Richest star in Hollywood? (silent or sound)

[David Pierce]

Who ended up as the richest person in Hollywood in the golden age?

I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were extremely wealthy from
their investments, and some others like Fred MacMurray were supposed
to be extremely well off.

My guess is Gene Autry, since he shifted his investments into radio
and television stations. He sold KTLA-TV Los Angeles for $245 million
in 1985, though he dropped off the Forbes 400 list in 1995.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

David Pierce

[Jim Beaver]

Post by David Pierce
Who ended up as the richest person in Hollywood in the golden age?
I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were extremely wealthy from
their investments, and some others like Fred MacMurray were supposed
to be extremely well off.
My guess is Gene Autry, since he shifted his investments into radio
and television stations. He sold KTLA-TV Los Angeles for $245 million
in 1985, though he dropped off the Forbes 400 list in 1995.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?

In a 1969-ish biography of Zane Grey, it was reported that Randolph Scott
was worth around $500,000,000.00 at that time. He lived another 18 years,
so I suspect his worth increased.

Jim Beaver

[m***@gmail.com]

Well, are we excluding Howard Hughes and keeping it to people who made
their money in Hollywood (as opposed to came there with money, and
probably left it with somewhat less money?)

I'll throw in another inherited-wealth ringer: Liesel Matthews. Who
the hell is Liesel Matthews? Why, she played The Little Princess about
ten or twelve years ago. Typecasting, since her real name is Liesel
Pritzker, as in the family that owns Hyatt and gives the architecture
prize of that name, and she just completed suing some other family
members for a settlement variously estimated in the half billion dollar
range (but possibly higher).

[unknown]

Post by m***@gmail.com
Well, are we excluding Howard Hughes and keeping it to people who made
their money in Hollywood (as opposed to came there with money, and
probably left it with somewhat less money?

*** Howard Hughes did NOT leave Hollywood with *less* money. He
made a killing in the defense industry during WWII.

Post by m***@gmail.com
I'll throw in another inherited-wealth ringer: Liesel Matthews. Who
the hell is Liesel Matthews? Why, she played The Little Princess about
ten or twelve years ago. Typecasting, since her real name is Liesel
Pritzker, as in the family that owns Hyatt and gives the architecture
prize of that name, and she just completed suing some other family
members for a settlement variously estimated in the half billion dollar
range (but possibly higher).

[Jim Beaver]

Post by m***@gmail.com
Well, are we excluding Howard Hughes and keeping it to people who made
their money in Hollywood (as opposed to came there with money, and
probably left it with somewhat less money?)
I'll throw in another inherited-wealth ringer: Liesel Matthews. Who
the hell is Liesel Matthews? Why, she played The Little Princess about
ten or twelve years ago. Typecasting, since her real name is Liesel
Pritzker, as in the family that owns Hyatt and gives the architecture
prize of that name, and she just completed suing some other family
members for a settlement variously estimated in the half billion dollar
range (but possibly higher).

We've run somewhat afield of what constitutes a Hollywood star, have we not?

Jim Beaver

[m***@gmail.com]

Post by Jim Beaver
We've run somewhat afield of what constitutes a Hollywood star, have we not?

Hence the term "ringer."

Nevertheless, she did play the title role in a major studio release,
which is more than Randolph Scott did in The Last of the Mohicans!

[ChaneyFan]

I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were extremely wealthy from their investments, and some others like Fred MacMurray were supposed to be extremely well off. My guess is Gene Autry, since he shifted his investments into radio and television stations.

Hope, Crosby, MacMurray, and Autry all invested wisely and died very
wealthy. Billy Wilder invested in art back when you could buy a Renoir
for $4,000 and 10-15 years ago sold off part of the collection for
millions and millions. Individual paintings were selling for $3-10M
each. I vaguely recall that he pocketed around $50M in a single
auction, and that was just part of his holdings.

And didn't Joel McCrea buy a scrubby piece of land in the 1930s known
as the San Fernando Valley? I thought at one time McCrea and MacMurray
were two of the largest private landowners in Southern California.

[ChaneyFan]

I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were extremely wealthy from their investments, and some others like Fred MacMurray were supposed to be extremely well off. My guess is Gene Autry, since he shifted his investments into radio and television stations.

Hope, Crosby, MacMurray, and Autry all invested wisely and died very
wealthy. Billy Wilder invested in art back when you could buy a Renoir
for $4,000 and 10-15 years ago sold off part of the collection for
millions and millions. Individual paintings were selling for $3-10M
each. I vaguely recall that he pocketed around $50M in a single
auction, and that was just part of his holdings.

And didn't Joel McCrea buy a scrubby piece of land in the 1930s known
as the San Fernando Valley? I thought at one time McCrea and MacMurray
were two of the largest private landowners in Southern California.

[ChaneyFan]

Oh, and I forgot to mention Mary Carlisle, who is the stepdaughter of
Henry Kaiser, and she married Jim Blakely, who also came from a
prominent society family and had loads of money. No idea of their net
worth, but I suspect it was a big number. Rob McKay will know better
than I do. The amazing thing about Jim and Mary is that despite their
wealth and position, Jim continued to work in post-production at Fox
into his 80's, and Mary proudly shopped for bargains at thrift stores!

[lzcutter]

In addition to McCrea, Scott, McMurray, Hope and Crosby, Barbara
Stanwyck also owned land throughout the San Fernando Valley.

Lynn in Sherman Oaks
www.classiclasvegas.com

[Frederica]

Post by Jim Beaver
In a 1969-ish biography of Zane Grey, it was reported that Randolph Scott
was worth around $500,000,000.00 at that time. He lived another 18 years,
so I suspect his worth increased.
Jim Beaver

But Randolph Scott was married to a Du Pont, wasn't he? Couldn't he
have gotten some of that cash from his marriage?

