What is Audrey Meadows Net Worth and Salary?
Audrey Meadows was an American actress who had a net worth of $5 million at the time of her death in 1996. That’s the same as around $10 million in today’s dollars.Audrey Meadows was born in New York City, New York in February 1922 and passed away in February 1996.
Audrey Meadows was best known for playing housewife Alice Kramden on the television sitcom “The Honeymooners.” Later in her career, she was on the sitcoms “Too Close for Comfort” and “Uncle Buck.” Meadows also appeared in some films, including the comedies “That Touch of Mink,” “Take Her, She’s Mine,” and “Rosie!”
As we detail in the next section, Audrey earned a small fortune thanks to a shrewd request to earn residuals on “The Honeymooners.” She later severed on the boards of several companies, including First national Bank of Denver, and was married to the CEO of Continental Airlines CEO Robert Six.
Honeymooners Residuals
Audrey Meadows was the only cast member who earned residuals off the original 39 episodes of “The Honeymooners.” Audrey’s brother Edward, a lawyer negotiating as her manager, wisely inserted a clause into her original contract which entitled her to be paid whenever the show was re-broadcast. Over the decades, as the show was re-broadcast and syndicated and sold on VHS… Audrey reportedly earned millions of dollars. In a Washington Post interview in 1988, eight years before her death, when the interviewer called her very wealthy, Audrey replied:
“That’s nonsense, that ‘very wealthy.’ What a pain in the behind that is! They make it sound like you’re so rich it’s stupid. A lot of people thought Bob owned Continental Airlines. He was merely president and CEO.“
Early Life and Education
Audrey Meadows was born as Audrey Cotter on February 8, 1922 in New York City. She was the youngest of four children of Episcopal missionaries Ida and Rev. Francis, who had their first three children in China where they did their missionary work. Her sister was actress Jayne Meadows, and she also had two brothers. Audrey went to high school at the Barrington School for Girls in Massachusetts.
Television Career
After appearing in the Broadway musical “Top Banana,” Meadows landed her first major television role when she joined the comedy duo Bob and Ray on their 15-minute show “Bob & Ray.” She left the program after one season to join “The Jackie Gleason Show” in 1952. On that show, Meadows appeared in the popular “Honeymooners” sketches, replacing blacklisted actress Joyce Randolph in the role of Alice Kramden, the wife of Gleason’s Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden. Meadows continued playing Alice when “The Honeymooners” was turned into a half-hour sitcom that aired from 1955 to 1956. She would later reprise the role in a series of “Honeymooners” specials in the 1970s. For her portrayal of Alice, Meadows earned multiple Emmy Award nominations, winning one for “The Jackie Gleason Show.”
Meadows continued to appear on television long after the end of “The Honeymooners.” In the 1960s, she appeared often on “The Red Skelton Hour,” and also guest-starred on such shows as “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Wagon Train,” and “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.” The following decade, Meadows was in episodes of “Love, American Style,” “The Love Boat,” and “Starsky & Hutch.” She had her next substantial role from 1982 to 1986, playing the mother-in-law of Ted Knight’s character on the sitcom “Too Close for Comfort.” Later, from 1990 to 1991, Meadows had a main role on the short-lived sitcom “Uncle Buck.” Over the ensuing years, she appeared in episodes of “Davis Rules,” “Sisters,” “Burke’s Law,” and “Empty Nest.” In 1995, Meadows had her final role, appearing in two episodes of the sitcom “Dave’s World.”
Film Career
Meadows had her first credited role on the big screen in the 1962 romantic comedy “That Touch of Mink,” starring Cary Grant and Doris Day. The year after that, she appeared alongside James Stewart and Sandra Dee in the comedy “Take Her, She’s Mine,” based on the Broadway play. Meadows reunited with Dee later in the decade in the comedy “Rosie!,” also based on a play.
Banking and Marketing Career
Beyond acting, Meadows had a notable career in banking and marketing. For 11 years, she served as director of the First National Bank of Denver, making her the first woman to hold that position. Meadows was also an advisory director of Continental Airlines from 1961 to 1981. In that role, she contributed to marketing programs and helped design uniforms and aircraft interiors.
Personal Life and Death
In 1956, Meadows married Randolph Rouse, a wealthy businessman who worked in real estate. They divorced two years later. Meadows wed her second husband, Continental Airlines CEO Robert Six, in 1961. The pair remained together until Six’s passing in 1986.
A chronic smoker, Meadows was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1995. Refusing all but palliative treatment, she died on February 3, 1996 after going into a coma at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Meadows is buried alongside her second husband in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.
Legacy
Meadows’s legacy lives on through her work on screen as well as through her memoir, “Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner,” which was published in 1994. In 2002, she was portrayed by Kristen Dalton in the television biopic “Gleason,” with Brad Garrett playing her “Honeymooners” costar.