Dorothy Pomerantz Lacey Rose and, Forbes.com 10/28/09 09:03:25 GMT

The money might be drying up in Hollywood, but there’s still plenty of cash to be made in the graveyard. The 13 iconic figures on Forbes’ list of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities grossed a collective $886 million in the past 12 months.

Topping the list for the first time is Yves Saint Laurent, who earned $350 million care of a much-heralded estate sale. In February, auction house Christie’s sold many of the French fashion icon’s possessions, including expensive art, antiques and furniture, garnering $443 million in proceeds over the course of three days.

After commissions, the cash was split between the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and a soon-to-be-created philanthropic group aimed at scientific research and the fight against AIDS.

YSL died of brain cancer in June 2008.

Debuting on the list in third place is musician Michael Jackson. In the four months since his untimely death, the King of Pop’s estate has brought in $90 million.

Though his afterlife earnings didn’t land him atop the list, as many had anticipated, few celebrity deaths have garnered more media attention. Since his June passing, Jackson’s estate has sold an estimated 9 million albums worldwide plus more than 5.5 million digital downloads.

Sony shelled out $60 million for the rights to produce This is It, the highly anticipated movie featuring rehearsal footage of what was to be a 50-date concert engagement at London’s O2 arena.

The $60 million advance will be split between Jackson’s estate and concert promoter AEG. The estate, AEG and Sony will divvy up any profits from the movie.

Merchandise created for the tour has been selling briskly online.

At No. 2, between Saint Laurent and Jackson, are Broadway legends Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. The songwriting duo, who wrote the music and lyrics to widely successful shows like Oklahoma, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music, made the bulk of their $235 million in combined earnings from the sale of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and the rights to music they wrote together.

Royalties from other works further fattened their wallets over the course of the year.

To place on this year’s list, a deceased celebrity–or “deleb,” as industry insiders have dubbed them–needed to rake in at least $6 million between Oct. 1, 2008 and Oct. 1, 2009.

To compile the list, we spoke with agents, lawyers and other sources involved with a dead celebrity’s estate to estimate their gross earnings (before taxes, management fees and other costs).

Behind Jackson is longtime list-topper Elvis Presley. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll earned $55 million during the year-long span. That’s more than some of the music industry’s biggest living acts command–Bon Jovi brought in $50 million for the 12 months ending in June; Britney Spears grossed $35 million during the same period.

Unlike Jackson, Presley doesn’t count music royalties among his revenue streams; his manager famously sold the rights to the King’s pre-1973 recordings to RCA (now part of Sony) for $5 million. The handlers of his estate have found other means of expanding the fortune, from merchandising to admissions to Graceland.

Expect the estate’s income to expand next year as Graceland celebrates Elvis’ 75th birthday with new exhibits and a massive birthday celebration.

Rounding out the top five is author J.R.R. Tolkien, whose estate banked $50 million in the past 12 months. While he still sees book royalties from his vast collection, the majority of his earnings this year came from settling a long-standing suit with New Line Cinema over profit participation on The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

How can dead celebrities continue to earn millions every year? The short answer is merchandising and licensing deals struck in exchange for their name and likeness, along with sales of their recorded music, books or films.

Falling off this year’s list are several Dead Celebrities mainstays, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Steve McQueen. Despite inking new deals over the past year, these icons couldn’t keep up with their peers.

One reason: Folks like newcomer Yves Saint Laurent or returnees Rodgers & Hammerstein have benefited from lucrative one-off events, which can include estate sales, posthumous releases and lawsuit resolutions. As a result, both YSL and Rodgers & Hammerstein aren’t likely to earn enough to garner a spot on next year’s list.

Jackson, on the other hand, will likely make tens of millions of dollar every year from sales of his back catalog, merchandise and memorabilia as well as royalties from his stake in the Sony ATV catalog of songs, which includes music by a range of artists like the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift.

Industry brokers say it’s only a matter of time before Jackson also makes posthumous appearances in new advertisements. Technology has made feasible the practice of putting late stars in new commercials. In recent years, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn have appeared in ads for MasterCard and The Gap, respectively.

In addition to name recognition and broad appeal, deceased celebrities offer the marketing community something living entertainers do not: peace of mind.

“Albert Einstein isn’t going to get busted for drunk driving and Steve McQueen is not going to have an affair and be in the tabloids,” says David Reeder, vice president of Corbis’ GreenLight, which represents Einstein, McQueen and many others. “Anything that’s happened is behind them, making them a safe harbor for advertisers.”

Mark Roesler, chairman of CMG Worldwide, which counts the estates of Monroe and James Dean among its clients, admits that with security and cultural resonance come limitations: “Regardless of what technological changes have occurred,” he says, “you’re still dealing with personalities who are deceased. They can’t exactly make personal appearances.”

To view the original article, please Click Here.

By Lisa Respers France, CNN
October 27, 2009 — Updated 1145 GMT (1945 HKT)

(CNN) — This year, it’s hip to be dead.

The deaths of so many celebrities in recent months have highlighted the continued public fascination with stars — even beyond the grave — and the booming industry surrounding dead celebs.

