Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
June 21, (THAINDIAN NEWS) On Sunday, the CBS Network showed in their episode of 60 Minutes how some celebrities have made more money after their death.

The show focused on the stars like Michael Jackson, Marylin Monroe and Elvis Presley who have made a huge amount of money even after their death. Steve Kroft spoke to a number of people who protect the stars’ legacies to show that the legendary performers have sometimes brought in greater profits posthumously than most of their living times.

The death of Michael Jackson last year happened when the King of Pop was in more than half a billion dollars in debt. At present however his lawyers revealed that there have been signing merchandising deals worth more than $100 million.

Record sales of the ‘Black or White’ star have also gone up greatly after his death, bringing in around $100 million too. The biggest name in the world of celebrity representatives is Mark Roesler who said that his clientele boasted of more than 250 celebrities and most of them were deceased.

On the show he pointed to 62 celebrities in the ‘Walk Of Fame’ which included the likes of Ginger Rogers and Gloria Swanson. With names such as Marilyn Monroe and Billy Holiday as clients, Mark Roesler said that his business honors celebrities whose time is over on earth but the pulse remains strong to produce revenue.

He added however that his real clients are the heirs, heiresses and estates of the celebrities who approve or reject the deals.

Presenter Steve Kroft came under heavy criticism from the audience who watched the show, for saying that the celebrities were ‘working stiffs’. The show was originally aired in September last year but had a re-run on Sunday.