Elvis tops Forbes' list of dead celebs (AP) Updated: 2006-06-16 08:58
 Elvis
Presley is shown performing in Providence, R.I. on May 23, 1977, three
months before his death. Forbes magazine said Elvis Presley raked in an
estimated $52 million in last year. [AP Photo] |
Even in the afterlife, some celebrities remain big-time moneymakers. Elvis
Presley, Albert Einstein, Kurt Cobain, Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe continue
to earn enviable incomes from the grave, according to Forbes magazine.
Presley, who died in 1977, raked in an estimated $52 million last year.
Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994, generated about $50 million. Most of that
came when his widow, Courtney Love, sold 25 percent of Nirvana's song catalog in
April.
Einstein, who has been dead for more than 50 years, took in about $20 million
in 2005, Forbes estimates. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem controls the famed
thinker's estate and collects $5 million a year from the use of his images. The
university also earns royalties from Disney's line of Baby Einstein toys and
videos, Forbes reports, which generated $400 million in sales last year.
Warhol died in 1987. Still, he earned $16 million last year through the Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, which owns his estate. Monroe, who died
in 1962, generated $8 million in 2005.
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