“It’s been a crazy year,” said Scott Michaels, who runs findadeath.com, a site devoted to tales of dead celebrities, as well as the “Dearly Departed Tour” in Los Angeles, California, where enthusiasts can visit sites of some of the city’s most notorious deaths.

“It’s weird because even [stars], who are already dead, like Anna Nicole Smith, are back in the news. Death has become trendy.”

It’s also a gold mine.

Mark Roesler, chief executive officer and chairman of CMG Worldwide — which markets and manages several deceased celebrities (some more easily managed dead than alive) — said fans often feel connected to stars long after they are gone.

“I think that with celebrities, we feel like we own a piece of them,” he said. “It’s almost like being part of the family.”

That family expanded during what some have dubbed the “summer of death.”

From May to September, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine, Walter Cronkite and Patrick Swayze all died. The fascination with such celebrities can mean big bucks for their estates.

And if death is the new black, Michael Jackson is poised to become the new arbiter of style.

With the release of the documentary “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” and a companion double CD, the legendary pop icon’s estate stands to add millions to its coffers. Jackson will join the realm of Elvis Presley, Heath Ledger and John Lennon who rake in the cash and keep fans enthralled even from the grave.

At the end of October, Forbes releases its list of “top-earning dead celebrities.” Last year’s top 13 — Elvis Presley, Charles M. Schulz, Heath Ledger, Albert Einstein, Aaron Spelling, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), John Lennon, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, James Dean, and Marvin Gaye — earned a combined $194 million in 2008, according to the magazine.

Not bad for a group that is unable to make personal appearances or sign autographs.

Roesler’s company represents two stars on the list (Monroe and Dean) and quite a few living clients (people as varied as Scott Baio and boxer Roberto Duran) as part of its roster of more than 300 entertainment, music, sports and historical figures and organizations.

Roesler, who declined to comment on whether he or his company is working with the Jackson estate, said dead celebrities are often less risky for companies to use in marketing campaigns.

“The fact that they are deceased, it’s not possible to have any more scandals. And in today’s day and age, companies are becoming less of a risk taker,” Roesler said. “Even for someone like Michael Jackson, people have thrown a lot of dirt around Michael Jackson and we all know what that landscape is … and it’s unlikely that anyone is going to bring up anything that would derail any type of major promotional effort.”

Some people take their fascination with dead celebrities to the outer limits.

These fans make pilgrimages to the scene of their favorite celebrity’s death, their grave, and where they lived. In the case of Elvis Presley, it’s the same location, which has made Graceland one of the most popular destinations in the United States.

Michaels’ findadeath.com is a favored destination of those who refer to themselves as “death hags.”

From visiting grave sites to collecting autopsy photos, death hags are part of a fan culture that can rival a star’s fan club in life.

“Stars’ lives are pretty spectacular and we followed their careers,” said Michaels. “So it makes sense that we follow their deaths.”

Why the attraction? Well, death is the great equalizer, said Alan W. Petrucelli, author of “Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous.”

“It reminds us that despite all of the money, glamour and fame, [celebrities] are going to die just like we all are going to die.”

Petrucelli has a collection of memorabilia which includes photos of some famous people after their deaths: singer Selena, President John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Tate and actor River Phoenix.

“Some people think it’s gruesome,” Petrucelli said. “People also collect memorial cards and programs if the funeral or memorial service is open to the public. The day after a celebrity dies I go on Ebay and you will see lots of different items available.

“And of course, a star’s family can make money off of their likeness,” Petrucelli added. “Death sells.”

Karen Bard, eBay’s pop culture expert, said the site sees an uptick in items related to a celebrity after their death.

Bard said the star doesn’t have to be someone who is popular at the moment. While her site was flooded with Michael Jackson memorabilia after his recent death, Bard said there has also been a great deal of interest generated by the sale of the crypt above the final resting place of Marilyn Monroe, who died almost 50 years ago.

“[A death] clearly incites a buying and selling cycle in an accelerated fashion,” Bard said. “We see unique things pop up that are always capturing the public’s attention and there are people out there willing to buy them.”

Alex Roman counts himself among the death devotees. He proudly wears his “Death Hag” t-shirt, visits Hollywood Forever Cemetery — where several stars are buried — and blogs about old Hollywood on his web site “Alex Living in L.A.”

Roman said he loves learning the history behind the lives and deaths of celebrities, and understands the allure.

“There is a definite fascination and people are drawn to it on many levels,” Roman said. “The fascination with death is that it’s a frightening thing, yet it is something you are curious about. So there’s that juxtaposition that makes it so interesting.”

Michael’s business has attracted some breathing celebrities. He said he’s even given Ryan Seacrest a tour.

As the old saying goes, death is one of only two guarantees in life. And with the number of stars moving on these days, there could be more business opportunities for Michaels and those in his industry.

“God has been very generous to Dearly Departed Tours,” Michaels said, laughing.

By John Soeder, The Plain Dealer
October 26, 2009, 12:30AM

Michael Jackson is ready to moonwalk back into the spotlight this week with the premiere of “This Is It.”

Is this really “it,” though?

