Then there’s the Hogan’s Heroes crowd: Werner “Klink” Klemperer was one of the first stars to negotiate a really great residual deal. (He had the producers by the short hairs- in the first place he had the clout of winning two consecutive Emmys for his role, and in the second it would be almost impossible to write out his character when his contract was up.) Though he rarely worked again in television, it was more from choice than from being dried up- he earned more from repeats than from the series. He turned down lucrative offers to appear as Klink from Conan O’Brien (who actually wanted him for the kitsch sidekick role that went to Abe Vigoda), though he did it for scale for an episode of The Simpsons. Mainly he toured with orchestras, which was his first love anyway.
Bob Crane also negotiated a great deal, BUT it didn’t go into effect until years after the show ended. After ten years of modest residual rights, he would receive partial ownership of the show- it was actually a very wise move, but because he died prematurely he died almost broke (or at least very cash poor). His widow and their children, however, have received millions since his estate received partial ownership. His older children have sued for a piece of the pie but unsuccessfully; his youngest son also has one of the internet’s sleaziest sites (NOT WORK SAFE) dedicated to his father at http://bobcrane.com/ on which he sells his father’s homemade porn tapes.
Laurence Olivier went through various financial problems towards the end of his life, which explains why he was in “Clash of the Titans”. He explained it away as trying to earn enough money to support his family. Like Richard Burton’s lavish lifestyle with Liz, Olivier also had a lavish lifestyle when he was married to Vivien Leigh.
Wasn’t Marlon Brando in fiancial problems during the last year of his life?
Tom Scholz, the lead singer of Boston and an electronics whizkid, made millions after he invented the “Rockman” amplifier. Then, with that pile of cash, he sued his old record label CBS over lost royalties, and made millions more. Those revenue sources, combined with careful investments and keeping off the drugs, has probably made Scholz the richest “classic-rock” musician around. And, yet, I had to look up his name to make sure to spell it right–not exactly a household name, there!
I was just reading about the making of the film. When it was being discussed, no respectable financial investor expected it would earn any profits so nobody would loan the company any money. The cast members were forced to go to wealthy fans of their show (mostly rock stars) and ask them to loan them money in exchange for a percentage of the potential profits. Those that agreed ended up earning something like a 10,000% return on their investment.
The London CATS had similar financing–Andrew Lloyd Webber put up his house for 1/4 of the money, over 2,000 individual investors put up 1/4, and the theatre backed the rest. Those that invested made about 10,000% on their money. I wish I had.
On a documentary I saw a guy who worked in a coffee shop where Webber and crew had lunch. He was intriqued and asked if he could invest a very modest amount (something like $100) and to his surprise Webber took it. Today he uses his “share” of the play to take a very nice vacation every year.
As memory serves George Harrison was one of the major investors in the Python movies.
Unless there are family squabbles we don’t know about, Julia-Louis-Dreyfus stands to inherit a buttload of money. Her father (well, her family) was number 170 on Forbes’ World’s Richest People 2004 list . If this site is correct, she stands to inherit more than Paris Hilton.
Plus, I think she’s way hotter than that Hilton skank, too.
The richest celebrity from inheritance is almost certainly Dina Merrill, daughter of E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriwether Post [of Post Cereal fame]. Trump’s estate in Florida, Maralago, now a resort hotel, was her family’s vacation home.
Other rich from inheritance celebrities:
Carly Simon- heiress to the Simon & Schuster publishing fortune
McLean Stevenson- son of an heiress and a cousin of Adlai Stevenson
Cole Porter- a millionaire by birthright long before he became a super successful songwriter thanks to his grandfather’s patent medicines and drugstores
Goldie Hawn- a debutante from a very aristocratic and wealthy South Carolina family (though her own fortune has far outpassed theirs)
Katharine Hepburn- born and reared in her family’s mansion
Robin Williams- grew up in a 30 room mansion in Michigan, though his father cut him off without a dime when he went into show business; his mother died on September 11, 2001 (though not as a result of the plane crashes) and presumably as only child he inherited then
Glenn Close- one of those “so rich they drive 10 year old cars” “old money” families
Forgot to add to the above: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine are both heiresses.
Actresses very wealthy from inheritance from their husbands include Jennifer Jones (who inherited more than 100 million from Norton Simon) and Maureen O’Hara (who inherited and managed her husband’s airline and is one of the wealthiest living actresses [and still a damned fine looking broad])
Forgot to add to the above: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine are both heiresses.
Actresses very wealthy from inheritance from their husbands include Jennifer Jones (who inherited more than 100 million from Norton Simon) and Maureen O’Hara (who inherited and managed her husband’s airline and is one of the wealthiest living actresses [and still a damned fine looking broad])
The writer Jerzy Kozinsky inherited a considerable fortune (enough to live lavishly for the rest of his life) from his first wife, Mary Hayward Weir, who in turn was the widow of National Steel billionaire Ernest T. Weir (who was at least 40 years her senior- she was the inspiration for the Eve Rand character in Being There; she and Kosinsky actually divorced but she died soon after and left him a fortune in her will.
