Did You Know . . . The Dead Keep on Earning and Earning
By: DEAN R. KARAU
February 2009
Elvis Presley, with $52 million in income, topped Forbes’ 2008 list of top-earning dead celebrities, outdistancing in death many celebrities still in full earning mode, including David Letterman ($45 million), Justin Timberlake ($44 million), and Madonna ($40 million).
The top 13, according to Forbes:
Elvis Presley - Charles M. Schulz
- Heath Ledger
- Albert Einstein
- Aaron Spelling
- Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
- John Lennon
- Andy Warhol
- Marilyn Monroe
- Steve McQueen
- Paul Newman
- James Dean
- Marvin Gaye
If Ben Franklin lived in today’s celebrity-dominated world, he might have found it necessary to revise the famous maxim:
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes -- and an irrational fascination with the trivial.”
