10 Actors Who Were Paid Shockingly Little For Famous Roles

4. Jon Voight - Midnight Cowboy - 1969 Minimum

Jon Voight was made by his turn as down on his luck drifter Joe Buck, who dreams of making it as a male prostitute in New York City, in John Schlesinger's classic Midnight Cowboy (which also starred Dustin Hoffman, not long after he was made famous in The Graduate). But despite the fact that Jon Voight's performance was critically acclaimed and also launched his career as one of the best and most consistent actors of the '70s, he actually accepted a tiny fee. Why? Well, he was pretty much convinced that the role would make him as an actor - something that turned out to be entirely right - and agreed with the studio to work for almost nothing (the minimum legal rate in 1969). "It was the worst, but I knew what it meant," he recalled in an interview with the AP. "It was going to give me a career and I was right." Hilariously, Voight was even charged for the coffee he drunk on set and once received a bill for $14.73.