Known for: The Deer Hunter
Net worth: $50 million
Christopher Walken snagged his first showbiz gig as a circus lion tamer when he was 16. Next, he liked to dance, so he trained as a dancer before moving on to stage performance. He broke into showbiz proper as a stage actor in an off-Broadway musical starring alongside Liza Minnelli. The next thing he knew, he was starring opposite Sean Connery in The Anderson Tapes .
Walken played the deranged and homicidal brother of Annie (Diane Keaton) in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. He would develop a catalog of similar character roles. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor playing a psychologically unstable steelworker returning home from Vietnam in The Deer Hunter. Walken starved himself for a week to develop a gaunt appearance for the role. He’s played epic villains, most memorably in Batman Returns and as James Bond’s villain, Max Zorin. However, George Lucas considered casting Walken as good-guy Han Solo and he played Madonna’s guardian angel in her “Bad Girl” music video. He’s also loved for his seven SNL appearances. He’s responsible for delivering the epic, “I gotta have more cowbell” line.
Matt Dillon
Known for: The Outsiders and There’s Something About Mary
Net worth: $40 million
“Brat Pack” tough guy Matt Dillon arose from The Outsiders a national teen idol. Along with the rest of the club, his career was catapulted to new heights. His film debut in Over the Edge , though it was not widely screened, got him known as an edgy, cool dude. The 1979 movie is hip again with a fervent retro cult following.
He starred in My Bodyguard, Rumble Fish, and The Flamingo Kid. He played the cute lead in a lot of movies. In Gus Van Sant’s crime drama, Drugstore Cowboy, he plays an addict on the search for drugs. One of his most memorable comedy roles is “Pat” in There’s Something About Mary. He’s still acting! In 2018 he starred in The House that Jack Built. He won an Independent Spirit Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Crash. He received a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album having narrated the inveterate Jack Kerouac’s, On the Road.
Cyndi Lauper
Known for: “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” Kinky Boots, and LGBTQ+ Activism
Net worth: $30 million
Pop music superstar Cyndi Lauper “be-bopped” herself into a spectacular career. Suffice it to say you cannot find an ‘80s mixtape without at least one track rocking her distinctively pitched voice. “Time After Time,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “True Colors” played on heavy rotation throughout the decade. She won Best New Artist at the 1985 Grammy Awards and Best Female Music Video at the 1984 MTV Music Awards (“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”). As a self-proclaimed misfit—her hair’s different, her voice is different, her sweet and honest nature is a bit of an aberration in the rock world—she somehow fits in.
Lauper is a rare talent. She’s one of very few singers who have won an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy. Her role on the sitcom, Mad About You, earned her an Emmy and her music and lyrics for the Broadway musical, Kinky Boots, won a Tony. Raised in Queens by a single mom, she struggled to make it, at times living on the streets as a young adult. Maybe that is why she is one of the most compassionate people. She wrote the song “True Colors” for her good friend Gregory who died of AIDs. The loss inspired her to dedicate her life to helping the gay and lesbian community. Today she’s a leading advocate for LGBTQ+ people’s rights. Her organization, True Colors United, seeks to end homelessness, emphasizing youth homelessness. She founded it in 2012 after she learned that 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT.
Candy Clark
Known for: American Graffiti
Net worth: $3 million
At 18, Candy Clark moved to N.Y.C. to become a fashion model. The sky was the limit. When she landed a starring role in the raucous rock ‘n roll coming-of-age movie American Graffiti (1973) she worked with budding Hollywood legends, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. That year, Screen World declared her one of the most promising movies stars in the industry. She turned out to be more like a one-hit-wonder. Well, two.
It was an exciting time. By 1975, Clark and Jeff Bridges hooked up and shared a pad for a couple of years. In 1976, she fell in love with director Nicolas Roeg when they were filming his stellar project The Man Who Fell to Earth. Clark starred in the movie and famously played David Bowie’s part the day he was too ill to film.
Elliot Gould
Known for: M*A*S*H*
Net worth: $20 million
Brooklyn native Elliott Gould made his stage debut in 1962 starring in I Can Get it For You Wholesale. It was a significant time in his life as he starred in the Broadway musical with his future wife, Barbara Streisand. The recognition brought starring roles in Drat! The Cat! And Little Murders . By 1969 he formed his own film production company, and, more notably, signed a contract to play Trapper John in Robert Altman’s seminal film M*A*S*H* . It was a smashing hit.
He flopped with Move, and I Love My Wife, but then rebounded in The Long Goodbye. He played opposite Diane Keaton in both, I Will, I Will…for Now, and Harry and Walter Go to New York. More flops. His portrayal of an aging mobster in Warren Beatty’s Bugsy brought him showers of accolades. In American History X starring Edward Norton, Gould delivered a remarkable appearance. He’s hosted Saturday Night Live a total of six times and guest-starred on Friends. He and Barbara Streisand didn’t stay married. They divorced in 1971. He went on to marry and divorce Jennifer Bogart two times.