Gary Burghoff Net Worth

How much is Gary Burghoff worth?

About Gary Burghoff

Gary Burghoff initially became known for his leading role of Charlie Brown in the 1967 musical You Are A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Also that decade, he was the television presenter for the game show Match Game as he was standing in for Charles (Nelson) Reilly.

Besides these two, he became famous for playing the role of Eugene O’Reilly in the film and television series M*A*S*H*. He was such a loved character that when he decided to quit in 1979 after the seventh season, Warner Bros. offered him a $4 million dollar salary to stay on the show. Burghoff declined their offer telling the producers that he had “lost his vitality” and valued his personal life over the extra money that he would have been paid had he agreed to stay on in the show. It is estimated that at the height of his career, Gary Burghoff earned an income equal to a salary of $2.5 million dollars per year (not adjusted for inflation).

Right after he finished high school, he focused his attention on acting and began attending local schools and events to get a better idea of the film industry. In 1963, he moved to New York City where he joined the HB Studio. There, he received his acting training and appeared in various plays and productions. It only earned him an inflation-adjusted $1,000 per month, however it helped him develop his acting skills which would pay him far greater sums later on.

Gary Rich Burghoff was born on May 24, 1943, in Bristol, Connecticut. He’s the son of Rodney and Ann Burghoff. His father was a worker at a clock company and his mother was a professional dancer that occasionally directed theater productions in Connecticut. Gary has an older brother, David, who is a philatelist and a star of the US Postal Service.

In his childhood, Gary studied a lot of tap dance and music. Despite being born with a brachydactyly (which is why he has three significantly smaller fingers on his left hand), he became a drummer and was asked to take part in local events. At an early age, he also developed an interest in acting and found himself playing with the Belfry Players from Williams Bay, Wisconsin. His family moved to Delevan, Wisconsin when he was a teenager. There, he attended the Delevan-Darien High School, from which he graduated in 1962.

In the late 1960s, Gary joined the band The Relatives, which induced famous actress Lynda Carter as the lead singer. They performed for three months at the Sahara Hotel and Casino lounge and many other venues in Las Vegas. Even after the group was disbanded, Carter and Burghoff remained friends and even shot a television show together – The Wonder Woman’s New Adventures from 1978.

Long before that, in 1970, he made his feature film debut in the Robert Altman production M.A.S.H.. Then in 1972, he was cast in a TV series of M*A*S*H*. Apart from earning an estimated $25,000 per episode to start, he also received six nominations for Emmy Awards. It is estimated for his final seasons on the show, he earned as much as $2.34 million dollars per season or around $90,000 per episode.

However, despite the money, Burghoff eventually burned out and decided that he could not continue in his role as Walter ‘Radar’ O’Reilly. It was considered that his leaving would be such a major loss that Warner Bros. offered Burghoff a $4 million dollar contract to stay on the show. That’s the equivalent of $16.3 million in 2022 dollars. when adjusted for inflation. Still, it seems that Burghoff did not want to continue in the role if he could not deliver his very best performance. Klinger was picked to replace Radar as company clerk.

Bt the end of his career in the 2000s, Gary Burghoff began pursuing different ventures. Outside of the television projects, he became the (television) spokesperson for the IBM computers. BP gasoline company, and the “dot-com-era” auction. After spending several years not using his drumming skills, he founded the trio The We Three as the professional jazz drummer alongside his friends.

In 2009, he wrote his very first book. Titled To The M*A*S*H* and Back: The Songs and Poems of My Life. In recent years, Burghoff has been retired and is known for being a philatelist and for inventing a fishing tackle called “Chum Magic”.

At the peak of his career, in 1974, he stood in for Charles Nelson Reilly and became the television host of the game show Match Game. He hosted the show for more than five months and approximately 150 episodes.

After he spent nearly a decade playing the role of Chapel Walter O’Reilly in the series M*A*S*H, he began working in various television films and series. His most notable roles are in the shows Insight, The Love Boat, and Fantasy Island.

Burghoff Total Net Worth

The majority of his career earnings came from his role of Chapel Walter O’Reilly in the series M*A*S*H. It is estimated that Gary Burghoff earned around $10 million from his role on the show. He is also estimated to have earned another $2 million dollars from his acting work and other appearances outside of M*A*S*H.

His acting career ended in 1995 however he resurfaced in 2010 to play the role of Pastor Mahoney, in Daniel’s Lot. In total, it is estimated that Burghoff’s career earnings are $12 million dollars. Of that amount, $1 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $11 million, will have been taxed at a rate of around 75% as Burghoff resided in the state of California and earned at a time when federal income tax alone was 70% for earnings over $200,000. After tax, it is estimated that his career earnings are at around $2.75 million dollars, having paid $8.25 million dollars in taxes.

Gary Burghoff married Janet Gayle in 1971 they later divorced in 1979. Considering the bulk of Gary’s earnings were earned exactly between those two dates, in fact his role in the M*A*S*H TV series began a year after their marriage in 1972. It is estimated that an amount of $800,000 was paid to Janet Gayle as a divorce settlement.

Gary Burghoff later married Elizabeth Bostrom in 1991 and they divorced in 2005. It is estimated that Elizabeth was paid around $1 million. That is, considering while she married Gary after he had earned his wealth in his career, he will have been earning substantial sums in the stock market. Fourteen years is also considered long time to have been at a husband’s side.

In her personal life Burghoff has likely spent around $1-2 million dollars of her career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at a rate of around $500,000, not including investment assets. In her investments, she may have earned investment returns of $5-6 million dollars. That is, considering the stock market has seen such substantial increases since the time when Burghoff will have been investing his money. Therefore, it is estimated that Gary Burghoff has a net worth of around $5 million dollars.

Summing-Up

Gary Burghoff is an actor and musician that began his career in the 1960s. After landing a role in the film M.A.S.H., he became one of the fan favorites and was later asked to reprise his role in the M*A*S*H* television series. Besides this and many other films such as BS I Love You, The Man in Santa Claus Suit, and Casino, he has also appeared in many realities, talk shows, and TV series, including Match Game that he hosted for approximately 150 episodes.