Top-earning actor
Bing Crosby
≈ $325,000
Repeats his 1946 salaryEstimate
About $4.4 million in 2025 dollars
The No. 1 box-office star of 1948. No detailed salary list was reported; the figure repeats his 1946 figure.
War and the Big Lists · 1940s
1948
Top-earning actress
Rita Hayworth
≈ $250,000
$250,000 a year + half the profitsEstimate
About $3.3 million in 2025 dollars
Her 1947 Columbia contract paid $250,000 plus half of her films' profits.
The pictures that paid
Box office champions of 1948
By U.S. theatrical rentals, the studios' share of ticket sales
- 1
The Red Shoes
$5 million
- 2
Red River
$4.5 million
- 3
The Paleface
$4.5 million
Neither top earner was in one of the year's three biggest films.