Known for: Risky Business and Top Gun
Net worth: $570 million
As one of the prettiest faces of the 1980s, Tom Cruise’s career kicked into high gear after filming The Outsiders and Taps . He turned down the lead role in Footloose to be in All the Right Moves and Risky Business . Mr. Cruise was well on his way to becoming the highest-paid actor ever. He was 18 when he moved to N.Y.C. to be a movie star. But first, he wanted to be a priest, having enrolled in a seminary at age 14. Today, as a Scientology spokesman of sorts, it seems he achieved both. And how! Cruise has worked with all the greats in Hollywood. From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg, and everyone in between, he’s a true Hollywood legend. He’s the only actor to have worked with each of these directing greats: Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, and Steven Spielberg.
He starred in top-grossing movies throughout the 1980s and ’90s. Films like Rain Man , The Color of Money , Born on the Fourth of July , Top Gun , Mission: Impossible , Jerry Maguire , and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles were not only top-grossing but some of cinema’s best. Besides the support Cruise gives to Scientology, he’s a generous contributor to many causes. He supports the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, UNICEF, and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Bo Derek
Known for: Bolero and Tarzan, the Ape Man
Net worth: $50 million
Eighties American beauty Bo Derek epitomized the movie 10 . Besides, 10, Tarzan, the Ape Man was wildly popular. Her husband John Derek directed Tarzan and Ghosts Can’t Do It. But, sadly, he died in 1998, the year Ghosts came out.
Growing up in Long Beach, California, Bo Derek skipped out on school when she was 16 to chill at the beach. (Totally normal. It’s the Eighties, right?) After learning to surf and catching some rays, she got caught by her mom her for dropping out, and she was sent back. But then she quit school altogether as she got work filming a movie with her to-be husband in Greece.
Clint Eastwood
Known for: The Good the Bad and the Ugly , Dirty Harry and “Go ahead, make my day”
Net worth: $375 million
Hollywood staple, Clint Eastwood, whose renowned career spans six decades, turned 89 this year. As an actor-turned-politician, he was mayor of Carmel in California for two years, but he never quit working in the entertainment industry. Throughout his career, he’s been awarded twelve Oscars for Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture. He’s directed 30 films. The Unforgiven (1992) was his peak achievement bringing in nine Academy Award nominations and four Oscars. Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby were also Oscar-winning and box-office smash, directorial feats.
After starring in TV series Rawhide, Eastwood came to prominence as a vigilante justice enforcer playing roles like Dirty Harry and the good guy with no name in The Good the Bad and the Ugly. He was so badass, President Ronald Reagan quoted his immortal Dirty Harry line, Go ahead, make my day,” at a speech to Congress. When Eastwood tired of playing the good guy vanquishing bad guys, he branched out into comedy and drama. Bridges of Madison County captured his sensitive side. Most of his career effectively defined American masculinity. The man’s a legend.
Dolly Parton
Known for: “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene” and “9 to 5”
Net worth: $500 million
Dolly Parton grew up dirt poor on a dilapidated tobacco farm in Tennessee near the Great Smoky Mountains, but she had a dream. Dolly began composing songs as a little girl. She rose to become the Queen of Nashville. Her wide smile, platinum blonde hairdo, and well-endowed features are an enduring symbol of the 1970s. Dolly distinguished Country Music with her presence. Her fabulous talent help popularize the twangy country-western folk music genre. And, on top of it all, with that adorable southern accent, she’s just so lovable. Back at home, the country legend’s theme park, Dollywood, is the most popular tourist attraction in the state.
She played opposite Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and starred in another blockbuster hit called 9 to 5. She wrote the film’s catchy theme song and played the lead. She composed the tune, as she sat tapping her nails during the rehearsal of the film. The song won an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Over her career, she has won nine Grammys and two Academy Award nominations. In all, she was nominated for 47 Grammys!
Tommy Lee Jones
Known for: The Fugitive, MIB and Coal Miner’s Daughter
Net worth: $85 million
At Harvard, where Tommy Lee Jones roomed with Al Gore and graduated cum laude in 1969, he played varsity football, as well. As an all-league offensive guard, he participated in the Harvard vs. Yale game known as “The Tie,” the most famous game in Ivy League history. He also appeared in undergrad theater productions. Students would find him in the sports locker room suiting up in costume for rehearsal! Acting won out. Now we know him as the big screen’s worst tough guy in films like MIB and The Fugitive .
In between stage productions, Jones starred on daytime soap One Life to Live. It was not exactly his career dream, but the part led him on the path to the podium where he accepted an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The Fugitive. It also scored him a sequel. He became one of the best paid and most highly sought-after actors in the industry. Like many Hollywood greats, he’s tried his hand at directing and producing. His theatrical feature film debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada earned him the Best Actor Award at Cannes.