A rather odd “rich celebrity” story: Yul Brynner was so well known that few realize he was essentially unemployable in Hollywood for the last two decades of his life. (Westworld was his only standout hit in the 1970s and his sitcom version of The King & I tanked- ironically it was meant to be a lead-in hit to another sitcom from which little if nothing was expected- MASH*). His dream of being a Bond villain was never realized. He basically had the option of doing TV episodic guest appearances and miniseries and arthouse films that would barely pay his alimony and child support or making a bloody fortune by travelling the world 50 weeks per year in the road show of King & I (he played the role of Mongkut more than 5,000 times, which I believe is a record for any actor). Consequently he was able to pay for a medieval French castle for his wife and younger children to enjoy, but he was only able to be there two weeks per year.
A happier story would seem to be that of Hal Holbrook, who has toured as Mark Twain now for a decade longer than Sam Clemens toured as Mark Twain. He does about two to three dozen shows per year, largely choosing venues because he wants to to to a particular city, receives first class transportation and accomodations, a flat fee of from $5,000 to $20,000 depending upon the venue and a large percentage of admission, and unlike Brynner he doesn’t have to say exactly the same dialogue and sing the same songs every night. (He has memorized about 20 hours of Twain’s material and he wings each performance depending on his mood, the audience’s reaction, etc.: I’ve seen the show 3 times and only perhaps 5 minutes worth of the two hours was in each show.) He also still makes TV and movie appearances in worthwhile or at least lucrative roles. In short, a really great and satisfying career for an old actor.