Elvis Presley Maintains His Status As the #1 Earning Dead Celebrity
Posted June 16, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
And there are a few who will make more money than you will in your entire lifetime, despite the fact they all died years ago.
On the day Forbes Magazine released its annual ranking of star power and money, also came its annual list of the late and lamented famous whose iconic images still pull in big bucks.
Elvis Presley maintains his top rated ghoulish glow, pulling in $45 million, despite not having worked a day since he died in August 1977.
Cartoonist Charles Schulz amassed some $35 million, and that’s not Peanuts. He’s been gone since February 2000 and comes in second.
John Lennon imagines a $22 million bounty, all earned after his murder in 1980. He’s third.
Fellow Beatle George Harrison is also there. His ninth place finish is good for $7 million.
Other names include Kurt Cobain, who still managed to make $50 million, mainly because wife Courtney Love sold 25 percent of the Nirvana founder’s song catalogue.
But the biggest surprise on the list may be the one you’d never expect: Albert Einstein.
The scientist’s image and name are controlled and licensed by Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He’s been dead for half a century but still brought in an astounding $20 million in 2005.
Now that’s truly genius.
Forbes List of Top Earning Dead Celebrities
1. Elvis Presley
2. Charles M. Schulz
3. John Lennon
4. Andy Warhol
5. Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel
6. Marlon Brando
7. Marilyn Monroe
8. J.R.R. Tolkien
9. George Harrison
10. Johnny Cash
