10 Actors Who Were Paid Almost Nothing For Great Roles

The film that made his career, Jon Voight exploded onto the scene in 1969's Midnight Cowboy, playing a struggling male prostitute who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a fast-talking con artist - Dustin Hoffman's Ratzo Rizzo.

While Voight was hardly a huge superstar name when he was cast in the role - Hoffman was easily the bigger draw - it might surprise you to learn just how low his salary was, especially for a movie from a prestige studio like United Artists, and one that went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

In a 2013 interview, Voight stated that, because he knew Midnight Cowboy would be a big break for him (after reading the excellent script), he desperately wanted to join the project - and so, he said to his agent "tell them I'll do this part for nothing."

And surprisingly, the producers - and the studio - took that sentiment literally.

By the time the movie was finished, he didn't get nothing, of course, because there are rules in place to prevent that sort of thing. But Voight was only paid the industry minimum for his work, which was somewhere around a couple of thousand dollars.

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Put yourself in the shoes of these actors: would you have been pleased with your payday? Let us know in the comments section!