Many fans are curious about Rod Steiger's financial success in April 2026. Our team analyzed the latest data to provide a clear picture of their income.
What was Rod Steiger's Net Worth?
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Film Career in the 1950s and 60s
Rod Steiger was born on April 14, 1925 in Westhampton, New York as the only child of Lorraine and Frederick. However, he never knew his father, a vaudevillian who had been part of a touring song-and-dance team with his mother. Steiger's mother, meanwhile, became an alcoholic after giving up acting due to a leg impairment. With his mother, he moved through several towns before settling in Newark, New Jersey. In addition to his mother's alcoholism, Steiger was deeply affected as a child by a sexual assault he endured from a pedophile. He found his passion for the arts while attending West Side High School, where he acted in a number of school plays. When he was 16, Steiger ran away from home and joined the US Navy during World War II. He saw action in the South Pacific as a torpedoman on destroyers. After the war, Steiger secured rent and four years of schooling through the GI Bill. He attended the Civil Service Little Theater group and did a course at the New School for Social Research.
Having turned down the titular role in the 1970 biographical war film "Patton," Steiger starred in a different 1970 biographical war film, "Waterloo." He portrayed Napoleon Bonaparte in the Italian-Soviet co-production. Steiger subsequently starred in "Happy Birthday, Wanda June" andSergio Leone's"Duck, You Sucker!" Following those, he starred in "Lolly-MadonnaXXX," "The Heroes," and "Lucky Luciano." In 1975, Steiger portrayed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in "Last Days of Mussolini," and also starred in Claude Chabrol's psychological thriller "Innocents with Dirty Hands" and Don Sharp's thriller "Hennessy." The next year, he portrayed actorW. C. Fieldsin the biopic "W. C. Fields and Me." Steiger's other credits in the 1970s included the crime drama "F.I.S.T.," the action crime film "Love and Bullets," the war film "Breakthrough," and the supernatural horror film "The Amityville Horror."
Rod Steiger was an actor of the screen and stage, known for his performances in such Hollywood films as "On the Waterfront," "The Pawnbroker," "Doctor Zhivago," and "In the Heat of the Night," the lattermost of which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Among his many other notable credits are "Waterloo," "Duck, You Sucker!," "Last Days of Mussolini," "The Amityville Horror," and "The Chosen." On stage, Steiger acted in such productions as "Enemy of the People," "Night Music," and "Seagulls Over Sorrento."
Steiger made his big-screen debut with a small part in Fred Zinnemann's 1951 romantic drama "Teresa." His breakthrough came three years later in Elia Kazan's crime drama "On the Waterfront," in which he played Charley, the brother ofMarlon Brando'smain character Terry. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and earned Steiger his first nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. He next played Jud Fry in Fred Zinnemann's 1955 film version of the musical "Oklahoma!" The same year, Steiger appeared in Robert Aldrich's film noir "The Big Knife" and Otto Preminger's biographical drama "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell." In 1956, he appeared in the Western "Jubal" and the film noir "The Harder They Fall." Steiger went on to appear in three films in 1957: the film noir "The Unholy Wife," the Western "Run of the Arrow," and the British thriller "Across the Bridge." Closing out the decade, he starred in the thriller "Cry Terror!" and the biographical crime drama "Al Capone," in which he portrayed the titular mob boss.
In 1960, Steiger starred as a thief in Henry Hathaway's heist film "Seven Thieves." The year after that, he played a prison psychiatrist in "The Mark." Steiger's subsequent credits included the crime dramas "World in My Pocket" and "13 West Street," the epic war film "The Longest Day," and the Italian dramas "Hands Over the City" and "Time of Indifference." In 1964, Steiger gave one of his most acclaimed performances in Sidney Lumet's "The Pawnbroker," starring as a Holocaust survivor living in New York City. For his work, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He next appeared in Tony Richardson's comedy "The Loved One" and David Lean's epic historical romance "Doctor Zhivago." In 1967, Steiger starred oppositeSidney Poitierin the mystery drama "In the Heat of the Night," which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Steiger won numerous awards for his performance as police chief Bill Gillespie, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. He went on to star as a serial killer in "No Way to Treat a Lady" and as a repressed gay officer in "The Sergeant." Steiger concluded the decade with "The Illustrated Man" and "Three into Two Won't Go."
Kicking off the 1980s, Steiger starred in the Canadian films "Klondike Fever" and "The Lucky Star," and reprised his role as Mussolini in "Lion of the Desert." He subsequently starred as an Orthodox rabbi in "The Chosen." Steiger went on to appear mostly in low-budget and independent productions after that, largely owing to health problems. In 1984, he starred as a detective in "The Naked Face." Later in the decade, he was in "Catch the Heat," "American Gothic," "The January Man," and "Tennessee Waltz." In the early 1990s, Steiger starred in the crime drama "Men of Respect," the Southern Gothic drama "The Ballad of the Sad Café," and the horror thriller "The Neighbor." His credits in the second half of the decade included "Shiloh," "Mars Attacks!," "Truth or Consequences, N.M.," "The Hurricane," and "End of Days." Steiger's final film role was in 2002's "Poolhall Junkies."
In summary, the total wealth of Rod Steiger reflects strategic moves.
Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.
