# Highest Grossing Actor of All Time! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964 "2011-03-16T21:11:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/21 "2011-03-17T04:11:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Here’s the top thirty all time grossing actors according to Box Office Mojo: > \ > (All figures are in millions. They don’t count cameo or voice roles.) Ah. That would explain the missing Frank Welker, then. His is almost all voice work, critters in particular. By the same token, for sheer number of credits on IMDb Mel Blanc takes the top prize, because of all the Warner Bros. cartoons. Likewise Mae Questal for the distaff side – Betty Boop and almost every other female character the Fleischers produced in their time. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/22 "2011-03-17T04:23:10Z")
Howabout Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/23 "2011-03-17T04:39:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Here’s the top thirty all time grossing actors according to Box Office Mojo: It seems like they’re only crediting stars here. Then again, Kathy Bates? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/24 "2011-03-17T05:12:42Z")
I love that Stan Lee makes #18 purely on cameos. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/25 "2011-03-17T05:26:05Z")
In addition to the boring big stars and several voice actors, there’s also [Warwick Davis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001116/) at #13, who played the lead role in the classic Leprechaun series, [this guy](http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1120&bih=598&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=wald+phantom+menace&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=) in The Phantom Menace, the crucial role of Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter series; and of course he broke in to big Hollywood megastardom with the iconic role of [Wicket](http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1120&bih=598&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=wicket+ewok&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=) in Return of the Jedi (reprising his role in Ewok Adventure). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/26 "2011-03-17T06:28:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It seems like they’re only crediting stars here. Then again, Kathy Bates? Bates, surprisingly enough, has been in six different $100,000,000 movies. Mind you she wasn’t the lead in any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/27 "2011-03-17T06:36:19Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Ah. That would explain the missing Frank Welker, then. His is almost all voice work, critters in particular. I guess it’s a flexible rule. They apparently do count voice work for actors who are already known. Tom Hanks, for example, was credited for the grosses of the _Toy Story_ trilogy and _The Polar Express_. That’s the reason why Emma Watson came ahead of Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe - she did a voice for _The Tale of Despereaux_. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/28 "2011-03-17T08:13:46Z")
If you count only starring roles and exclude voice-work it looks like Harrison Ford followed by Tom Cruise. If you add in voice work in starring roles (like Hanks in Toy Story) it’s probably Tom Hanks. If you adjust for inflation it would probably be Ford again since his big hits came earlier than Hanks or Cruise. As for earlier eras it’s hard to get reliable box office statistics adjusted for inflation. Perhaps someone like John Wayne would be a contender. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/29 "2011-03-17T08:22:27Z")
Renee Zellweger? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/30 "2011-03-17T08:50:55Z")
I’d say Tom Green. Judging by his work, he was high all the time, and he certainly grosses me! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/31 "2011-03-17T15:40:19Z")
Interesting that Cameron Diaz is the top woman on both lists - that’s pretty much _Shrek_ putting her there (and giving Eddie Murphy a boost). Watson basically needs to get into one more big-time franchise to vault to the top of the list, and might get there “honestly” if she keeps getting work. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/32 "2011-03-17T18:19:18Z")
I was surprised that Kevin Bacon came in at #253, considering the whole “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” thing. And his movie count doesn’t seem to be as high as I would have expected either. I guess he’s just been in a lot of stinkers with a ton of co-stars! ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/33 "2011-03-17T19:16:51Z")
Is Ratzenberger getting credit for his cameos in Empire Strikes Back and whichever Indiana Jones movie he was in? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/34 "2011-03-17T19:27:38Z")
Not for Indy, but for ESB and the first 2 Superman movies. His $120 million per movie average is higher than most of the actual stars in the list, aside from the Harry Potter cast (the ones with only the 7 HP movies are at $286 million) Among the non-HP exclusives, Stan Lee comes in at $190, with Warwick Davis (mainly on the strength of HP) at $184. ETA: Whoops, missed Anthony (C3PO) Daniels, who comes in at $278 per; and then I realized that they have the average listed right in the next column :smack: ETAA: Looks like Daniels would top the average-per-picture list if the IMAX version of Attack of the Clones weren’t listed separately for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/35 "2011-03-17T19:44:09Z")
It’s probably impossible, but I’d be interested in seeing a list like this parsed by screen time, or number of lines of dialogue, or something like that. I know Frank Welker is a very talented voice artist, but he gets 230 million in his column for laying down a few audio tracks on _Raiders of the Lost Ark_? Split that number up among the whole cast based on their individual contribution to the film, and then see how things shake out. Harrison Ford, for example, would get most of the _Raiders_ money, a decent chunk of _Star Wars_, and a tiny sliver of _American Grafitti_. Who would top _that_ list? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/36 "2011-03-17T19:54:33Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > Is Ratzenberger getting credit for his cameos in Empire Strikes Back and whichever Indiana Jones movie he was in? He wasn’t in any Indiana Jones movie, but he was in the first Superman film ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/37 "2011-03-17T20:07:08Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > It’s probably impossible, but I’d be interested in seeing a list like this parsed by screen time, or number of lines of dialogue, or something like that. > > I know Frank Welker is a very talented voice artist, but he gets 230 million in his column for laying down a few audio tracks on _Raiders of the Lost Ark_? Split that number up among the whole cast based on their individual contribution to the film, and then see how things shake out. > > Harrison Ford, for example, would get most of the _Raiders_ money, a decent chunk of _Star Wars_, and a tiny sliver of _American Grafitti_. > > Who would top _that_ list? Eyeballing, I’d guess Hanks; he’s one of the lead actors in virtually every movie on his list, and in some of them (Cast Away, Forrest Gump) he’s on-screen probably 95+ percent of the time. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/38 "2011-03-17T22:29:35Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Surely it’s whoever recorded the [Wilhelm scream](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream). Man, I think I want to name my band’s next album Wilhelm Scream…thanks!😃 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964/39 "2011-03-17T22:36:45Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I was surprised that Kevin Bacon came in at #253, considering the whole “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” thing. And his movie count doesn’t seem to be as high as I would have expected either. I guess he’s just been in a lot of stinkers with a ton of co-stars! It’s just a fluke that the Six Degrees meme is attached to Kevin Bacon – it was started by some guys who happened to see several of his films on T.V. at the same time. According to the people who have done the calculations on the IMDB, Kevin Bacon isn’t even in the top 100 most easily linkable actors (supposedly the current #1 is Dennis Hopper). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time/574964.md?page=1)