[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement:
Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor
of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users'
privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your
privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket
to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we
also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.
Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your
contribution is not tax-deductible.)
PayPal Acct: 
Feedback: 
Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):
[ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message ]
Date Posted: 18:20:02 05/16/23 Tue
Author: Jarrod
Subject: Re: Recurring characters' pay
In reply to:
Rick
's message, "Re: Recurring characters' pay" on 19:23:27 05/15/23 Mon
Thanks Rick...I guess what I was wondering was how much less the support actors were getting paid than the guest stars.
On the IMDb, Victor Sen Yung is listed as having 108 appearances on the show...but surely this could not have translated into a lot of money, and he did not get residuals, did he?
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Replies:
[> [>
Re: Recurring characters' pay -- Bonanza, 18:47:06 05/17/23 Wed [1]
The actors listed at the end titles, including the stunt men would get $500 a week. That was lotta money back then, and they would gladly take it. The guest stars you see with the main cast would get around $6,000 or $7,500 for an episode, top performers would get up to $10,000, like Lee Marvin. By 1967, NBC was cutting cost down a little bit and the guest stars would get $3,000 for an episode.
Rick
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [>
Re: Recurring characters' pay -- Jarrod, 18:55:27 05/19/23 Fri [1]
Interesting. Thanks for the clarification. So I guess the guest stars at the end came a bit cheaper, people like Loretta Swit and Kate Jackson...but in a way that makes sense, because they were not established movie stars like those earlier big name guests such as Yvonne DeCarlo.
Arguably the bigger name guests stars who cost more, helped the show get higher ratings in those earlier seasons. Or am I oversimplifying and generalizing things here??
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [>
Re: Recurring characters' pay -- Rick, 18:45:36 05/27/23 Sat [1]
Hi Jarrod,
In general, you’re correct. The big name actors would always get the most money at the opening credits, where the featured actors at the end titles would get the lowest salary. Yeah, in the beginning the big name actors you would see onscreen would grab the ratings. That strategy was commonly used back then. By the way, the actors seen at the end titles would be hired by the directors.
Rick
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [>
Re: Recurring characters' pay -- Jarrod, 09:33:16 05/31/23 Wed [1]
Thanks. I realized that my previous post was a bit confusing. When I was referring to Loretta Swit and Kate Jackson, what I meant is that they were "name" guest stars in the final seasons, but they were not movie stars and hadn't even had their breakthrough roles on TV yet. Loretta's appearance in 'A Visit to Upright' occurred the season before she began appearing on MASH. Likewise, Kate Jackson's guest turn in 'One Ace Too Many' occurred the season before she began on The Rookies. So compared to those old time movie stars that were often used in the early seasons of Bonanza, I am sure Miss Swit and Miss Jackson were substantially more cost efficient to hire.
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [>
Re: Recurring characters' pay -- Rick, 18:48:44 05/31/23 Wed [1]
Yes, for the most part. The casting directors who worked at Paramount and Warner Brothers did things their own way. William Mayberry liked to hire big names, where Milt Hammerman liked to hire lesser known actors. Hammerman left to work at Universal in 1972 and was replaced by Bill Scully I think.
Rick
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [> [>
Re: Recurring characters' pay -- Rick, 18:53:55 05/31/23 Wed [1]
Joe Scully came in a 1972 and replaced Hammerman.
Rick
[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]
