What was Gilbert Gottfried's Net Worth?
Gilbert Gottfried was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and voice artist who had a net worth of $8 million at the time of his death. Gilbert Gottfried was perhaps best known for his roles in Disney's "Aladdin" animated film, the PBS Kids Go! Show "Cyberchase", "Problem Child," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," among others. He was a popular stand-up comedian for decades and lent his famously shrill voice to numerous video games and commercials. In recent years, Gilbert was one of the most-popular and highest-paid celebrities on Cameo.
Unfortunately, Gilbert died on April 12, 2022, at the age of 67.
Early Life
Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 28, 1955. His mother, Lillian (née Zimmerman), was a homemaker, and his father, Max Gottfried, ran a hardware store with his own father. The family actually lived above the hardware store. When Gottfried was 15 years old, he began performing amateur stand-up comedy around New York City.
Career
After doing comedy around New York City for a while and establishing a reputation for himself as "the comedian's comedian," he was noticed by producers of "Saturday Night Live" in 1980 when the show was undergoing changes with new staff and new comedians. He was hired to be a member of the cast of season 6. However, during his 12 episodes on the show, he received very little airtime and rarely appeared in sketches. He did, however, have a few recurring bits: the character Leo Waxman on the talk show sketch "What's It All About?" and celebrity impersonations of David A. Stockman and the controversial director Roman Polanski.
Unfortunately for Gottfried, his single season on "Saturday Night Live" proved to be a huge disappointment. His appearances were rare, and at the end of the year, he and the show agreed to part ways. Gottfried caught a huge break not long after leaving "Saturday Night Live" when the recently launched MTV network hired the comedian to do a series of improvised promos. The short spots were a huge hit for the fledgling network and helped put Gottfried on the radar of the network's young audience. His next big break came courtesy of Bill Cosby, who saw the MTV spots and requested that Gottfried audition for a role on his NBC sitcom, "The Cosby Show." Over the next few years, Gottfried made several appearances on the hit show. In addition, Gottfried, who by now had made screeching and squinting his trademark, regularly appeared on "Late Night With David Letterman," "Hollywood Squares," "The Howard Stern Show," and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." For several years, he also hosted his own late-night movie show, "USA Up All Night." He also provided the voice for the Aflac duck in numerous TV spots.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Gilbert would go on to enjoy an expansive career in entertainment. He appeared in films like "Bad Medicine" (1985), "Beverly Hills Cop II" (1987), "Never on Tuesday" (1989), "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane" (1990), "Problem Child" (1990), "Problem Child 2" (1991), "Highway to Hell (1991), "Saved By The Bell: Wedding In Las Vegas" (1994), "Double Dragon" (1994), "Problem Child 3: Junior in Love" (1995), "Goosed" (1999), "Back by Midnight" (2004), "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (2004), "Miss December" (2011), and "The Comedian" (2016), among others.
He appeared as himself in films like "The Lindabury Story" (2009), "Beecher Baby Bouncer" (2013), "The Comedian's Guide to Survival" (2016), "Life, Animated" (2016), and "Gilbert" (2017). The latter is a documentary on his own life and career. He also had his own comedy special, "Gilbert Gottfried: Dirty Jokes" (2008). Additionally, he has worked in many projects and films as a voice actor. He voiced the character of Iago the Parrot in the films "Aladdin" (1992), "The Return of Jafar" (1994), "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" (1996), "Mickey's House of Villains" (2002), "Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams" (2007); the character Berkeley Beetle in "Thumbelina" (1994); Compulsive Dog in "Dr. Dolittle" (1998); and Mario Zucchini in "Animal Crackers" (2017). He has also appeared on reality television shows like "Celebrity Wife Swap" and "Celebrity Apprentice" with Donald Trump. In April 2023, he had a posthumous appearance on the second episode of Adult Swim's "Royal Crackers."
Several times over his career, the sometimes obnoxious Gottfried garnered negative attention, such as the times he made less-than-humanitarian jokes about the 9/11 attacks on New York City and the earthquake disaster in Japan.
Cameo Earnings
Gilbert was one of the most popular and highest-paid celebrities on Cameo. Gilbert earned several million dollars a year, creating thousands of personalized Cameos. The only celebrity who apparently was more popular and higher earning was Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from "The Office"). During his time on Cameo, Gilbert recorded more than 12,000 messages for fans.
Personal Life
At a Grammy Awards party in the late 1990s, Gottfried met Dara Kravitz. They married in 2007 and had two children together: a daughter, Lily, and a son, Max. The family lived in Manhattan in the Chelsea neighborhood.
Tragically, Gilbert died on April 12, 2022, at the age of 67, from recurrent ventricular tachycardia complicated by type II myotonic dystrophy. He was posthumously inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
