War and the Big Lists · 1940s
Top-earning actor
$325,000
U.S. Treasury salary listReported
About $5.4 million in 2025 dollars
One of only two film people in the nation's top ten salaries. Humphrey Bogart's biographers put him above $460,000 that year, but he isn't among the top earners in the Treasury list.
Top-earning actress
$299,300
U.S. Treasury salary listReported
About $4.9 million in 2025 dollars
The highest-salaried woman in America. Her husband Harry James earned $100,036 from movies alone.
By U.S. theatrical rentals, the studios' share of ticket sales
$10 million
$7.7 million
$7.6 million
Neither top earner was in one of the year's three biggest films.
