Mercedes Ruehl Net Worth
Mercedes Ruehl Net Worth is
$19 Million
Mercedes Ruehl Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Mercedes Ruehl was born February 28, 1948 in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City to Mercedes Ruehl, a school teacher, and Vincent Ruehl, an FBI agent. She made several film and television appearance before coming to her most successfully received role in Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (1991). She played the part of Jeff Bridges's on-screen ... | Date Of Birth | February 28, 1948 |
| Place Of Birth | Jackson Heights, New York City, New York, United States |
| Height | 5' 10" (1.78 m) |
| Profession | Actress, Soundtrack |
| Spouse | David Geiser |
| Children | Christopher Geiser, Jake Xavier Ruehl Geiser |
| Awards | Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
| Star Sign | Pisces |
| Title | Salary |
|---|---|
| Lost in Yonkers (1993) | $1,500,000 |
| # | Quote |
|---|---|
| 1 | [1991, on working with Robin Williams on The Fisher King (1991)] His is a different rhythm altogether, much more improvisory, but he has that quality of seeing and listening too, a free-wheeling pas de deux. When he is acting and not doing stand-up, you see the pentimento of the Juilliard student who did Shakespeare and you see a technique and discipline exclusively an actor's. |
| 2 | [1991, on working with Jeff Bridges on The Fisher King (1991)] There are waters that run very deep in him. On the set when we were working, he showed the ultimate respect of one actor for another. He saw you, heard you and was totally responsive through every take. |
| 3 | [accepting her Golden Globe for The Fisher King (1991)] When I was a kid in New York City studying acting, it was a fairly easy thing to be a sort of bright-eyed true believer in lofty things like art for art's sake, but that sort of - if you're lucky enough to make some money at this business - makes way for exactly that: the business aspect of it. And while I'm not encouraging any potential employers in this room to underpay me to return me to that original state of idealism, I would like to say that it's sweet - as sweet as it is rare - to be in a project that quite naturally returns that to you for a while, and that was what Fisher King was to me. |
| 4 | [on The Fisher King (1991)] The screenplay was witty, more or less perfect - one of the few I ever worked on that didn't have to be re-tooled or re-doctored. It was written by Richard LaGravenese and of all the writers I've worked with before or since in film - any kind of film, television film, feature film - he writes for women; he writes for women with a knowing instinct, the way Tennessee Williams wrote for women with a knowing instinct, and so it was my role in that film and how he wrote it and how sympathetic he was for it and because there was a great deal of Richard actually in that role, that I think on an unconscious level it just kind of powered through. |
| 5 | [on winning a Tony and an Oscar within a year of each other] That blew me away. I didn't see it coming! You think, "Well, I'm made in the shade for life." You go through this period of assuming the fountain will never cease giving forth and the roles will never cease coming. So you buy your own hype for a little bit, and you have to be cut down to size again. Oh, the cycles of life! But yes, that was a wonderful time. |
| 6 | [on life as a struggling actress] I must have worked in at least a dozen places in New York as a waitress. I was a milkmaid in the ice cream corner of the Plaza Hotel; I had to wear a milkmaid's costume. I worked at Teachers on the Upper West Side, at the Buffalo Roadhouse in Greenwich Village and I did a memorable summer at the White Horse Café. I was terrible when I started, but after about five or six years I became dangerously good at it, maybe even better at that time than I was as an actress. I also passed out leaflets and modelled fur coats for a few weeks at the Sheraton. I got one job through a friend - she said, "Look, you can get $125 if you put on a costume and be the Sauza Tequila rooster at the Coliseum." It was for the New York ski show for a weekend. I had great legs in those days, I must say. I had this huge, ugly, seven-foot costume on, but my legs were just in red tights, and all day long, gentlemen would come up to me and say, "Darling, can I be around when you take that rooster costume off?" |