Not that that isn't a perfectly good way to acquire it. Although I
wouldn't know first hand.

Frederica

[Jim Beaver]

Post by Frederica

Post by Jim Beaver
In a 1969-ish biography of Zane Grey, it was reported that Randolph Scott
was worth around $500,000,000.00 at that time. He lived another 18 years,
so I suspect his worth increased.
Jim Beaver

But Randolph Scott was married to a Du Pont, wasn't he? Couldn't he
have gotten some of that cash from his marriage?
Not that that isn't a perfectly good way to acquire it. Although I
wouldn't know first hand.

Scott was already pretty well on his way to being well-off before he married
Marion du Pont Somerville in 1936. From his earliest days in Hollywood,
he'd been a friend of Howard Hughes and was heavily invested early on.
Also, so the story goes (though I've heard it said about Joel McCrea, too),
Will Rogers advised Scott to buy up vacant farmland north of the Hollywood
Hills. This vacant farmland is now Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino,
Tarzana, and Woodland Hills. Buying ONE lot of this land in the early
Thirties would have made someone fairly wealthy if held long enough. Buying
the equivalent of thousands of such lots would have created mind-boggling
wealth, at least for a movie star.

Also, I'm having a foggy-headed morning, but it seems I recall that Scott
and Somerville had some sort of equivalent to a pre-nup that protected her
big money. Scott did pretty well on his own.

Jim Beaver

[unknown]

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:55:23 GMT, "Jim Beaver"

Post by Jim Beaver

Post by Frederica

Post by Jim Beaver
In a 1969-ish biography of Zane Grey, it was reported that Randolph Scott
was worth around $500,000,000.00 at that time. He lived another 18 years,
so I suspect his worth increased.
Jim Beaver

But Randolph Scott was married to a Du Pont, wasn't he? Couldn't he
have gotten some of that cash from his marriage?
Not that that isn't a perfectly good way to acquire it. Although I
wouldn't know first hand.

Scott was already pretty well on his way to being well-off before he married
Marion du Pont Somerville in 1936. From his earliest days in Hollywood,
he'd been a friend of Howard Hughes and was heavily invested early on.
Also, so the story goes (though I've heard it said about Joel McCrea, too),
Will Rogers advised Scott to buy up vacant farmland north of the Hollywood
Hills. This vacant farmland is now Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino,
Tarzana, and Woodland Hills. Buying ONE lot of this land in the early
Thirties would have made someone fairly wealthy if held long enough. Buying
the equivalent of thousands of such lots would have created mind-boggling
wealth, at least for a movie star.
Also, I'm having a foggy-headed morning, but it seems I recall that Scott
and Somerville had some sort of equivalent to a pre-nup that protected her
big money. Scott did pretty well on his own.
Jim Beaver

Scott and Marion DuPont were only married about 4 years and you can
bet the farm there was a prenup.

After they divorced, they remained friends for the rest of his life
and she never remarried.

That information alone would strongly indicate that Scott did not get
anything of substance in the divorce and if one has any knowledge of
the DuPont family history, intuitively you know that is the case.

--John A.

[gerry]

I read that Randolph Scott at one time was the second largest holder of
private property in California. Bob Hope has to be the first. The
hospital he was last treated at, in Rancho Mirage (if my memory is
accurate) was built on land Bob Hope donated.

[m***@gmail.com]

Post by David Pierce
I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were extremely wealthy from
their investments, and some others like Fred MacMurray were supposed
to be extremely well off.

Strange coincidence about those three: Hope and Crosby got their most
famous roles together when MacMurray turned The Road to Zanzibar down.
(You often read that he would have co-starred with George Burns, but
that's apparently incorrect; Burns and Allen turned it down, then
MacMurray turned down doing it with Jack Oakie.)

[Michael Laurino]

Post by m***@gmail.com
Strange coincidence about those three: Hope and Crosby got their most
famous roles together when MacMurray turned The Road to Zanzibar down.

Road to Singapore, actually. (We must watch these things, you know.)

[m***@gmail.com]

D'oh! You're right, Zanzibar was on t'other day and adhered to my
mind... am I the only one who thinks this series took three movies to
get any good, by the way?

[R H Draney]

Post by m***@gmail.com
D'oh! You're right, Zanzibar was on t'other day and adhered to my
mind... am I the only one who thinks this series took three movies to
get any good, by the way?

It certainly hit its peak with the third one...and should have ended with the
sixth....r

[Christopher Snowden]

Post by David Pierce
Who ended up as the richest person in Hollywood in the golden age?
I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were extremely wealthy from
their investments, and some others like Fred MacMurray were supposed
to be extremely well off.
My guess is Gene Autry, since he shifted his investments into radio
and television stations. He sold KTLA-TV Los Angeles for $245 million
in 1985, though he dropped off the Forbes 400 list in 1995.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I think Oprah Winfrey's the all-time richest star, making the Forbes
400 several years in a row now. From the classic era, I think you're
right about Gene Autry.

Sticking to just the silent era, though, it's harder to say. I'd bet
it was Mary Pickford, who made serious money earlier than anyone else
and invested it better than most. But occasionally you'll see
contemporary references to Ruth Roland as Hollywood's richest woman;
she invested heavily in huge blocks of local real estate, and according
to one interview, she starred in her last serial only because it was
the handiest way of making the down payment for another enormous lot of
land that became available suddenly.

There were other ways to make money, though. According to Jeremy
Siegel's book THE FUTURE FOR INVESTORS, a thousand dollars' worth of
Philip Morris stock in 1925, with dividends re-invested, would be worth
over $250,000,000 in 2005.