Don’t count on it. The film, which captures Jackson rehearsing for a comeback that he never got to make, is shaping up to be only the beginning of a busy afterlife. He may be gone, but with plenty of unreleased music and other projects to keep fans satisfied, potentially for years to come, the King of Pop won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

When Jackson died in June, he left behind “a bundle of stuff,” said his longtime manager, Frank DiLeo.

“There will be other projects,” DiLeo said during a recent phone interview. “We’re planning some things for next year, but we have to sort through a lot of material first.”

In the meantime, the buzz around “This Is It” is building to a fever pitch. Several Northeast Ohio theaters will host midnight screenings Wednesday, when the film opens around the world for a two-week run. (The Cinemark Valley View also will have an invitation-only preview at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.)

A two-CD soundtrack comes out Tuesday. It features original recordings of the Jackson hits that appear in the film, as well as previously unreleased alternate takes of some tunes. The movie’s theme song, a leftover collaboration between Jackson and Paul Anka from the early 1980s, was released two weeks ago as a single, to mixed reviews.

Shot from April to June, the film documents Jackson’s behind-the-scenes preparations for a series of 50 sold-out concerts in London.

Ken Ehrlich, a Cleveland Heights native who produces the Grammy Awards, was at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for what turned out to be Jackson’s final rehearsal.

“Michael was still learning the show,” Ehrlich said.

“He would go back and forth, from singing out with confident dance moves to other times when you could see he was just marking things, to get them down.

“But there was one number — I don’t remember which one — where I turned around to Randy Phillips [CEO of AEG Live, Jackson's concert promoter] and said, ‘This is amazing!’ I hadn’t seen Michael do anything like it for years. I thought about the Justin Timberlakes and the Chris Browns, all the people who Michael influenced. And now I was seeing it again from the guy who created all of it.

“I got goose bumps.”

The next day, Jackson was gone, killed by a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol. He was 50. A police investigation into his death, ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner, is ongoing.

Before that last rehearsal, Ehrlich met with Jackson in his dressing room. They went over plans for a Halloween television special built around “Ghosts,” a short horror movie that Jackson made in the mid-1990s with director Stan Winston.

Jackson “was in really good spirits,” Ehrlich said. “He was extremely up and excited about the concerts and the Halloween show. . . . but it was not to be.”

A backlog of other creative material by Jackson is just waiting to be salvaged, including a potential gold mine of music.

“I wish I could say there are five albums’ worth or 20 albums or 30 albums, but I don’t really know how much,” said DiLeo, who managed Jackson from 1984 until 1989. He was rehired by Jackson in March.

Jackson recorded between 40 and 50 songs for his 1987 album “Bad” alone, DiLeo said. Of those, only 11 songs made the final cut.

In the months leading up to his death, Jackson had been putting together new tunes, too.

“He was working on six or seven new songs,” DiLeo said. “I know he had the music done, and he was working on the lyrics.”

More performance-oriented films, either for the big screen or TV, are a distinct possibility down the line, too.

“From the day I started managing Michael, we always had a video crew filming the actual concerts and behind the scenes,” DiLeo said. “We have footage for the ‘Victory’ Tour [with the Jackson brothers in 1984], the ‘Bad’ Tour [ '87- '88] and anything he did afterwards.”

The sordid details of Jackson’s private life, including his addiction to drugs, won’t diminish his posthumous earnings potential, said Mark Roesler, a lawyer whose Indianapolis-based CMG Worldwide agency lines up licensing agreements and other business deals for the estates of immortals such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

“People like to uncover dirt,” Roesler said.

“It’s just part of the public fascination with celebrities. . . . You’ll always find new allegations, new mysteries and new questions, whether you’re talking about Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe or James Dean.

“With true legends, though, time has a way of only building up their reputations and enhancing their legacies.

“And that’s what going to happen with Michael Jackson.”

In death, could Jackson become even more successful than Presley, who consistently tops Forbes magazine’s annual list of top-earning dead celebrities?

“Without a doubt,” Roesler said. “You’re talking about somebody who touched a lot of people around the world.”

Still, it’s unlikely that Jackson’s old Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., will be turned into a tourist attraction along the lines of Presley’s Graceland mansion in Memphis, as some have speculated.

“I don’t see it happening,” DiLeo said. “It’s off a two-lane dirt road. You’re not going to get the zoning variances you would need to do anything like that.”

If fans want to flock anywhere for now, it should be to the nearest multiplex to catch “This Is It,” DiLeo said.

“When you see the movie and you see the potential of what Michael was putting together, if you don’t come out of there thinking that this could’ve been the greatest show on Earth, then you don’t have any feelings,” he said.

“If you’re a fan, you’re going to love it. And if you were on the fence, you’re going to come away thinking Michael was a lot smarter than you thought. . . . The guy was a genius.

“It’s a very compelling film. Obviously, it’s very sad for me to watch. I try not to let my mind go there, but it does.”

Check out the “This Is It” trailer:

I had an interview on NPR radio yesterday at 4:50 p.m. EST. Click here to listen to the interview.

To listen to a NPR station near you, click here.