| 7 | [on playing Connie Russo in Married to the Mob (1988)] That was fun from beginning to end. Jonathan Demme just kept saying, "Take her further, further, further." So I did, I did, I did. |
| 8 | [on Big (1988)] I remember watching Tom Hanks in the scene where he first sees himself, as an adult, in the bathroom mirror. He did at least 12 takes. Every time, he did something different; every time, believable. I was astounded by his level of concentration: Boy, that's really a superior practitioner of this craft! |
| 9 | [accepting her Tony award for Lost in Yonkers] Thank you. This is one of the great moments of my life. It's very hard to breathe. With all due respect to the great House of Chanel, the dress doesn't make it any easier! |
| 10 | [on Married to the Mob (1988)] The first day shooting, I got there, like, two hours early. I got suited up in all that makeup, which was a lot because we were playing Long Island mob housewives. I'd been working my five lines all that time, just pacing-pacing-pacing. Finally, just before I walk on the set, I decide I'm going to go to the bathroom one more time. So I go. And I get locked in the bathroom. Now, there's so much happening on the set that nobody can hear me knocking and calling. And I'm thinking, "I am dead in the water. I am an unemployed actress." Finally, somebody springs me from the bathroom, and I get on the set and everybody laughs, thank god. From that moment on, working on the movie was delightful. |
| 11 | [on The Warriors (1979)] That's the first thing I ever did. I remember filming that little scene and being terrified, just a scared thing, like a quivering aspen leaf. I wasn't prepared for it. |
| 12 | [on stage vs screen] Stage is harder, and it pays less, and it's gruelling and I like it much better. Because on stage it's the actor's medium; film is the director's medium and television is arguably the producer/writer's medium. But on stage, you get out there, you're creating a character, nobody can pull you off, nobody can edit you and you can get deeply into a character and dwell there. |
| 13 | [accepting her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Fisher King (1991)] I went to New York to study acting the summer I was 21 and like thousands of actors before me and thousands of actors after me, I went through the usual scores of moonlighting jobs and the usual scores of rejection and the usual legions of prophets of doom who were always there and always at the ready to give you the up-to-minute odds against you ever making anything of yourself in this business. And at this moment, all of those doleful memories have suddenly transformed themselves into nothing more than the sort of charming and amusing anecdotes from my memoirs! |
| # | Fact |
|---|---|
| 1 | Is one of 22 Oscar-winning actresses to have been born in the state of New York. The others are Alice Brady, Teresa Wright, Anne Revere, Celeste Holm, Claire Trevor, Judy Holliday, Shirley Booth, Susan Hayward, Patty Duke, Anne Bancroft, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Lee Grant, Beatrice Straight, Whoopi Goldberg, Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Connelly, Melissa Leo and Anne Hathaway. |
| 2 | Paternal great granddaughter of William Ruehl (1859-1923) and Catherine Downing (1867-1932). |
| 3 | Daughter of Vincent Edward (1920-2003) and Mercedes Ruehl (b. 1920). |
| 4 | Paternal granddaughter of William Edward Ruehl (1889-1956) and Kathleen Viola Tobin (1894-1964). |
| 5 | Gave birth to her 1st child at age 28, a son Christopher Robert Ruehl in April 1976. Child's father is unknown to the public and Ruehl subsequently gave her son up for adoption. |
| 6 | Is one of 26 actresses to have won an Academy Award for their performance in a comedy; hers being for The Fisher King (1991). The others, in chronological order, are: Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night (1934)), Loretta Young (The Farmer's Daughter (1947)), Josephine Hull (Harvey (1950)), Judy Holliday (Born Yesterday (1950)), Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday (1953)), Goldie Hawn (Cactus Flower (1969)), Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Class (1973)), Lee Grant (Shampoo (1975)), Diane Keaton (Annie Hall (1977)), Maggie Smith (California Suite (1978)), Mary Steenburgen (Melvin and Howard (1980)), Jessica Lange (Tootsie (1982)), Anjelica Huston (Prizzi's Honor (1985)), Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck (1987)), Cher (Moonstruck (1987)), Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy (1989)), Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway (1994)), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite (1995)), Frances McDormand (Fargo (1996)), Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets (1997)), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)), and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook (2012)). |
