Known for: A Woman Under the Influence
Net worth: $10 million
Gena Rowlands made her stage debut in 1952 touring with The Seven Year Itch . Moving on up, she starred with Paul Stewart in the TV series Top Secret which ran for a year in the mid-1950s. She found her film debut in The High Cost of Loving (1958).
After various TV parts including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour , she nabbed a role as a socialite on ABC’s Primetime soap opera, Peyton Place . The bulk of her work happened alongside her husband, actor and director John Cassavetes. They created ten films together, from A Child is Waiting in 1963 to Tempest in 1982. Notably, Rowlands’ performance in their film A Woman Under the Influence is one of the greatest performances of all time. Her later career includes a Woody Allen movie called Another Woman and role-playing the former first lady in The Betty Ford Story .
Christina Applegate
Known for: Married… with Children
Net worth: $20 million
Remember Kelly Bundy? Christina Applegate played one of the funniest teenage girls (ever), on one of the funniest TV shows (ever). OMG. No comedienne flips the “dumb blond” stereotype like Applegate. Alas, the sitcom Married… with Children ended after running for eleven glorious seasons. But why did it have to end? Maybe adolescence doesn’t last long enough.
Applegate guest-starred in 21 Jump Street and hosted SNL . She starred in Wild Bill , Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, Jane Austen’s Mafia! and Bad Moms . She’s won many accolades for her performance in Samantha Who? , and she won a Primetime Emmy for her role on Friends . Applegate is a breast cancer survivor. She supports breast cancer charities like Stand Up to Cancer , a fundraising TV show. She founded Right Action for Women to help with pre-cancer screening. She also helps out World Animal Protection and Adopts a Classroom.
Ellen Burstyn
Known for: The Exorcist
Net worth: $20 million
Ellen Burstyn got her to break as a dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show during the mid-1950s. Soon after, parts on various Broadway shows began falling her way leading to amazing opportunities in film. She landed the lead in The Last Picture Show (1971 and her performance brought showbiz attention plus Oscar and Golden Globe award nominations. After starring with Jack Nicholson in The King of Marvin Gardens , she came across the big one: The Exorcist . Quite possibly the scariest movie of all time, the supernatural horror flick earned Burstyn further accolades and a slew of new roles.
For her role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore directed by Martin Scorsese, Burstyn won the Best Actress Oscar. Three years later, in 1978, she received the Best Actress nomination for Same Time, Next Year, and in 1980 and in 2000 she received it for Resurrection and Requiem of a Dream, respectively. Politically, she was active in the 1970s with the movement to free Rubin “Hurricane” Carter from jail. The convicted boxer is the subject of the Bob Dylan song, “Hurricane.”
Lee Grant
Known for: In the Heat of the Night and Shampoo
Net worth: $15 million
Before she was blacklisted from Hollywood in 1952 for refusing to testify against her husband, Lee Grant was a rising star. In 1951, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Detective Story starring Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker. The film also got her recognized at Cannes, winning the Best Actress Award at the 1952 film festival. The blacklist lasted 10 years. Returning to film, she starred in Valley of the Dolls , Shampoo , and In the Heat of the Night . On TV, she appeared regularly on Peyton Place . On stage, her performance in The Maids won her an Obie Award, and on the big screen, she won her first Oscar for her performance in Shampoo .
Grant started as a ballerina and stage performer. Most recently, she starred in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Politically, she was probably a little less vocal after delivering an impassioned eulogy in 1952 for J. Edward Bromberg whose sudden death, she suggested, was caused by the stress of being called to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. They called her next.
Geena Davis
Known for: The Fly , Beetlejuice and Thelma, and Louise
Net worth: $30 million
With wide dimpled smiles framed by tussles of curly locks and a sweet-as-pie nature on top, Geena Davis was the sweetheart of Eighties and Nineties cinema. She studied drama at the university, as she always wanted to be a movie star. After graduating, she became a fashion model. It was a perfect fit. With her beautiful face and stature that measures a full six feet in height, Victoria Secret was very happy to take her on as a model. It was lucky too. Tootsie Director Sydney Pollack, thumbing through pages of new models, discovered Davis. After the big break, she scored big roles in smash hits like Fletch and The Fly .
It’s hard to say whether Davis is more iconic in her Oscar-nominated roles of Beetlejuice or in Thelma and Louise. The Accidental Tourist won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. And, not to be forgotten, is A League of Their Own. A “10” on the adorable meter. Geena Davis has been a serious advocate of gender equality and female empowerment. She is the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media. It collaborates with the Industry to increase positivity in female character roles and to reduce old stereotypes.