How he supported himself a working actor in the 80's?
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Peter Gallagher
saint-21 — 18 years ago(October 07, 2007 02:51 PM)
ok, he states hes been married since 83. and has 2 kids. but he didnt start to make any real money until 89's sex lies and videotape. then after that he got alot of work. got some bigger parts in the 90's and 2000's. but how much money could this guy have made until sex, lies. i dont know how much bit parts can get you in hollywood. You have to at least make a few grand to pay the rent. and hold a marriage and support 2 kids.. you know
-
babychicken — 18 years ago(December 24, 2007 08:29 AM)
He did Broadway. The Real Thing, Grease, The Corn is Green, Hair, A Doll's House, and Long Days Journey Into Night. He also did many films in the 80s, taking a big break from film between Summer Lovers and sex, lies and videotape. http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=41670 is a list of all his Broadway credits.
He was a working actor. By your post, only rich people should get married. This is often not the case. His wife, BTW, is a producer, making this a two income family. But you probably didn't consider that. -
kodak5972 — 16 years ago(September 05, 2009 05:02 PM)
Peter made 6 feature films, 8 TV fillms, a TV series (6 eps), and an episode of ABC After School special in the 1980's. This in addition to the 6 stage plays that he did.
He was well paid for the the 1980's. I am good friends with an older actress who is now 82. In the 1980's, she was making around $200,000 a year doing stage plays, TV guest shots, and an occasional feature film. The actress was a star. She was making at least $7,500.00 a week for a play, $10,000-$15,000 for a guest shot, and $20,000 a week for film work.
Today, most newcomer TV stars make $150,000 after about 7 episodes of a series. So the times have changed. The above actress I referenced today would be making at least $600,000 for the same amount of work today.
With all this being said, if Peter made about $60,000 a year during most of the 1980's, it would equate to $200,000.00 a year today. Which is very liveable in NYC.
Plus, Sex, Lies, and Videotape did not pay Peter a hugh amount of money. It was the push that Peter needed to get him featured roles in major films. The budget for the film was $1,200,000.00. The average budget of a major film in 1989 was $18,000,000 so Sex Lies and Videotape was very low budget by this standard.
Plus, Peter may have done commericals for extra money during this time.