Robin Williams’ ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Salary Wasn’t Much; Not Among His 10 Highest-Paying Roles
One of Robin Williams' biggest movies did not net him as much as fans might think.
"Mrs. Doubtfire," which grossed $441 million at the box office, was the third best-performing film of Williams' career after "Night at the Museum" ($579 million) and "Aladdin" ($504 million).
The 1993 comedy stars William as Daniel Hillard, a struggling actor going through a divorce from his wife, Miranda (Sally Field). After their split, she hires a babysitter for their kids Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, who, unbeknownst to her, is actually her ex-husband.
Despite its success, "Mrs. Doubtfire" is not among Williams' 10 highest-paying roles, according to Celebrity Net Worth (CNW).
His highest salaries came from 1999's "Bicentennial Man" ($20 million), 1995's "Jumanji" ($15 million) and 1996's "Jack" ($15 million).
Williams' roles as the quirky Professor Philip Brainard in the 1997 film "Flubber" and Hunter "Patch" Adams in 1998's "Patch Adams" netted him a salary of $10 million each.
The actor earned $2 million starring in 2002's "Death to Smoochy" and another $5 million playing a real-life replica of President Theodore Roosevelt in 2006's "Night at the Museum."
Rounding off Williams' top 10 biggest movie paychecks are 2002's "Insomnia" ($2 million), 2006's "Man of the Year" ($1 million) and 2006's "RV" ($1 million).
The absence of "Mrs. Doubtfire" from the list suggests Williams could have earned less than $1 million for the film.
Williams was estimated by CNW to be worth $50 million at the time of his death in 2014 at age 63.
The outlet suggested that his estate could have been larger had Williams not paid a reported $30 million for his 2008 divorce from his second wife, Marsha Garces, and his 1988 divorce from his first wife, Valerie Velardi.
Reports in 2014 claimed that Williams was experiencing "serious money troubles" before his death.
In a 2013 interview with Parade magazine, Williams said he was selling his 640-acre Napa Valley property because he "just can't afford it anymore."
"The idea of having a steady job is appealing. I have two [other] choices: go on the road doing stand-up, or do small, independent movies working almost for scale [minimum union pay]," the actor said.
"The movies are good, but a lot of times they don't even have distribution. There are bills to pay. My life has downsized, in a good way," he added.
Before his death, Williams had reportedly worked on five new films, including a sequel to "Mrs. Doubtfire."
During a recent interview with Business Insider for the 30th anniversary of "Mrs. Doubtfire," director Chris Columbus revealed that talks for the sequel began in 2014, but without Williams, the project was shelved.
"We had a script that was written, and it was the last time I saw Robin," Columbus stated. "I went to his house and we sat down and talked about it and the script was really strong. Robin's only comment was, 'Boss, do I have to be in the suit as much this time?' It was physically demanding. For Robin, I think it was like running a marathon every day he was in the Doubtfire costume. He was older, obviously."
He added, "So we talked about it, and I think he was hoping in the rewrite we would cut back on the Doubtfire character. But then Robin passed away, so there will never be a sequel to 'Mrs. Doubtfire.'"
Columbus also reminisced about Williams' incredible improvisation, noting that the actor sometimes improvised until the camera ran out of film.
The director said he is considering turning the 972 boxes of footage from "Mrs. Doubtfire" into a documentary about Williams and his creative process.
