Known for: Ghostbuster and Queen of Sci-FI
Net worth: $50 million
Though not an official member of the “Brat Pack,” Sigourney Weaver was a hot ’80s movie star with a sizzling following. Back in the late-Seventies, Woody Allen set her up in a role in Annie Hall . It was a small part, all of six seconds on screen, but it got her noticed! Before long, Sigourney co-starred with Mel Gibson in The Year of Living Dangerously It received a Palme d’Or-nomination at Cannes. Ghostbusters wasn’t far behind. In 1983, it took over the nation, a monster-blockbuster. That summer, N.Y.C. looked like an unofficial movie tie-in gift shop, vendors on every corner peddling Ghostbuster merch.
Since then, Weaver’s become a royal deity of the sci-fi genre. She’s the destroyer of aliens, reptilian humanoid warlords, and the Carpathians. She’s survived every alien assault, including being cloned eight times in Alien Resurrection. She’s a gorilla lover. Weaver is an honorary chairperson to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. She’s also into helping those in extreme poverty and protecting the environment. Women’s, and other people’s rights are also a focus of her charitable side.
Michael Douglas
Known for: Fatal Attraction and Gordon Gekko
Net worth: $300 million
Oliver Stone’s iconic Wall Street definitively encapsulated an epoch of American capitalism. It was ugly and dark, and its antihero didn’t fare well, but Michael Douglas absolutely nailed it as the ruthless stock market titan Gordon Gekko. Fierce delivery of a line such as, “When I get a hold of the son-a-bitch who leaked this, I’m going to tear his eyeballs out! I’m going to suck his f***ing skull!” made his performance an epic gift to cinema. The Academy agreed. Douglas took home the Oscar for Best Actor.
Opening at the peak of the materialistic me-generation in 1987, Wall Street was synonymous with the times, it was like an incisive snapshot of wealth and power inside the dark entrails of American financial markets. At a time when “downsizing” was like a euphemism meaning, ‘hundreds of people will lose their job,’ Gekko depicts a merciless Wall Street trader. Questioned about why he wants to wreck a major company, Gekko, pictured above in slicked back hair (hair gel was huge in the ’80s), barks back, “Because it’s wreckable!! Alright!!” Michael Douglas has plenty of other epic films under his belt. He produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, for chrissakes, winning the Best Picture Oscar. And, in Fatal Attraction, his character’s travails left viewers with an indelible fear of a new kind of terror. Romancing the Stone was huge, as was Basic Instinct. Currently, he’s active in humanitarian and political activism and stars in The Kominsky Method.
Sissy Spacek
Known for: Coal Miner’s Daughter
Net worth: $15 million
Sissy Spacek was born Mary Elizbeth, but her brothers called her “Sissy,” and the name stuck. She hoped for a career in the music business but settled for film instead, after the music gig sputtered out. She enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and found her way into Andy Warhol’s Factory as an extra. At that point, small film parts began rolling in.
She played the teenage girlfriend of Charlie Sheen’s mass murderer character in Badlands. But it was the supernatural horror movie Carrie that gained her enough praise to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. In Coal Miner’s Daughter, she truly nailed it with an Jennifer Greyscar win playing Lorretta Lynn. Loretta Lynn personally approved the role, and Sissy got to do some singing. Other popular films she starred in are JFK, In the Bedroom and Crimes of the Heart.
Lily Tomlin
Known for: Nashville and The Incredible Shrinking Woman
Net worth: $15 million
Lily Tomlin’s stand-up gig paved the way for a career as a fantastic comedic actress. Her talents shine brightly in Nashville playing a gospel-singing mother of two deaf kids. The stellar performance garnered a Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
Tomlin starred with Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in the beloved office comedy 9 to 5. An alternative title might have been: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. It’s rip-roaring fun as the three women spar futilely with their sexist boss. Tomlin won accolades for The Late Show with nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. She was also recognized at the Berlin Film Festival. A Tony Award greeted her performance in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe when it hit Broadway in 1985. Tomlin was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Rae Dawn Chong
Known for: American Flyers and The Color Purple
Net worth: $4 million
Rae Dawn Chong is the first daughter of our favorite stoner and actor/comedian Tommy Chong. Born in Canada, she’s a part-Chinese, part-Scots-Irish and part Black-Canadian. On-screen, she’s known for Quest for Fire and Choose Me . Other popular 1980s films include The Color Purple , Commando and Beat Street .
Mick Jagger chose Chong for the lead in his music video, “Just Another Night.” She has actively supported many charitable organizations. Two of her preferences are Habitat for Humanity and Byron Katie’s work with prison inmates.