Chevy Chase Actually Comes From A Very Wealthy Family
With all the discourse revolving around nepo babies, you may be starting to wonder if there's anyone in Hollywood left who didn't come from a prominent family. More often than not, if they didn't go through the typical rags-to-riches route, celebrities rise to fame thanks to two factors: familial connections and wealth. And, for some of them, their origins trace back to Old Money.
For instance, Anderson Cooper's a descendant of the Vanderbilt family. His mother was socialite Gloria Vanderbilt and his grandfather was the famous equestrian Reginald Vanderbilt, a direct descendant of shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. Sisters Kate and Rooney Mara also come from incredibly wealthy families, with their mom having come from the family owning the Pittsburgh Steelers, and their father, the New York Giants.
And then there are celebrities like Chevy Chase who barely talk about their family, so you'll be surprised to find out that he, too, comes from a line of affluent individuals.
Chevy Chase is a Crane Company scion
As it turns out, comedian Chevy Chase comes from a long line of rich people — or at least his parents did. Per Refinery29, the comedian's mother was an heir to the Crane Company, the plumbing conglomerate which was pretty much responsible for every toilet in America until the 1990s. In a 1993 profile in The New Yorker, he shared that his mother was adopted by Cornelius Crane, who he says "was worth something like $120 million in the fifties." He and his brother, Ned, were listed in the American elite directory Social Register back then, but they apparently never got to enjoy the riches of the Cranes since Cornelius donated much of his wealth when he married someone new.
But Chase still had a comfortable childhood to say the least. When the "Saturday Night Live" star's parents separated when he was 4 years old, he dished that his father eventually married into the Folger Coffee family, while his mother wed a well-known doctor. And while he acknowledges that his mom had "grown up with nannies," he vividly remembers that "there were always money problems" growing up. But "somehow, Ned and I were able to go to private schools." His brother went to Harvard, while he graduated from Bard.
How much is Chevy Chase's net worth today?
Chevy Chase may have come from money, but he still paved his way to fame through sheer hard work. Before making it big in the comedy world, the "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" actor held a myriad of jobs to get by, including driving cabs and trucks, managing produce at a supermarket, selling wine, waiting tables, and more, per Far Out.
Chase struck gold when he was discovered by Lorne Michaels. In his The New Yorker profile, Chase shared that he had moved to California in hopes of working with Lily Tomlin, and along the way, he snagged a writing gig for the Smothers Brothers. That was when he crossed paths with Michaels, who apparently found him so funny, he recruited him to work for "Saturday Night Live." The rest, as they say, is history.
With Chase now being a household name, it's not surprising that he's also worth millions. Celebrity Net Worth notes that he's worth a whopping $50 million thanks to his hefty salaries from projects like "Fletch," "Christmas Vacation," and "Cops and Robbersons."