The Top-Earning Dead Celebrities: You Can Take it With You
The yearly Forbes 10 Top-Earning Dead Celebrities List contains some startling changes.
Yves St. Laurent, last year’s #1, dropped out of the Top Ten.
The new #1 - Michael Jackson - at a whopping $275 million was no surprise. The surprise is that the King of Pop never made the annual Forbes Top 100 Celebrity List. Oh well. He can take posthumous satisfaction in knowing he made more money last year than the other nine deceased top celebs combined. In fact, he topped any living stars on the 100 Top Celebrity List except, of course, Oprah Winfrey.
Richard Rogers, of Rogers & Hammerstein (My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma! et al.), plummeted from #2 to the bottom. Elvis took over as the new #2. He had a very good dead year: $60 million from Graceland admissions and a Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas show, as well as over 200 licensing and merchandise deals in the estate’s portfolio.
The biggest surprise was the emergence of Stieg Larsson at #6. Who, you might ask? The author of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” died in 2004 before any of his Millennium Trilogy was published. Add in 3 Swedish movies based the novels. An American film version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is coming later this year, so Mr. Larsson will likely stay put.
Another List crasher was George Steinbrenner, who pulled in at #9 with earnings of $8 million.
In case you’re wondering who was #11: an "oldies but goodies" tie between Steve McQueen and Jimi Hendrix. McQueen’s expensive image sells Fersol sunglasses and Tommy Hilfiger’s “icon collection.” His agent has an eclectic group of clients; he also represents Albert Einstein.
The Forbes Top 10 Earning Dead Celebrities List
1. Michael Jackson
$275 Million/Musician/RIP 2009
2. Elvis Presley
$60 Million/Musician/RIP 1977
3. J.R.R. Tolkien
$50 Million/"Lord of The Rings" Author/RIP 1973
4. Charles Schultz
$33 Million/"Peanuts" Cartoonist/RIP 2000
5. John Lennon
$17 Million/Musician/RIP 1980
6. Stieg Larsson
$15 Million/Author/RIP 2004
7. Theodore Geisel
$11 Million/"Dr. Seuss" Author/RIP 1991
8. Albert Einstein
$10 Million/Scientist/RIP 1955
9. George Steinbrenner
$8 Million/Yankees Owner/RIP 2010
10. Richard Rogers
$7 Million/Songwriter/RIP 1979
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