Top-earning actor
Gary Cooper
$370,214
U.S. Treasury salary listReported
About $8.6 million in 2025 dollars
Cooper overtook Mae West as the highest-salaried personality in film.
The Studio Era · 1930s
1936
Top-earning actress
Claudette Colbert
$350,833
U.S. Treasury salary listReported
About $8.1 million in 2025 dollars
A new Paramount contract made her Hollywood's highest-paid actress.
The pictures that paid
Box office champions of 1936
By U.S. theatrical rentals, the studios' share of ticket sales
- 1
The Great Ziegfeld
$3.1 million
- 2
San Francisco
$2.9 million
- 3
The Plainsman
$2.3 million
★ Starring Gary Cooper