AMEX cards - but the manager knew who he was (and, one would suppose, the average income of a black AMEX card holder) and gladly swiped Elton’s card. Elton was also famous for spending $200,000 on random shopping sprees at Lenox Square or picking up $8,000 worth of CDs at Tower. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/44 "2005-01-17T17:21:00Z")
> [@Rex Fenestrarum](#): > > Elton was also famous for spending $200,000 on random shopping sprees at Lenox Square or picking up $8,000 worth of CDs at Tower. Well, in fairness, $200,000 at Lenox Square is just 8 sweaters at Neiman Marcus and two designer Barbies at FAO Schwartz. (For non-Atlantans, Lenox Square is the mall you have to have a credit check to park at.) ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/45 "2005-01-17T17:31:12Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Well, in fairness, $200,000 at Lenox Square is just 8 sweaters at Neiman Marcus and two designer Barbies at FAO Schwartz. (For non-Atlantans, Lenox Square is the mall you have to have a credit check to park at.) Well, it’s not _that_ posh. Sure it has “ritzy” stores like Needless Markups, Burberry, Crane and Co. and whatnot. But it also has “regular” stores like Macy’s, Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie & Fitch, The Gap abd others. Even Phipps Plaza has places where us regular folk can shop. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/46 "2005-01-17T17:39:02Z")
> [@Rex Fenestrarum](#): > > Well, it’s not _that_ posh. Sure it has “ritzy” stores like Needless Markups, Burberry, Crane and Co. and whatnot. But it also has “regular” stores like Macy’s, Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie & Fitch, The Gap abd others. Even Phipps Plaza has places where us regular folk can shop. Hijacking my own thread, but once I was in Phipps Plaza and a car driven by two Latino fellows stopped me. “Hey man, look what we got…” and they pulled out a McDonald’s sack filled with Tiffany & Co. _empty boxes_- “you buy your girlfriend something from the pawn shop, put it in this box… she think you got it from Tiffany! You’ll get some poosay! Only $25!” Had they been $10 I’d have bought one to applaud their initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, but having no girlfriend twasn’t worth it. (I still wonder where they got these- this was clearly the real item and not just a knock off- I wonder if Tiffany’s tosses boxes in their trash cannister?) ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/47 "2005-01-17T17:43:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Didn’t Fess Parker put the money he earned from the Davey Crockett series into California real estate? > > Ka-ching! > > Regards, > Shodan He owns a [resort and winery](http://www.fessparker.com/html/winery.html) in Los Olivos, Santa Barbara County. It seems pretty expensive and that is some very pricy real estate (he apparently owns some 700 acres of vineyards). He was just in the news (maybe last summer) because he was donating a big chunk of land to his neighbors, the Santa Ynez Chumash. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/48 "2005-01-17T17:50:25Z")
> [@Mr Jim](#): > > Oh i think I actually know this one: Gore’s mother was married to Hugh Auchincloss, and after they divorced Hugh went on to marry Jackie’s mom making them step-siblings. Let me put on my genealogist’s hat here. Jackie would have been Gore Vidal’s step-sister only if Hugh Auchincloss was related by blood to either Jackie or Gore, which he was not. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/49 "2005-01-17T17:50:52Z")
What i find fascinating are the obituaries that you sometimes see in newspapers…somebody was a leading quarterback for the NY Jets (in the 1960’s) or something like that…and you find out they were broke. The people who have retained their wealth did so because they were smart enought to invest it. If you are suddenly rich, and decide you want a $20 million mansion, you can piss it away faster than spit…maintaining a big estate is one of the worst investments you can make. I also think that before the residuals were available to actors, most had very little income once they retired. Course I’d love to see Paris Hilton’s obit (ca 2070): paris Hilton died at the motion pictures actor’s home…her estate totalled $1.76… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/50 "2005-01-17T17:57:52Z")
When Bud Cort was offered the male lead in _Harold & Maude_, a fairly low budget movie (with the only big price tag already given to Ruth Gordon), he was offered $60,000 plus 5% of the film. Afraid the film would flop (an 80 year old does it with a 20 year old? Who wants to see that?) he settled for $100,000 and 0%. Bad move: while the film wasn’t a blockbuster, it was a hit and the midnight showings and then subsequent TV and video rights would have earned him millions. Instead he was freeloading off Groucho Marx (courtesy of a friendship with Groucho’s concubine Erin Fleming) and joining cults in the 70s rather than counting his money. The flip side of this, of course, is Alec Guinness’s brilliant “nah… pay me less but give me some points in the movie” deal for _Star Wars_ that made him probably the richest actor in England. (You can just imagine Rex Harrison kicking himself [or his wife] with “why didn’t I bloody think of that!”.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/51 "2005-01-17T17:59:27Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Course I’d love to see Paris Hilton’s obit (ca 2070): paris Hilton died at the motion pictures actor’s home…her estate totalled $1.76… That’s a horribly depressing thought. That she would live until 2070, I mean… not the $1.76 part ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/52 "2005-01-17T18:42:24Z")
