Bette Midler's Net Worth is Something to Sing About
The “Divine Miss M” has so much talent that her middle finger could star in a Broadway show called Screw You and it would be a hit. The “M” stands for Midler as in Bette Midler. It could just as easily stand for “millions” because Better Midler’s net worth is $280 million.
To understand the meteoric rise of Miss M, we need to go back in time and see how a weird combination of luck and sheer determination, plus the gift of gab and the ability to make anyone laugh took Bette from barfing to superstardom.
The Early Years
The Source: Daily Express
Bette Davis Midler was a “war” baby. She is as part of the huge generation of baby boomers born after World War II ended. Her birth date is December 1, 1945, which is just two months after WWII officially ended on September 2, 1945. Her mom named her after the actress Bette Davis and gave her first name the unique pronunciation that sounds like “bet,” instead of the way Ms. Davis pronounced her name like “Betty.” This naming would turn out to be prophetic. Midler was destined to be a star.
At the time Bette was born, her parents lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bette’s father worked as a painter on the military base. Her mom was a seamstress and homemaker. The Midler family is Jewish, originally from New Jersey, yet in Honolulu, they lived as the only Jewish family in an Asian neighborhood. This mash-up of lifestyles would be the foundation of Bette’s unique worldview of embracing the wonderful diversity of mixed cultures that is the American “melting pot.”
Bette’s high school friends at Radford High in Honolulu voted her the “most talkative’ and the “most dramatic” of her class.
Vomiting on Cue
Midler’s first taste of Hollywood was working as an extra when the film production of the motion picture Hawaii came to the Oahu island. She played an uncredited role as a character named, Miss David Buff, who is seasick in the film. She got the part when the producer asked if she could pretend to be seasick. She stuck two fingers in her throat and threw up on his shoes.
Going to the Big Apple
After graduating high school, she attempted to earn a drama degree at the University of Hawaii but only lasted three semesters before she could not wait any longer for her stardom to start shining.
At the age of 20, she moved to New York in 1965. At this time, Bette Midler’s net worth was the price of the air ticket. She used the money that she earned for her appearance in the film Hawaii.
In New York, she studied acting with Uta Hagen at HB Studio. Hagen’s style developed from her Broadway appearances in many plays including acting as the lead in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? Hagen taught her acting style to Midler, which is based on the philosophy of being true to the character with honest expressions.
Off-Off-Broadway Leads To Broadway
Midler’s first professional acting roles were in plays so far off-Broadway that they might as well have been in Hoboken, New Jersey. She worked with Tom Eyen, performing in two plays running at the same time in 1965. She was in a children’s play called Cinderella Revisited during the daytime and a regular play for adults Miss Nefertiti Regrets at night, all the while auditioning for other roles on Broadway and performing on her off nights in small clubs.
Midler's perseverance paid off. In 1966, she got the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof that was a smash hit on Broadway. Tzeitel is the older daughter in the Fiddler story that her parents try to force to marry the character named Lazar Wolf and she refuses to marry the older man. Instead, in the musical, she marries her true love Motel. Tzeitel is a pivotal character in the musical based on the theme of the conflict between traditional and evolving modern lifestyles.
After her successful run on Broadway in Fiddler from 1966 to 1969 Midler starred in Salvation.
Getting Gay Men To Take a Time Out From Having Sex
Midler’s next career move was so unusual that only she is crazy enough to try it. In the summer of 1970, she took her pianist, Barry Manilow, who worked with her to the gay club scene. Manilow joined Midler to perform at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in New York City.
In this pre-AIDS decade, hedonism was expressing itself in the most over-the-top ways. These were the beginnings of cocaine-influenced disco days and the decade when Studio 54 (1977 to 1980) would later become “the place” to be seen.
The Continental Baths offered a sex-filled orgy that was reminiscent of Ancient Rome. With all the rabbit-like activity, it was amazing that Bette Midler’s performances got any attention at all. However, gay men fell in love with Bette Midler. She was like a heterosexual drag queen. Her show was charming, hilarious, and her singing powerful. You can watch the archive black and white footage of the Bette Midler - Continental Baths Concert (1971) with the young Barry Manilow playing the piano for her in her backup band.
For the millennials, generation X, Y, and Z, I have to confess I feel sorry that you did not get a decade to party your asses off out of control. When the 1970s came, America has been through the chaotic decade of the 1960s with the Vietnam War, protesting it, and the fight for civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights. The assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy were horrible. However, we had Woodstock and the Summer of Love in San Francisco to fight all the negative energy.
