Known for: The Godfather , The Apostle and Lt. Col. Kilgore
Net worth: $70 million
Another iconic film legend is Robert Duvall. He delivered one of the most definitive lines of the Vietnam era. The mythic phrase was victoriously belted out by the ruthless Lt. Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now (1979): “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!” The war may have ended in 1975, but Duvall’s line lives on. The ’70s were prolific for Duvall, primarily in the production of malicious characters we love to hate. In The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, the phenomenal character-actor played the attorney for the Corleone mafia family. That role in Francis Ford Coppola’s classic mob film earned him an Academy Award nomination.
In MASH he played the vicious Major Frank Burns, and on Network he played the repugnant television executive Frank Hackett. He even played the contemptible Josef Stalin in Stalin. It’s his comedic nuances, the way he inserts a bit of humor into the bad guys that make his portrayals so epic. Are we surprised he was considered for Dr. Hannibal Lecter? Out of seven Oscar nominations, he was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor in Tender Mercies. Duvall’s big breaks included appearing on The Twilight zone and making his screen debut in To Kill a Mockingbird. His career has spanned six decades. And at 84, he became the oldest actor ever to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Jami Gertz
Known for: The Lost Boys
Net worth: $2 billion
Jami Gertz was discovered as a child actor who landed roles on epic 1970s sitcoms like Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life . After studying drama at NYU, she began picking up significant parts in substantial films like Less Than Zero and The Lost Boys . Another blockbuster she starred in was Twister . She landed Crossroads and Jersey Girl also.
Gertz played that girl who wouldn’t share even “one square” of toilet paper with Elaine on Seinfeld. She could have played that girl Rachel Green on Friends but passed up the part. She did play Judy Miller on TV sitcom Still Standing. In 1989, Jami Gertz married executive Antony Ressler. Her billionaire hubby is a co-founder of a multi-billion-dollar private equity firm. The couple part-owns the MLB Milwaukee Brewers team. It’s not all fun and games. In 2012, Gertz and Ressler have named the #1 Most Generous Celebrities in the world, and in 2010, they were the top-donor of any celebrity couple.
Linda Blair
Known for: The Exorcist
Net worth: $16 million
Linda Blair starred in The Exorcist , one of the all-time scariest movies. Playing a possessed demon child, the success of the classic 1973 horror film catapulted the child model and actress to international fame. She was just 14 years old when she won a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for the performance. She also won several roles and starred in Born Innocent and Airport 1975 . In Born Innocent , she played a sexually abused runaway teenager. The National Organization for Women and other organizations protested it for its depiction of female-to-female sexual abuse.
Fame wasn’t easy for Blair. A drug bust at 18 found her blacklisted in Hollywood. She managed it with B-movies. The experience produced lead roles in two cult classics. Chained Heat is a 1983 women-in-prison flick, and Savage Streets is an action movie in which she portrayed a vigilante femme fatale. In 2006, she showed up on the CW hit series Supernatural. She also hosted the 2000 Fox TV series, The Scariest Places on Earth.
Jeannie Berlin
Known for: The Heartbreak Kid
Net worth: $2 million
Jeannie Berlin calls her mother, actor/playwright/director Elaine May, her favorite acting mentor, and closest friend. In 1972, Berlin earned a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for her comedic performance in Elaine May’s comedy The Heartbreak Kid .
Berlin appeared in 1970s movies Getting Straight , The Strawberry Statement , Portnoy’s Complaint, and Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York . In the latter, she played the lead. In television, she appeared in the series Columbo . With a decent comeback, Berlin has starred recently in Thomas Pynchon’s ’60s throwback adaptation, Inherent Vice (2014). She starred in Margaret , as well as Woody Allen’s Café Society .
Paula Prentiss
Known for: The Stepford Wives
Net worth: $8 million
In the 1960s Paula Prentiss was known as a comedic talent after starring in comedies like, Where the Boys Are and What’s New Pussycat? She teamed up with romantic-comedy co-star Jim Hutton for several similar films. She was loved as a comedian, although her talent for drama won acclaim as well. Especially in The Stepford Wives , a film that resonates today as a cult classic. She starred opposite big names like Steve McQueen and Rock Hudson.
She earned an Emmy nomination when she co-starred with her husband, Richard Benjamin, in the CBS sitcom He & She. The show only lasted a season, but their love has endured since 1961. They were married on October 26, 1961. The couple also appeared together in Catch-22.