23 seconds ago 2010-02-09T20:03:02-08:00
Oprah Winfrey/WireImage.comForbes
That explains how she made more than $40 million last year, landing her squarely in the middle of our list of Top-Earning Celebrities Over 50, a measure of earnings between June 2007 and June 2008. At a time in life when some people are thinking about winding down and coasting into retirement, these stars glow brighter than ever.
In Pictures: The 20 Top-Earning Celebrities Over 50
Topping the list is Oprah Winfrey. At age 54, she earned $275 million last year. In addition to her own daytime chat show, Oprah has ownership stakes in a magazine, a station on XM Satellite Radio and a cable channel called OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network scheduled to debut next year. She also gets a share of the profits from her successful protges, Dr. Phil McGraw and chef Rachael Ray.
Bruce Willis is the only actor to make the list with $41 million last year, mostly from his fourth turn as blue-collar cop John McClane in "Live Free or Die Hard." Most of the in-front-of-the-camera celebrities are talk show hosts like Howard Stern and David Letterman. At 77, Regis Philbin is the oldest person on the list with $21 million.
More galleries on Forbes.com
- The Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces
- Hollywood's Top 10 Paid Talking Heads
- Hollywood's 10 Most Influential Actors
- Celebrity Billionaires
In general, men fare better than women when it comes to being famous and over 50. Of the three on our list, Oprah and Madonna are the only famous faces. No female actresses make the cut. Author Danielle Steel is the other lady to land on our list. She earned $30 million with her 71st romance novel, released last year.
Producers do well, scoring three of the top five spots. In second place is Jerry Bruckheimer. His latest film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," was the top-grossing movie of 2007 with $961 million in worldwide box office sales. He is reportedly working on a fourth installment for Disney. Bruckheimer's TV shows, ("CSI," "Cold Case," and "Without a Trace") continue to attract millions of viewers every week. Last year, he earned $145 million at age 63.
Steven Spielberg ranks third on our list with $130 million. At 61, Spielberg is still at the top of his game, overseeing hits like "Transformers" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." This year, Spielberg's production company DreamWorks broke free of Viacom's Paramount thanks to a $500 million investment from India's Reliance bank. Under the company's new structure Spielberg could get an even bigger chunk of upcoming DreamWorks films like the "Transformers'" sequel.
Television producer Dick Wolf comes in behind Spielberg at fourth place. Last year he earned $75 million off the "Law & Order" franchise. Between new and syndicated shows some version of "Law & Order" is on almost every night, and all of them pay him money.
Reporting by Dorothy Pomerantz
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ALIBjeweledJoan Jett and The Blackhearts should be recognized in this article. LONG LIVE JOAN!report abuseposted April 25, 2009 4:42 PM PDT
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asdfssssssssssreport abuseposted November 12, 2008 4:21 PM PST
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jumaThat was something you has to sensor. You are an Obamanist for sure trying to sensor things that have no bad language and you can swear on TV.report abuseposted November 12, 2008 1:05 AM PST
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jumaShe is donating alot of money to the Lucis Trust to fund a new global religion under the guise of the UN. She doesn't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.report abuseposted November 12, 2008 1:02 AM PST
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Pamela Ghey, just think! in 3 years, obama will qualify to be on this list! lolreport abuseposted November 11, 2008 3:07 PM PST
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shaedeeI think Oprah is silly. Madonna is a dried up old prune who can't stop thinking she looks good in teenage clothes that a 17 year old would know better than to wear. They should all get a start on the wardrobe of the near futue and try on a zebra outfit so they can blend in with Obama and posse.report abuseposted November 9, 2008 7:38 PM PST
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If you notice the whites on these blogs are athiest their god is money. The same racist drooled over Micheal Jackson in his hey day, they love Tiger Woods, they loved OJ Simpson once upon a time, these celebrities know the deal but hey tickets sales means more money in their pockets. Daddy will let his little blue eyed princess marry that money too they are paganistic heathens and will burn.report abuseposted November 9, 2008 1:53 PM PST
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Jasmine, the reason Oprah is always surrounded by white people is this, I grew up in a very racist town in Pennsylvania, and happen to be related to a couple of people in a famous band that is black the same racist ppl that hate us kiss their azzez when they play in town, white ppl worship money look how they love Tiger Woods, Oprah, Michael Jackson in his hey day, oh but they hate blacks? BullSh*report abuseposted November 9, 2008 1:20 PM PST
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ShyannOh and TonyGetz.. you damn fool! You have no idea what you are talking about!!! Study her history and you will see she has helped many many people of every color! She helped Dr. Phil be where he is today. She helped Rachal Ray as well. A lot of her staff is white. Jealous fool. You want something.. get out and work for it.. Oprah isn't handing it to you.report abuseposted November 9, 2008 12:49 PM PST
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ShyannSome of you people are so awful. Good for Oprah. If any of us worked as hard as that women works we'd be so worn out we couldn't move. Why look at her as black and sucking off of white people? That is not only the stupidest thing I've ever heard bu totally raciest! She never claimed not to be political you fool! Of course she is. So she's black and voted black. Ireport abuseposted November 9, 2008 12:46 PM PST
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