By the time the 1970s arrived, everyone was sick of all the turmoil. We got rid of the criminally corrupt President Nixon, the Vietnam War ceased, and we just wanted to party. The gay men led the way. Disco’s popularity was exploding. Gay men in New York fell in love with Bette Midler and gay men continue to be her most loyal fans that were joined by almost everyone else. In the 1990s, Midler released a tribute album to this time called Bathhouse Betty, never forgetting her roots. Midler was then, and continues now, to be at the forefront of straight support for gay rights as part of the gay liberation movement.
Platinum Records
In 1972, Barry Manilow produced Bette Midler’s first album called, The Divine Miss M. It reached the Top Ten on Billboard and sold more than a million copies earning platinum status. The album’s songs Friends, Do You Wanna Dance?, and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy became hits.
The public fell in love with Bette Midler because she is unique. She did not follow trends; she created them. Bugle Boy was her rendition of a song made popular in the 1940s by the Andrew Sisters. Midler considers them her inspiration. The song tapped into reminiscence for the experiences that came along with World War II. It was popular with both the older generation and the younger generation, which is a feat only Midler could pull off.
Midler’s second album was Bette Midler. It also reached platinum status.
The Divine Miss M Makes Movies
Her first movie was The Rose, where Midler played a character based on the life of rock star Janis Joplin. She received the nomination for an Academy Award for her performance. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress. The soundtrack from the film went double platinum and sold over two million copies. The song, The Rose, held the number one slot on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart for five weeks and was number three on Billboard’s Top 100.
Getting Funny in the 1980s
She did the forgettable flop Jinxed released in 1982. In 1985, she signed a multi-picture deal with Disney Studios to make movies for the newly-formed Touchstone Pictures division. This is when she got to show her acting chops and made a string of comedic films that are some of her best work. She made Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1985), Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), and Big Business (1988).
When everyone was expecting another comedy film, she co-starred in the dramatic film Beaches with Barbara Hershey. The film’s theme song Wind Beneath My Wings was number one on Billboard’s Top 100. The movie’s soundtrack album sold over four million copies. Midler won her third Grammy for the song.
A Sex Scene with Woody Allen
In 1991, she starred with Woody Allen in Scenes from the Mall. The film was mediocre; however, the clumsy sex scene between Midler and Allen is hilarious and worth watching for a laugh.
Released that same year was For the Boys, which continued her love of the stories themed about the 1940s. In 1993, she was in Hocus Pocus. In 1995, she was in Get Shorty. Then, in 1996, she starred with Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton is the hilarious revenge-comedy film called The First Wives Club.
Going Strong in the New Millennium
The 2000s, we saw Midler in Isn’t She Great and Drowning Mona. She toured with her live show called Kiss My Brass to sell-out audiences. In 2007, she starred in Then She Found Me directed by Helen Hunt.
Midler took her show to Las Vegas where she performed in Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars for two years from 2008 to 2010. Along with her live performances, she continues to release albums and do television projects.
In 2012, she starred in Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal. In 2017, she went back to Broadway and won a Tony Award for her performance of the Dolly Levi character in Hello Dolly! In 2020, she starred in The Glorias, about the life of Gloria Steinem. Midler’s career continues non-stop as she roars into her 70s. In 2020, she is 74 years old.
The Secret To a Long Successful Career
Midler says her long successful career comes from being married to the same man, Martin von Haselberg, since 1984. She told the Daily Mail that she used to bitterly fight with him, which made her want to get out of the house and perform. She jokes on stage that her husband complained that she had no tits and a tight box. She told him, “Get off my back!”
The Source: Smooth Radio
The couple stayed together because of their love for their only child, their daughter Sophie von Haselberg who just got married on June 20, 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Uniqueness runs in the family.
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What Does Bette Midler’s Net Worth Buy?
Bette Midler’s net worth includes a $50 million penthouse apartment in New York City that the New York Times says she put up for sale in September 2019. It is a triplex assembled by buying three adjacent apartments. It has stunning views of Central Park and a rooftop garden. I don’t know where she keeps the rest of her money, except maybe stuffed in her ample brassiere.
If you have been inspired by this unique wealth building story, and are now eager to make your own fortune we advise you to start by saving. Putting some money aside each month is an excellent financial habit, it does take some patience, but it pays off in the end.
Conclusion
A performer can rarely be an excellent singer, have hit songs, be a hilarious comedian, an actress, win awards, go on tour, perform in Las Vegas, be in movies, star in Broadway theater shows, and on television. However, Midler’s real claim to fame is that during the sexual revolution and the heyday of the hedonistic 1970s she got gay men to stop screwing in the bathhouse long enough to listen to her show. I don’t think any superstar could be born in a stranger, more profound way. There is only one Divine Miss M. After God made her, she broke the mold.
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