What Was Ginger Rogers' Net Worth?
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, singer, and author who had a net worth of $20 million at the time of her death in 1995. Ginger Rogers was known for her collaborations with Fred Astaire in ten Hollywood musical films, such as "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Top Hat" (1935), and "Shall We Dance" (1937). Ginger won an Academy Award for her performance in the 1940 film "Kitty Foyle," and in 1942, she was reportedly the highest-paid star in Hollywood. Rogers had more than 90 acting credits to her name, including the films "Honor Among Lovers" (1931), "The Thirteenth Guest" (1932), "42nd Street" (1933), "Don't Bet on Love" (1933), "Stage Door" (1937), "Tom, Dick and Harry" (1941), "Roxie Hart" (1942), "The Major and the Minor" (1942), "It Had to Be You" (1947), "We're Not Married!" (1952), "Monkey Business" (1952), and "Twist of Fate" (1954) and the TV movie "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella" (1965). Ginger also performed in Broadway productions of "Top Speed" (1929), "Girl Crazy" (1930), "Love and Let Love" (1951), and "Hello, Dolly!" (1965), and she published the memoir "Ginger: My Story" in 1991. In 1999, Rogers was ranked #14 on the "AFI 100 Years…100 Stars" list. Ginger passed away from natural causes on April 25, 1995, at the age of 83.
Early Life
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath on July 16, 1911, in Independence, Missouri. Her mother, Lela Emogene Owens, was a screenwriter, film producer, and journalist, and her father, William Eddins McMath, was an electrical engineer. Ginger was born in her parents' home, and Lela and William separated when she was a baby. After William kidnapped Ginger twice, Lela divorced him in 1914, and Rogers never saw him again. Lela married John Logan Rogers in 1920, and though John never legally adopted Ginger, she began using his surname. The family lived in Fort Worth, Texas, where Lela was a theater critic for the "Fort Worth Record." Rogers attended Central High School, and as a teenager, she considered becoming a teacher, but her mother's job as a theatre critic and screenwriter got her interested in the entertainment industry.
Career
Ginger began her entertainment career when she served as a stand-in for Eddie Foy's traveling vaudeville act in Fort Worth, and when she was 14, she entered a Charleston dance contest and won the opportunity to tour the Orpheum Circuit as Ginger Rogers and the Redheads for six months. In 1929, she appeared on Broadway for the first time, in a production of the musical "Top Speed," which led to her starring in George and Ira Gershwin's "Girl Crazy" in 1930. Fred Astaire worked on "Girl Crazy," helping dancers with choreography. Rogers signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures in 1930, and that year she made her feature film debut in "Young Man of Manhattan." She then appeared in the films "Queen High" (1930), "The Sap from Syracuse" (1930), "Follow the Leader" (1930), "Honor Among Lovers" (1931), "The Tip-Off" (1931), "Suicide Fleet" (1931), "Carnival Boat" (1932), "The Tenderfoot" (1932), "The Thirteenth Guest" (1932), "Hat Check Girl" (1932), "42nd Street" (1933), "Broadway Bad" (1933), "Don't Bet on Love" (1933), and "Sitting Pretty" (1933), and she performed the song "We're In The Money" in "Gold Diggers of 1933," singing one verse in Pig Latin. Ginger teamed up with Astaire in 1933's "Flying Down to Rio," and one of the most famous partnerships in Hollywood history was born. The two would go on to co-star in 1934's "The Gay Divorcee," 1935's "Roberta" and "Top Hat," 1936's "Follow the Fleet" and "Swing Time," 1937's "Shall We Dance," 1938's "Carefree," 1939's "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle," and 1949's "The Barkleys of Broadway."
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Rogers co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball in 1937's "Stage Door" and with Ball, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Red Skelton in 1938's "Having Wonderful Time," and she won an Academy Award for starring in the title role of the 1940 drama "Kitty Foyle." In the '40s, she appeared in films such as "Primrose Path" (1940), "Tom, Dick and Harry" (1941), "Roxie Hart" (1942), "Tales of Manhattan" (1942), "Once Upon a Honeymoon" (1942), "I'll Be Seeing You" (1944), "Week-End at the Waldorf" (1945), and "It Had to Be You" (1947). Ginger co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in 1952's "We're Not Married!" and "Monkey Business," and she earned a Golden Globe nomination for "Monkey Business." Ginger then starred in the films "Dreamboat" (1952), "Forever Female" (1953), "Black Widow" (1954), "Twist of Fate" (1954), "Tight Spot" (1955), "The First Traveling Saleslady" (1956), "Teenage Rebel" (1956), "Oh, Men! Oh, Women!" (1957), "Quick, Let's Get Married" (1964), and "Harlow" (1965). In 1953, she performed the song "Something's Gotta Give" on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and in 1965, she appeared in the CBS movie "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella." Rogers guest-starred on "Here's Lucy" (1971), "The Love Boat" (1979), and "Glitter" (1984), and in 1985, she directed an off-Broadway production of the musical "Babes in Arms." Ginger's final screen role came in the 1987 "Hotel" episode "Hail and Farewell."
Personal Life
Ginger was married and divorced five times. Her first marriage was to Jack Pepper, her dancing partner, when she was 17, and it lasted from March 1929 to July 1931. She then wed her "Don't Bet on Love" co-star Lew Ayres on November 14, 1934, and after they divorced in March 1941, Rogers married U.S. Marine Jack Briggs on January 16, 1943. Ginger and Jack divorced in September 1949, then Rogers was married to Jacques Bergerac from February 1953 to July 1957. Bergerac, a French law student, decided to become an actor when he moved to Hollywood with Rogers, and he went on to win a Golden Globe for Foreign Newcomer – Male in 1957. Ginger married her fifth husband, director/producer William Marshall, on March 16, 1961, and they divorced eight years later. Rogers was a Republican, and she campaigned for Thomas Dewey (1944) and Barry Goldwater (1964) in presidential elections and for Ronald Reagan in the California gubernatorial election (1966).
Ginger was a skilled tennis player who played in the US Open in 1950, but she and her doubles partner, Frank Shields, were eliminated in the first round. In 1994, her birthplace was designated a Historic Landmark Property by the City of Independence, Missouri, and she attended the Ginger Rogers' Day celebration on July 16th of that year. The Rogers home was later turned into a museum dedicated to Ginger and her mother, Lela.
Death and Legacy
On April 25, 1995, Ginger died of natural causes at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 83. Rogers was cremated, and her cremains were interred at Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery with Lela. Ginger was the subject of the 1942 novel "Ginger Rogers and the Riddle of the Scarlet Cloak," which was written by her mother, and she was referenced in the 1990 Madonna hit "Vogue." In 2007, a musical about Ginger's life, "Backwards in High Heels," was produced in Florida. Rogers' last public appearance took place in March 1995 when she was honored with the Women's International Center Living Legacy Award, and in 1997, the Craterian Theater in Medford, Oregon, where Ginger used to perform vaudeville shows, was renamed the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater.
Awards and Nominations
In 1941, Rogers won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Kitty Foyle." She earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical for "Monkey Business" in 1953, and in 1970, she won a Silver Medal at the Berlin International Film Festival for her achievements in acting and dancing. Ginger won three National Board of Review Awards for Best Acting, for "Primrose Path" in 1940, for "Kitty Foyle" and "Tom, Dick and Harry" in 1941, and "Roxie Hart" and "The Major and the Minor" in 1942. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and Kennedy Center Honors in 1992, and she was posthumously inducted into the Online Film & Television Association Hall of Fame in 2018.