ralph124c writes: \> Course I’d love to see Paris Hilton’s obit (ca 2070): paris Hilton died at the \> motion pictures actor’s home…her estate totalled $1.76… Not likely. Paris Hilton is wealthy, not just rich. All that partying didn’t really cost her that much in comparison to her wealth (and, I suspect, she was comped for things like her clothes, since designers often give clothes to people who will put them into the news spotlight). She and Nicole Richie are being well paid for doing _The Simple Life_. In some ways, I think of her as someone who is playing a part, as the stupid rich girl who throws away her money. The first thing wealthy people teach their children is “Never touch the principal,” and I suspect that she lives on the interest on her money, not the principal. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/53 "2005-01-17T18:43:53Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Fred MacMurray was reputed to be one of the richest men in Hollywood even before “My Three Sons”, despite his never having broken out of the B-movie world Fred MacMurray starred in: _Alice Adams_\*\* (1935), _Trail of the Lonesome Pine_\* (1936), _The Texas Rangers_\* (1936), _Dive Bomber_\* (1941), _Take a Letter, Darling_\* (1942), _Flight for Freedom_\* (1943), _No Time for Love_\* (1943), _Double Indemnity_\*\* (1944), _The Egg and I_\* (1947), _The Caine Mutiny_\*\* (1954), _The Rains of Ranchipur_\* (1955), _The Apartment_\*\* (1960), _The Absent Minded Professor_\* (1961), _Bon Voyage!_\* (1962), _Kisses for My President_\* (1964), _The Happiest Millionaire_\* (1967). - Oscar nominees. \*\* Oscar nominees for Best Picture (4). ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/54 "2005-01-17T19:32:54Z")
I imagine _Conrad_ Hilton, who actually worked for a living, created Trusts that would never allow Paris to be anything but wealthy. Even if she WANTED to piss it away, she likely couldn’t. Spendthrift trusts are a great thing for third or fourth generation wealth! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Crunchy_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/55 "2005-01-17T20:10:30Z")
**Mike Tyson** :rolleyes: And straight from **The Motley Fool** : > [@](#): > > 1. Willie Nelson: To settle a tax tab of $2 million, Nelson’s lawyers and accountants recommended that he borrow $12 million to invest in cattle and gain a tax-write-off. The IRS didn’t allow the write-off and, when the back-taxes and penalties exceeded $30 million, confiscated most of Nelson’s property (leaving Willie to sing, “To all the stuff I’ve owned before / That the IRS lugged out my door…”). > > 2. Billy Joel: He’s the third-best-selling singer in the U.S. (behind Garth Brooks and Elton John), but at one point, Billy Joel didn’t have much to show for it. The Piano Man hit the wrong keys by letting his ex-brother-in-law manage his money. Alan Weber defrauded Joel out of $30 million, $10 million of it toward worthless investments. > > 3. Dee Snider, lead singer of Twisted Sister: Lawsuits over tour advances and endorsements led Snider to bankruptcy. Despite his music success (and famous showdowns with Tipper Gore), Snider eventually took a minimum wage computer sales job, riding a bike because he couldn’t afford a car. (The “Riches to Rags” episode noted that Dee had a radio gig in Connecticut, but since the show ran, he’s been replaced by syndicated blob-jock Bubba the Love Sponge.) > > 4. Harry Wayne Casey, lead singer of K.C. and the Sunshine Band: When he wasn’t shake-shake-shaking his booty, Casey was abusing his snooty. He spent $100,000 a year on cocaine and drank a fifth of Vodka every day. > > 5. The Goo Goo Dolls: They sold 2 million albums but owed money to their record label. These guys weren’t profligates as much as over-eager artists who signed a contract that turned them into indentured servants. > > 6. Ted Nugent: He let others handle his money, which ended up invested in mink farms and Clydesdales. According to Nugent, the managers “wiped me out – flat broke.” > > 7. Eric Burden (lead singer of The Animals): His $6 million fortune, managed by a fellow by the name of Mike Jeffries, disappeared into a “tax-free Caribbean account.” Where the money really went will never be known, since Jeffries was killed in a plane crash. > > 8. Peter Frampton: Too busy touring to keep an eye on his money, he let others do it – until he realized a million bucks was unaccounted for. He lost the rest in the market crash of 1987. (One can’t help but wonder if Frampton sold at the bottom when he should have held on. The VH1 special doesn’t say.) > > 9. TLC: Their album “CrazySexyCool” sold 10 million copies, yet the group had to declare bankruptcy. After paying their lawyers, accountants, managers, production company, record company, and taxes, the three members of TLC saw their $5.6 million take dwindle to $50,000-a-year incomes. (Of course, for most people, 50 grand a year is just fine.) > > 10. MC Hammer: Good old Stanley Burrell (a.k.a. Hammer) squandered $30 million by buying a lavish mansion and maintaining a $500,000-a-month payroll. Some of those on Hammer’s dole managed his resources in ways that weren’t too legit. Says Burrell: “You can’t watch everybody, and when you can’t watch everybody, watch out.