Most boxers, even champions, wind up broke like Joe Louis. There are some exceptions -
[ul][li]Jess Willard, the Great White Hope who finally beat Jack Johnson for the title suffered a horrific knock-out at the fists of Jack Dempsey. He was floored seven times, and was led from the ring - cheekbone smashed, ribs broken, eye closed tight - muttering to himself, over and over, “I have $100,000 and a farm in Kansas. I have $100,000 and a farm in Kansas.” [/li][li]Gene Tunney earned $990,00 for his last fight, in addition to what he earned for the “Battle of the Long Count”, in an era before income tax and a loaf of bread was a nickel. He was on the board of directors of several banks. One son became a US Senator. [/li][li]Billy Conn, who held the light-heavyweight championship of the world (according to the New York Boxing Commission) and was knocked out by Joe Louis in what Ring Magazine voted the most exciting fight of all time, had a rematch with the Brown Bomber after WWII. He lost embarassingly, put his earnings into oil stocks, and died a very wealthy man. [/li][li]Max Schmeling, who Joe Louis also knocked out in a famous fight, was the Coca-Cola distributor for West Germany. The winner and loser of the most famous one-round knockout in boxing history were reunited many decades later. The loser - prosperous, successful and cheerful. The winner - broke, half-demented, and confined to a wheelchair.[/ul][/li] Sic transit gloria mundi.
IMDB says that Harrison was the executive producer for Life of Brian and Monty Python Live at Hollywood Bowl. He owned Handmade Films and produced a number of films.
Wasn’t it Betty Grable or some other huge Pin up / Movie star of A-list looks but I think B-list talent in the 40’s lost everything, sunk into obscurity and eventually was living either through friends or cleaning church rectories for a living?
Who am I thinking of? Gah…its going to drive me nuts now.
Didn’t Rosemary Clooney suffer horrendous losses financially from her manager?
Jack Johnson (about whom there’s a Ken Burns special tonight) wound up broke after earning more than $100,000 in purses in one year, but he had some serious help from the government of course. I think later he made some money from exhibitions and ended up at least comfortably middle class with his last wife.
George Foreman went broke several times; the reason he went back into the ring in hls late 40s was 100% because he needed the money. His BIG payday, though, was the grill: he was courted as a celebrity pitchman and asked for 25% of the profits instead of the multimillion dollar contract he was offered. That grill and its 144,000 spin-offs (GF roaster oven, GF rotisserie, GF juicer, GF crematorium, GF outdoor electric barbecue, GF amphibious diesel engine, etc.) succeeded beyond anybody’s expectations and has earned him far more than his boxing career. Last year he sold his rights back to the company for something like $150 million (but agreed to remain on as spokesperson for a hefty salary).
I hope that Muhammad Ali has money left; I have no idea. I was astonished at how well O.J. had guarded his nut considering that NFL players in his heyday made nothing like today even when adjusted for inflation.
Speaking of paid spokespeople: another member of the “Nowhere near as rich as you’d think” club was Colonel Harlan Sanders. He sold the rights to KFC lock-stock-&-barrel for $2 million then stupidly TURNED DOWN 10% stock in the company (demanding cash instead). He was well paid to be the pitch person for the company but would become furious when they added something new to the menu (Extra Crispy, for example, almost gave him apoplexy). His secretary meanwhile cashed in all of her assets to buy a much smaller share of stock that Sanders turned down and wound up becoming a millionaire many times over. (Sanders was also one of the foulest mouthed old men in the business world and supposedly next to impossible to work for or with.)
Ray Kroc’s secretary also made tens of millions from buying McDonald’s stock early and cheap and thus she wound up incomparably richer than Richard & Maurice McDonald who accepted a cash buyout and very little stock. (Kroc was OCD, incidentally, which served him well in standardizing the McD’s restaurant chain.)
Sampiro thanks for the responses you are the man and I love your stuff. I am not just saying that I’m a fan. So I’m coming from fandom to say are you sure about Goldie Hawn?
I am 100% positive that she was born in Washington D.C., grew up in Silver Spring MD, and attended the local public High School (Blair) there. It was not the wealthiest neighborhood – definitely upper middle class Jewish people mainly, professionals & government workers, but in the minority Blue Collar folks almost certainly outnumbered “rich” people when she was in school there. She still remembers her home town and has been reasonably cool about doing TV spots for them and recalling them.
None of this, really, means what you wrote is wrong – although describing her as “a debutant” I think would surprise the people who went to High School with her.
Thanks for the Cleese stuff too I was very glad to read it.
Another surprise to me is Michael Jackson is always rumored to be teetering on the brink of Bankruptcy – that he has a song catalog (including the Beatles) worth circa 350-500 million dollars – makes this surprising to me… but I am not sure of the accuracy of these reports
Gary "Whatschotalkingaboutwillis"Coleman star of TV’s “Diff’rent Strokes” was, for a time, the best-paid child actor in America, earning $70,000 an episode and worth about according to CNNMoney $18million. By his 30’s he was broke and working as a security guard