ELVIS PRESLEY - YVES ST. LAURENT TOPS DEAD CELEBRITY MONEY LIST

YVES ST. LAURENT TOPS DEAD CELEBRITY MONEY LIST

The late fashion designer Yves St. Laurent has jumped to the top of Forbes magazine's "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities" list thanks to a one-time estate sale last February that netted $443 million. With a total of around $90 million, Michael Jackson came in at No. 3 on the list, mostly as a result of the $60 million advance that Sony Films paid to his estate and concert promoter AEG for the rights to his concert rehearsal footage for the This Is It! movie. Still the figure paled in comparison with the $225 million that the legendary Broadway composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein earned last year. Coming in fourth was Elvis Presley, with $55 million. Lord of the Rings writer J.R.R. Tolkien rounded out the top five with $50 million. Forbes noted that several "mainstays" on its dead celebrities list fell off this year, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Steve McQueen. "These icons couldn't keep up with their peers," it noted.

28/10/2009