Gary Merrill Net Worth
Gary Merrill had an estimated net worth of $1.5 Million a the time of his death. He had amased a fortune of wealth through his acting career.
Who is Gary Merrill?
Gary Fred Merrill was an American film and television actor. More than 50 feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series and dozens of television guest appearances are among his many acting and television credits. He was also well known for marring Bette Davis, with whom he co-starred in the film All About Eve.
Gary Merrill Early Life
Merrill was born on August 2, 1915 in Hartford, Connecticut. He went to Trinity College in Hartford and Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. While still serving in the US Army Air Forces, he made his acting debut in the play Winged Victory in 1944.
Gary Merrill Death
On March 5, 1990 Merrill died of lung cancer in Falmouth, Maine at the age of 74 years. Just five months after his second ex-wife, Bette Davis death. He is buried In the Pine Grove Cemetery.
Gary Merrill Spouse
On July 28, 1950, Merrill’s first marriage to Barbara Leeds ended in divorce in Mexico. He married All About Eve co-star Bette Davis on the same day.
Gary Merrill Children
Merrill adopted Barbara Merril a daughter from Davis previous relationship. They adopted two more children Margot Merrill and Michael Merrill.
Later on Merrill ended contact with Barbara Hyman and refused to speak to her again after her book “My Mother’s Keeper” scandal.
Gary Merrill Career
Merrill’s rich, deep voice earned him a recurring role as Batman in the Superman radio series before he entered the film industry. His acting career got off to a promising start with parts in movies like All About Eve (1950) and Twelve O’Clock High (1949), but he rarely advanced past supporting roles in his many Westerns, war movies, and medical dramas. In the 1954 film Witness to Murder, he portrayed a detective and Barbara Stanwyck’s character’s love interest. He had a long career in television. From 1954 to 1956, he portrayed Jason Tyler on the crime drama Justice.
After 1980, Merrill essentially stopped working in the entertainment industry, with the exception of the occasional narrator role. He published his autobiography Bette, Rita and the Rest of My Life (1989) not long before he passed away.
He was frequently involved in politics and worked to get Edmund Muskie elected as governor of Maine in 1958. He also participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, which aimed to increase Black voter turnout. He unsuccessfully ran as an anti-war, pro-environment candidate for the Maine legislature in response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam War policy.