Were sitcom actors always 'overpaid'?

[n2005]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 10:41am

I was just watching clips of the Mary Tyler Moore show today and I was reminded just how good those shows in the 70's were. It also occured to me that I have never heard of any of them being paid hundreds of thousands per episode ala Friends , Frasier etc. Anyone know what the pay was like back in the day?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 11:06am

They were well paid, but they didn't get these "winning the lottery" salaries like they do today. It's pretty mind-blowing.

And residuals didn't really kick in until the mid-'70s (with a few exceptions). Before that, actors were paid a pittance only for additional foreign airings (literally like a couple of bucks) and that was it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 11:09am

Today, an actor can work five years as a supporting regular character on a popular sitcom and never have to work again for the rest of his life.

He could also buy Rhode Island if he wanted to.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 11:15am

They used to have to do hollywood squares and Match Game.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 11:27am

I think when Audrey Meadows was on The Honeymooners, she asked for residuals and that was considered unheard of, but she got them. I think there was a joke that even Jackie Gleason wasn't getting residuals off the show.

According to Wikipedia here are the salaries for The Honeymooners:

Art Carney - $3500/week which is $28,572 in 2008
Audrey Meadows - $2000/week which is $16,300 in 2008
Joyce Randolph - $500/week which is $4,081 in 2008

The Honeymooners shot 39 episodes, so while they weren't too shabby, it certainly didn't touch the $1 million per episode that actors receive today.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 11:41am

The huge salaries started with Seinfeld and Friends, in which the cast members negotiated as groups, realizing that they really were irreplaceable.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 11:49am

I might be mistaken but I believe it was Joyce Randolf who negotiated for residuals because she was paid the least of the four. I had the remarkable luck to work with Audrey Meadows a year before she died on a television pilot. She was a wonderful woman and really enjoyed sharing her memories of the show!
She did smoke like a chimney though and had ashtrays hidden all over the set!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 12:24pm

"I might be mistaken but I believe it was Joyce Randolf who negotiated for residuals because she was paid the least of the four. I had the remarkable luck to work with Audrey Meadows a year before she died on a television pilot."

You might be right. But according to Wiki, Joyce was least paid because she didn't appear in every show.

I hadn't realized that Audrey married Bob Six, Ethel Merman's former husband.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 2:33pm

You should also consider too, that advertising time wasn't really an issure back then--shows were sponsored by companies like TEXACO or GE, which made the sitcom itself the ad. And people didn't watch TV ALL DAY LONG either. Most netwoirks only broadcast at night in the early years...so there was alot less TV period.

Once networks began making major money off ad dollars did actors see an oppportunity to cash in.

[Icehouse Life]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 2:47pm

This subject shows why I feel for some of the classic TV stars like Adam West and Christopher Knight, though both are actually doing well, because they don't get residuals for their popular TV shows. And it's too bad for West especially with all of the complex legal complications preventing the Batman TV series getting a proper DVD release, where I wish he and Burt Ward could ideally get a cut from its sales along with the public appearances they make. Knight meanwhile hit it big with computers.

If it were legally possible, I would like to see royalities issues of past shows amended in their favor. But how do you go about that?

[KrissySim]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 2:51pm

I heard somewhere once, from a man who works in Hollywood, that the first Charlie's Angels season, the three stars got something like $10,000 a week. True or false, I don't know.
Updated On: 10/22/08 at 02:51 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 3:02pm

Well, hopefully Adam West is making some dough with FAMILY GUY...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 3:23pm

Was it Spanky McFarland's parents that spent all his earnings on cheap booze and fast cars?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 4:52pm

Spanky's money was completely spent. He had to work as a salesman later in life to support himself.

And actually Shirley Temple's "child star" money was too, which I didn't realize until recently. I saw her interviewed and she didn't point any fingers. She just said, "You know, I made all that money, more than most movie stars, and I have no idea where it went. But I never saw any of it."

Hmmmm...

She almost mentioned it in passing. She obviously kept working as a teenager and an adult, and money was never a problem for her. But she was earning "Queen of the Studio" bucks while under contract to Fox. They dropped her in 1940 (when she was 12). So... what happened to all that pre-1940 moolah? She could probably have bought Rhode Island back then.

According to IMDb.com, she earned $1,000 per week in 1934, plus a $35,000 bonus at the end of each film (to be held in trust for her). Plus $250 per week for her mother.

By 1937, her salary was $10,000 a week.

Still, nobody's salary back then comes close to Garbo's. She was paid $500,000 for one film... Camille... in 1936. Her one-picture salary in 1931 was $250,000. No wonder she owned half of Wilshire Blvd. (The good half.)

Today, with a popular sitcom, everybody in the cast is making Garbo dollars.

[Icehouse Life]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 5:00pm

...And beyond

I too didn't realize that all of Shirley Temple's child star earning money went missing until you mentioned it. No crying for her since went on to be the US ambassador to Ghana. Surely she, Garbo, and Babe Ruth (not an actor, of course), and I can't figure out others (Clark Gable?) at that Great Depression time all were earning more moolah than the President in a year.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 5:07pm

And today, many of our TV actors earn more than our president's annual salary in a single WEEK, let alone a year.

[n2005]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 5:47pm

'They used to have to do hollywood squares and Match Game.'

Oh so that explains why they did them. Imagine being in a great show, great writing etc.. and having to do Hollywood Squares or some crap tv movie(I heard they payed pretty well) to pay the mortgage. Ouch!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 5:54pm

The thing about Hollywood Squares is that they could shoot an entire week of shows in one or two days. Additionally, they could get smashed on all the booze that HS producers provided during lunch.

[mc1227]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 10:15pm

Joyce Randolph was highly overpaid. I love the Honeymooners but always thought she was the absolute worst actress I have ever seen.

[roquat]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 12:04am

One thing to remember--these days, sitcoms are an incredibly risky investment. Studios often sign actors to locked-in five-year contracts, saying that they're new and unproven. Then if the show becomes a hit, the studio wants to retain all the profit. That's why you hear of sitcom actors calling in sick with chronic "headaches" and so on, testing the studios until their contracts are renegotiated (nearly the entire supporting cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond" pulled this, as well as Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcolm in the Middle").

It's also a Catch-22--when sitcoms have long runs (and how many of today's sitcoms can you see being "Friends" or "Seinfeld"?) the stars can't get new acting jobs because they're too identified with that character--they have to play pale copies of the same role for the rest of their lives (or get into writing and/or directing.)

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 12:20am

True, roquat.

The good news:

You'll never have to work again after a hit sitcom!

The bad news:

You'll never be hired to work again after a hit sitcom.


EDIT: With a few (VERY few) exceptions, of course.

Updated On: 10/23/08 at 12:20 AM

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 12:25am

Updated On: 1/10/09 at 12:25 AM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 1:36am

When did Jackie Coogan's law go into effect? It was set in place to avoid child actor's parents from spending the kids earning. Though there are still ways around it.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 1:52am

Updated On: 1/10/09 at 01:52 AM

[jeniferrenepatricia]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 2:04am

I think that the big salaries started before Seinfeld and Friends. Larry Hagman, Joan Collins, and Ted Danson in the 80's starting making demands for bigger salaries than their co-stars. I also remember that Joan Collins held out for a larger salary for so long that she missed one episode of a new season until they gave her what she wanted.