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.
Cher
Known for: “I Got You Babe”
Net worth: $360 million
It’s hard to say whether Cher is more successful as a singer or as an actress. She’s definitely a master of reinvention. The come-back-kid has hit bottom in the industry only to bounce back with another hit. She’s the only recording artist with a No. 1 hit song spanning across six consecutive decades. She’s one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, and she’s won an Emmy, an Academy Award, a Grammy and three Golden Globes. Cher got her start in show biz after meeting Sonny Bono as a teen. The Sonny and Cher show climaxed in 1965 with “I Got You Babe.” She was 19. In 1974, the marriage fell apart, and so did the gig. Cher would bounce back, obviously, like a bouncing ball, but at the time it seemed like the Cher show had gone kaput. Undeterred, the fashion maven rocked on. Her movie career exploded with her second film performance in Silkwood . Co-starring with Meryl Streep, Cher won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award for the same category.
She’s a pop culture icon who's impossible to pin down. A new Broadway musical called The Cher Show attempts to do just that. The script provides three “Chers.” They call her: Babe Cher, Lady Cher, and Star Cher. Cher supports many causes. From humanitarian organizations to medical charity groups, she’s been an activist throughout her career. She’s the spokesperson for Keep a Child Alive organization, a program that helps children and families with HIV/AIDS. She’s also involved with Habitat for Humanity and Operation Helmet. She won the GLAAD Vanguard Award for her work supporting rights for gays and lesbians. Her daughter, Chaz Bono, who is now her son, transitioned from lesbian to transgender.
Warren Beatty
Known for: Reds and Bonnie and Clyde
Net worth: $70 million
He made his film debut in Splendor in the Grass starring opposite Natalie Wood. Warren Beatty has a certain staying power, an omnipresence in Hollywood, an evergreen appeal. He could be the leading man at any age. Yet he’s not your average sex-symbol. He’s simply an unassuming and extraordinarily attractive man. True, male leads have a much longer shelf life, but let’s not digress. Starring in and producing film classics like Reds , Shampoo , Dick Tracy , Bonnie and Clyde , Heaven Can Wait and Bugsy , Beatty’s recognized for those 20th-century staples.
After turning the role down for literally decades, in recent years Beatty finally agreed to portray Howard Hughes. But not for Warner Bros. who had been asking him to do it since the ’70s. Instead, Beatty co-produced, wrote, directed and starred in the 2016 film Rules Don’t Apply. Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Martin Sheen and his wife Annette Benning also starred. His opus Reds not only earned him a Best Director Academy Award, but also a personal gift of a box of cigars from Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Another role he turned down, two times--once for Oliver Stone, and once for Ron Howard—is Richard Nixon. Beatty refused because he thought the scripts were not compassionate enough. He admits being on Nixon’s former enemy list, but he has grown to feel sympathetic toward the ousted President.
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 .
Robert Duvall
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.