Gary Morton Net Worth: What He Was Actually Worth
Gary Morton never had his own fortune audited by a magazine or listed in a probate filing under his own name. The clearest number tied to his finances comes from Lucille Ball’s estate: when she died in 1989, her estate was valued at about $40 million, and it was split three ways between her two children and Morton. That put his inheritance at roughly $13 million, on top of whatever he had already built during nearly three decades as a comedian, a producer, and a studio executive.
There is no single audited total for Morton’s lifetime net worth, because he never ran a public company and his estate was never broken out separately in the press. But his income sources, his role at his wife’s production company, and the size of the estate he eventually inherited are all well documented, and together they give a realistic picture of where his money came from.
Who was Gary Morton?
Gary Morton was born Morton Gary Goldaper on December 19, 1924, in the Bronx, New York, to Morris and Rose Goldaper. He grew up in a working-class Jewish family and started performing comedy in his twenties, eventually shortening his name for the stage.
His first marriage, to actress Susan Morrow in 1953, ended in separation within a year and was annulled in 1957. He met Lucille Ball on a blind date at New York’s Copacabana nightclub in 1960, not long before she opened on Broadway in the musical Wildcat. The two married on November 19, 1961, at Marble Collegiate Church in New York, with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale officiating.
He stayed married to Ball for twenty-eight years, until her death in 1989, then remarried in 1996 to golfer Susie McAllister. He died on March 30, 1999, in Palm Springs, California, at age 74. A fuller record of his life and career, including his full name and family background, is documented on his Wikipedia page.
How did Gary Morton make his money before Hollywood?
Before he ever set foot on a Hollywood lot, Morton earned a living as a nightclub comedian. He worked the Borscht Belt, the string of Jewish resort hotels in New York’s Catskill Mountains that produced a generation of American comics, and he also played rooms in Miami, Chicago, and Las Vegas.
He was not a headline name on the level of Milton Berle, but he built a steady career as an opening act for bigger stars, including Tony Bennett. That kind of work paid modestly compared to a top-billed comedian’s fees, yet it was consistent, and it gave him more than a decade of income and industry contacts before he ever met Lucille Ball at New York’s Copacabana nightclub in 1960.
What was his role at Desilu and Lucille Ball Productions?
Once Morton married Ball in 1961, his income source shifted from the stage to the executive suite. He first appeared on her show as a supporting player, taking a small comedic role on The Lucy Show in 1962. When Desi Arnaz stepped down as head of Desilu Productions and Ball took over the studio, Morton moved into a production consultant role there.
In 1967, Desilu was sold to Gulf and Western, the parent company of Paramount, and Ball and Morton formed a new company, Lucille Ball Productions, with Morton serving as vice president. From that post he was the executive producer on Here’s Lucy from 1968 to 1974 and on Ball’s final series, Life With Lucy, in 1986. He also produced several of her television specials, two television movies, and served as executive producer on the 1983 feature film All the Right Moves.
None of these production credits came with a publicly disclosed salary, but a vice president and long-running executive producer on a network sitcom in that era would typically have drawn a healthy annual income on top of a share of the show’s profits. Here’s Lucy ran for six seasons and more than 140 episodes, which is exactly the kind of volume that generates real syndication revenue once a show moves into reruns. As an executive producer and part owner of the production company, Morton would have shared in that back-end income long after the show finished its network run.
Morton’s money came from two distinct chapters: modest but steady nightclub earnings in the 1950s, then two decades of executive and producer income once he joined his wife’s studio.
That combined income, stretched over roughly two decades, forms the bulk of what Morton earned independent of his marriage. It also explains how a comedian who never headlined on his own ended up financially comfortable well before his wife’s estate entered the picture. His full run of acting and producing credits, from his early on-camera appearances to his production work, is listed on his IMDb page.
How much did Gary Morton inherit from Lucille Ball?
When Lucille Ball died on April 26, 1989, her estate was valued at around $40 million. Under her estate plan, that amount was split three ways: one-third to her daughter Lucie Arnaz, one-third to her son Desi Arnaz Jr., and one-third to Morton, her husband of twenty-eight years.
A one-third share of a $40 million estate works out to roughly $13 million, before taxes and estate costs. Along with the cash, Morton also inherited a large collection of personal property, including a Rolls-Royce, photographs, love letters, and lifetime achievement awards that Ball had accumulated over her career. Some of those items had originally been designated for Lucie Arnaz, but because they were never formally claimed from the estate, they passed to Morton instead.
What happened to Gary Morton’s money after he died?
Morton lived another decade after Ball’s death. He remarried in 1996, to professional golfer Susie McAllister, and the marriage lasted until his death in 1999.
When he died, his estate, including the cash and property he had inherited from Ball, passed to McAllister. In 2010 she consigned a large batch of Ball’s personal items, among them love letters and photographs, to Heritage Auction Galleries in Beverly Hills. Lucie Arnaz moved to stop the sale, arguing the items had originally been meant for her. The dispute was eventually settled, with Arnaz recovering her mother’s physical achievement awards while the remaining items, including the letters, were sold to private collectors for more than $230,000.
That auction is the last clear financial event tied to Morton’s estate on public record. Beyond it, no further breakdown of what became of his cash inheritance has been reported.
Frequently asked questions
Was Gary Morton wealthy before he married Lucille Ball?
He earned a steady living as a nightclub comedian working the Catskills, Miami, Chicago, and Las Vegas, opening for bigger acts like Tony Bennett. It was a working comedian’s income, not a fortune, before his marriage in 1961 changed his career path.
How much did Gary Morton inherit from Lucille Ball?
Ball’s estate was valued at about $40 million when she died in 1989 and was split three ways among Morton and her two children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. That gave Morton a share worth roughly $13 million.
What jobs did Gary Morton have at Lucille Ball’s studio?
He served as vice president of Lucille Ball Productions and was executive producer on Here’s Lucy, Life With Lucy, several TV specials, and the film All the Right Moves.
What happened to Gary Morton’s inheritance after he died?
His estate, including the cash and personal items he had inherited from Ball, passed to his third wife, Susie McAllister, whom he married in 1996. She later auctioned some of Ball’s personal belongings in 2010.
How did Gary Morton die?
He died on March 30, 1999, in Palm Springs, California, at age 74.
Conclusion
Gary Morton’s own finances were never independently audited or made public in the way a modern celebrity’s might be, so there is no single verified net worth figure attached to his name. What is documented is a career that ran from Catskills nightclubs to the executive suite at his wife’s production company, plus a roughly $13 million share of Lucille Ball’s $40 million estate when she died in 1989. Together, that career income and inheritance made him a wealthy man by the standards of his time, even without a Forbes-style number to prove it.
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