TOP 5 RICHEST CELEBRITIES
- Dannine Avara Net Worth: Dannine Avara is a billionaire heir to the
Duncan family fortune who has a net worth of $6.3 billion. Born Dannine
Duncan in 1974, she is the daughter of Lee Ellis and Dan Duncan who
co-founded Enterprise Products Partners LP, a natural gas and crude oil
pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas. It went public in
1998, and by 2010, it included over 48,700 miles of onshore and offshore
pipelines, as well as nearly 220 million barrel equivalents of natural
gas and natural gas liquids of storage capacity. Also a head of
mid-stream energy firms Duncan Energy Partners LP and Enterprise GP
Holdings LP, Dan Duncan left his wealth to his four children upon his
death on March 28, 2010. Dannine Avara inherited $3.1B and due to a
temporary loophole in the estate tax law in 2010 she became the first
American billionaire to pay no estate tax since its enactment. Avara,
who resides in Houston with her husband, still ranks well on the
America's richest list.
2. Dina Merrill net worth: Dina Merrill is an American socialite,
philanthropist and actress who has a net worth of $5 billion. Dina
Merrill is famous for her acting career on stage, screen and television,
as well as her many positions in businesses such as Lehman Brothers.
She was born in New York City, New York, the only daughter of Marjorie
Merriweather Post and promnient investment banker Edward Francis Hutton.
Her mother Marjorie was the heir to the CW Post fortune which at one
time the richest woman in America. Dina's father was the founder of
stock brokerage firm E. F. Hutton. Dina Merrill was married three times,
once to an heir to the Colgate-Palmolive fortune named Stanley M.
Rumbough, Jr, then to academy award winning actor CLiff Robertson and
finally to another actor named Ted Hartley.
3. George Lucas net worth: George Lucas is a director, writer, producer
and businessman who has a net worth of $4.9 billion. Born and raised in
Modesto, California, George Lucas initially had his eye on a career in
racing cars, but after a potentially fatal accident in high school
Lucas' interests shifted considerably. During his time at Modesto Junior
College, Lucas became enthusiastic about photography and film making.
He eventually transferred to University of Southern California where he
befriended fellow filmmaker Steven Spielberg and won accolades during
his post-graduate studies, including a Warner Brothers student
scholarship. His 1967 student film, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB,
was eventually made into his 1971 premier full-length feature film, THX
1138. Though it was poorly received, the project led to a more
successful venture in American Graffiti, which garnered five Academy
Award nominations and grossed $115 million in domestic revenue alone.
His biggest box-office hit and what came to seal Lucas as a Hollywood
film legend is the epic Star Wars franchise, which has earned well over
$5 billion in worldwide revenue from all six films. Though he only
directed six films in total, Lucas has acted as producer, executive
producer and writer on several films including: Body Heat (1981),
Labyrinth (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), and The Indiana Jones
film franchise. Additionally, Lucas founded THX, Skywalker Sound,
Industrial Light and Magic and LucasArts as subdivisions of his parent
company, Lucasfilm Ltd. In 2005, Lucas received The Lifetime Achievement
Award from The American Film Institute.
On October 30th 2012,
George Lucas announced that he signed a deal to sell his entire
Lucasfilm company to Disney for a staggering $4 billion. Lucas owned
100% of the company which means the entire $4 billion went into his
pockets. His net worth more than doubled from $3.3 billion to $7.3
billion, overnight!
4. Tom & Judy Love Net Worth: Tom & Judy Love are American
husband-and-wife entrepreneurs who have a net worth of $3.6 billion. The
couple owns Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, known as
'Love's', a chain of more than 30 truck stops and convenience stores. In
1964, the Love duo started Musket Corporation, with only $5,000 to
lease an abandoned station in Watonga, Oklahoma. Within a period of
eight years, they opened about 40 gas stations that operated under the
Kerr-McGee brand. Because of the gasoline shortage, Tom expanded the
business for the sake of company by adding a grocery line to their gas
stations. Later in 1972, the couple set up the first Love's Country
Store in Guymon, which was very revolutionary because it was a
combination of convenience store and self-service fuel station. The
success was growing vastly; therefore Love's was operating 90 stores
across Oklahoma and surrounding states, and it began offering food
services. Soon, the couple started the First Love's Travel Stop on
Intestate 40in Amarillo, Texas, which was one-of-a-kind travel stop
serving both truck drivers and motoring community. In addition to their
company, Tom and Judy opened gift and novelties shops. Today, the Love
family operates with 300 stores across 39 states.
5. Steven Spielberg net worth: Steven Spielberg is an American director,
screenwriter and producer who has a net worth of $3.1 billion and annual
salary of $150 million. Steven Spielberg's name is synonymous with film
and his career spans over four decades. Spielberg had humble beginnings
when he was just a boy with a huge imagination and a dream. Steven
Spielberg was born on December 18th 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His
mother Leah Adherer was a concert pianist and his father Arnold
Spielberg was an electrical engineer involved in the development of
computers. Steven's childhood was spent in Haddon Heights, New Jersey
and Scottsdale, Arizona. It was in Scottsdale, as a teenager, where a
young Spielberg would create 8mm short films. Even back then Spielberg
had the gall to charge 25 cents for the local kids to come and watch his
many epics.
