Many fans are curious about Wilford Brimley's financial success in 2026. Our team analyzed the latest data to provide a clear picture of their income.
What Was Wilford Brimley's Net Worth and Salary?
Wilford Brimley was an American actor, singer, and television pitchman who had a net worth of $8 million at the time of his death in 2020. A stout, often bespectacled, character actor of film and TV with a walrus mustache and a flair for accents, Brimley proved himself adept at playing endearing curmudgeons, giving perhaps his most memorable performance as one of the increasingly frisky senior citizens inRon Howard's"Cocoon" (1985) and its sequel "Cocoon: The Return" (1988).
Wilford had more than 70 acting credits to his name, including the films "The China Syndrome" (1979), "The Thing" (1982), "The Natural" (1984), "The Firm" (1993), "In & Out" (1997), "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" (2009), and "I Believe" (2017), the television series "The Waltons" (1974–1977) and "Our House" (1986–1988), and the TV movies "The Wild Wild West Revisited" (1979), "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" (1985), "Billy the Kid" (1989), and "Blood River" (1991). Brimley was "a fine singer with a warm, rich voice," and in 2004, he released the jazz album "This Time, The Dream's On Me." He was also known for appearing in commercials for Liberty Medical and Quaker Oats. Wilford passed away in August 2020 from a kidney condition at the age of 85.
Early Life
Wilford Brimley was born Anthony Wilford Brimley on September 27, 1934, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He grew up in a Mormon household with mother Lola, father Wilford (a real estate broker), and brother Sterling. Brimley left high school when he was 14 years old and began working as a cowboy in Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada. During the Korean War, he spent three years serving in the Aleutian Islands as a Marine. Wilford found work as a wrangler, ranch hand, and blacksmith, and he was a bodyguard for eccentric business magnate/film producerHoward Hughes. After he began shoeing horses for movies and television shows, his friendRobert Duvallencouraged him to try acting, and he started out as a stuntman and riding extra in Westerns.
Career
At the beginning of his career, Brimley had uncredited roles in the films "True Grit" (1969) and "Lawman" (1971), and from 1974 to 1977, he had a recurring role as Horace Brimley on the CBS series "The Waltons." Around this time, he also guest-starred on "Kung Fu" (1975) and "The Oregon Trail" (1976–1977), and portrayed President Grover Cleveland in the TV movie "The Wild Wild West Revisited" (1979). Wilford co-starred withJane Fonda,Jack Lemmon, andMichael Douglasin the Academy Award-nominated film "The China Syndrome" (1979), then he appeared in "The Electric Horseman" (1979), "Brubaker" (1980), "Borderline" (1981), "Absence of Malice" (1981), "Death Valley" (1982), "Tender Mercies" (1983), "10 to Midnight" (1983), "High Road to China" (1983), "Tough Enough" (1983), "Harry & Son" (1984), "Jackals" (1986), and "End of the Line" (1987). He played Dr. Blair in "The Thing" (1982), 'Pop' Fisher in "The Natural" (1984), and Ben Luckett in "Cocoon" (1985) and "Cocoon: The Return" (1988), and he starred in the TV movies "Amber Waves" (1980), "Roughnecks" (1980), "Rodeo Girl" (1980), "The Big Black Pill" (1981), "Murder in Space" (1985), "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" (1985), "Act of Vengeance" (1986), and "Billy the Kid" (1989). From 1986 to 1988, Brimley played Gus Witherspoon on the NBC drama "Our House," and in the '90s, he guest-starred on "Walker, Texas Ranger" (1995) and "Seinfeld" (1997) and starred in theTom Clancyminiseries "Op Center" (1995).
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Ultimately, Wilford Brimley's financial journey is a testament to their success.
Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.
