Elvis still the king of dead celebs

By Forbes.com

"Night of the Living Dead" may be a Halloween cult classic, but every October, Forbes.com turns it around and takes a look at how the dead make a living.

While things might be topsy-turvy in the financial markets above ground, there's still a bull market in the boneyard. The 13 famous people on our list of top-earning dead celebrities drew a combined $194 million over the past 12 months.

Topping the list for the second year running is the king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley. Without so much as lifting a finger, the Memphis Flash earned a whopping $52 million in the past year. That's more than some of the music industry's biggest living acts command. For example, Justin Timberlake pulled in $44 million last year, and Madonna earned $40 million.

The 30th anniversary of Presley's death helped boost attendance and merchandise sales last year at Graceland, his home in Memphis, Tenn. New ventures such as an Elvis Sirius Satellite Radio show add to a long list of publishing and licensing deals.

Some new faces

Debuting on the list, in third place, is Australian actor Heath Ledger, most famous for his role as the Joker in "The Dark Knight," the latest installment in the Batman movie franchise. At the time of his overdose in January, the 28-year-old star seemed poised on the cusp of an extremely lucrative film career.

Ledger had reportedly secured a deal for his role in "Knight" that included merchandising (think Joker action figures) and a percentage of film revenue. With the film grossing $991 million in box-office revenue worldwide, we estimate his earnings at $20 million.

• Rich dead celebrities: See the full list on Forbes.com

Also debuting on our list is Paul Newman, who died in September at age 83. His Newman's Own line of salad dressings, organic popcorn and spaghetti sauces had sales of more $120 million last year. When he was alive, Newman donated all of his profits from the venture to charity, and his estate plans to continue doing so. With the residuals from a lifetime of high-profile movie roles, and we calculate Newman earned $5 million last year.

Some ghoulish math

Adding up paychecks of dead celebrities can be a wicked task -- after all, the departed don't exactly sit for interviews. To get to the bottom line, we talked to experts and sources inside their estates and dug up gross earnings -- before taxes, management fees and other costs -- between October 2007 and October 2008.

Some celebrities, such as Charles Schulz and Albert Einstein, are staples on our list. They owe their spots to steady revenue streams from their artistic creations (planning to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" again this Halloween?) and licensing of their names and images (the Baby Einstein brand is expanding to the young-adult market this year). But finding other big earners meant scouring the cemetery for posthumous one-hit wonders.

Take Marvin Gaye, who lands in 13th place on the list this year, with earnings of $3.5 million. Gaye had a great year. Coinciding with Motown Records' 50th birthday, two major studios have announced upcoming Marvin Gaye biopics, and some of his classic albums have been remastered and re-released.

He is also a hit among hip-hop artists who frequently sample his work, paying licensing fees to do so. But as with the postmortem comeback of troubadour Johnny Cash, who appeared on our list in 2006 with earnings of $8 million but fell off in 2007, Gaye's surge in popularity might be temporary. It seems fame can be just as fleeting in the afterlife.

For real staying power beyond the pale, the best bet is a face like Marilyn Monroe's or an attitude like James Dean's, as marketers are always eager to exploit that kind of iconic fame. This fall, an ad campaign from Mercedes-Benz features the two 1950s icons, who pulled in $6.5 million and $5 million, respectively. Both were on our first list of top-earning dead celebrities, in 2001. This is Monroe's eighth year in a row.

This article was reported and written by Peter Hoy for Forbes.com, with additional research by Jake Paine.