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/56 "2005-01-17T20:10:46Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > Even if she WANTED to piss it away, she likely couldn’t. Spendthrift trusts are a great thing for third or fourth generation wealth! A greater thing is social revolution, arrest and deportation. (I detest the notions of inherited wealth, though I’ll admit if I had some my views might be different.) Some odd inheritance trivia about Hollywood stars: John Wayne (a member of the “rich but not as rich as you’d think he’d be” crowd- he lost a bundle on _The Alamo_) left an odd will paying his children under 35 an amount equal to $5,000 for each year between their age at his death and 35. Those over 35 received $5,000 each. His will was challenged from several directions (including by his wife, Pilar, from whom he was separated) and probate costs reduced it to less than half of what he left. Peter Sellers was on his way to amend his will to disinherit his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick, whom he was in the process of divorcing, when he had a fatal heart attack. Consequently she inherited almost his entire estate (worth about $12 million) while his children were given very modest bequests (a few thousand dollars). Lynne Frederick then briefly married David Frost who lived off of Sellers’ fortune with her (she also sued several tabloids and movie studios successfully, adding to it). I’ve never read a nice thing about her and there was actually some comments to the effect of “good” when she died at 40 of alcoholism and drug abuse. I’m not sure who her heirs were or if she left Sellers’ fortune intact. Bing Crosby left no provision for his children from his first marriage, though this was in part because they had inherited the estate of their mother Dixie Lee. Alex Haley left one of the most disastrous legal quagmires possible when he died, with an estranged wife not written out of the will and the discovery that there was a lot of property but no cash and lots of debt, etc… It took years to straighten out during which time his property (including his papers for _Roots_) was sold at auction and ultimately his estate broken even- the sale of property paid his debts with nothing left. I have heard very mixed reports on Sammy Davis Jr.'s estate; I know that his older children were provided for due to trust funds set up long before his death, but his widow ended up hostessing at a restaurant and there is a rumor his body was exhumed to remove the fortune in jewelry he was wearing. His widow seems to be doing well now (financially and in other ways) so apparently the smoke finally cleared. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/57 "2005-01-17T22:05:39Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > ralph124c writes: > > \> Course I’d love to see Paris Hilton’s obit (ca 2070): paris Hilton died at the > \> motion pictures actor’s home…her estate totalled $1.76… > > Not likely. Paris Hilton is wealthy, not just rich. All that partying didn’t really cost her that much in comparison to her wealth (and, I suspect, she was comped for things like her clothes, since designers often give clothes to people who will put them into the news spotlight). She and Nicole Richie are being well paid for doing _The Simple Life_. In some ways, I think of her as someone who is playing a part, as the stupid rich girl who throws away her money. The first thing wealthy people teach their children is “Never touch the principal,” and I suspect that she lives on the interest on her money, not the principal. If I may hijack this thread for a political comment, the only good reason Paris Hilton exists is as a reminder of why we should never get rid of the estate tax. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/58 "2005-01-17T22:06:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > When Bud Cort was offered the male lead in _Harold & Maude_, a fairly low budget movie (with the only big price tag already given to Ruth Gordon), he was offered $60,000 plus 5% of the film. Afraid the film would flop (an 80 year old does it with a 20 year old? Who wants to see that?) he settled for $100,000 and 0%. Bad move: while the film wasn’t a blockbuster, it was a hit and the midnight showings and then subsequent TV and video rights would have earned him millions. Instead he was freeloading off Groucho Marx (courtesy of a friendship with Groucho’s concubine Erin Fleming) and joining cults in the 70s rather than counting his money. Donald Sutherland did something similar with his appearance in _Animal House_. The way he tells it, they didn’t have the money in the budget to pay him even the per diem that SAG requires and offered him a percentage of the gross instead. Sutherland insisted on the per diem (which was something like a couple hundred dollars at most) and got it. He later figured up that if he’d taken the percentage it’d have yielded something like $60 mill. He’s said that ever since he’s required a percentage, and none of the movies he’s been in have been the hit of that _Animal House_ was. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/59 "2005-01-17T22:09:50Z")
Similar story with the very first, orginal recording of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The singers could opt for $250 scale or a percent of the profits. Murray “Judas” Head was the only one to go for the profits. That made him a millionaire the first year, and is still providing royalties. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147/60 "2005-01-17T22:24:49Z")
The cast of _The Sound of Music_ got screwed out of almost all their royalties. When they were getting ready to start production, the producers went around to all the actors individually, and said, “Okay, everyone’s agreed to sign over their rights to royalties for record sales, etc. and if you don’t do it, we’ll get someone to replace you.” Because of an odd quirk, the only royalties the cast gets are from when it’s shown on TV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-peoples-whose-wealth-or-lack-of-surprised-you/285147.md?page=4)