| 7 | Was the 103rd actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Fisher King (1991) at The 64th Annual Academy Awards (1992) on March 30, 1992. |
| 8 | Her brother, American-Australian columnist and humorist Peter Ruehl, passed away suddenly on April 12, 2011. A respected journalist/columnist for the Australian Financial Review, the 64 year old was survived by his Australian wife, and three children: Mercedes, John, and Tom. |
| 9 | Joined the Board of Trustees of Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, NY on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. |
| 10 | She studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City. |
| 11 | She lives with her husband in East Hampton, Long Island, NY. |
| 12 | Her husband, David Geiser, is an abstract expressionist painter. |
| 13 | Graduated in English from The College of New Rochelle, New York, in 1969. |
| 14 | One son, Christopher, given up for adoption when she was 28. Reunited in the late 90s when he was 21 and godfather to his half-brother Jake. |
| 15 | She and her husband have adopted a son, Jake Xavier Ruehl Geiser, born in May 1997. |
| 16 | She and Irene Worth both won Tony Awards for their roles in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers." She and Worth reprise their respective roles in Simon's film version, Lost in Yonkers (1993). |
| 17 | Won a 2005 Obie Award for her performance in "Woman Before A Glass." |
| 18 | Won Broadway's 1991 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for "Lost in Yonkers." She was nominated on two other occasions: in 1995 as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for a revival of "The Shadow Box," and in 2002 as Best Actress (Play) for Edward Albee' s "The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?" |
| 19 | Her father was of German and Irish descent and her mother was of Cuban and Irish ancestry. |
Actress
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 2017 | TV Series | Connie |
| 2 Broke Girls | 2016 | TV Series | Olga |
| The Mysteries of Laura | 2016 | TV Series | Val Santiani |
| Life in Pieces | 2016 | TV Series | Mia |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | 2015 | TV Series | Lucia Barba |
| Good Business | 2015/I | Short | Lorraine |
| Chu and Blossom | 2014 | Mrs. Fefterg | |
| Star Spangled Banners | 2013 | TV Movie | Rosalind Banner |
| Monday Mornings | 2013 | TV Series | Judge Beverly Natheson |
| Doubt | 2013 | TV Movie | Mrs. Syd Newman |
| Luck | 2012 | TV Series | Renzo's Mother |
| El Jefe | 2012 | TV Movie | Delmi Rodriguez |
| Goldstar, Ohio | 2010 | Short | Adriana Rock |
| Loving Leah | 2009 | TV Movie | Janice Lever |
| Law & Order | 2004-2009 | TV Series | Judge Clara Lloyd / Zina Rybakov |
| Entourage | 2006-2008 | TV Series | Rita Chase |
| Psych | 2007 | TV Series | Detective Goochberg |
| A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story | 2006 | TV Movie | Sylvia Guerrero |
| Untitled Paul Reiser Project | 2006 | TV Movie | Rochelle |
| Mom at Sixteen | 2005 | TV Movie | Terry Jeffries |
| Zeyda and the Hitman | 2004 | Esther | |
| Bad Apple | 2004 | TV Movie | Lorraine Gibbons |
| 1-800-Missing | 2004 | TV Series | Emanuelle Baker |
| Everyday Life | 2004 | TV Movie | |
| Widows | 2002 | TV Mini-Series | Dolly Rawlins |
| Spooky House | 2002 | Boss | |
| Guilt by Association | 2002 | TV Movie | Susan Walker |
| Mr. Life | 2001 | TV Movie | |
| The Lost Child | 2000 | TV Movie | Rebecca |
| The Amati Girls | 2000 | Grace | |
| More Dogs Than Bones | 2000 | Victoria 'Vic' Galletti | |
| What's Cooking? | 2000 | Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Avila | |
| Mary Kay Letourneau: All American Girl | 2000 | TV Movie | Jane Newhall |
| Out of the Cold | 1999 | Tina | |
| The Minus Man | 1999 | Jane | |
| Gia | 1998 | TV Movie | Kathleen Carangi |
| SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground | 1997 | TV Movie | Leyla (segment "Underground") |
| North Shore Fish | 1997 | TV Movie | Florence |
| Roseanna's Grave | 1997 | Roseanna 'Rosa' | |
| Frasier | 1995-1996 | TV Series | Kate Costas |
| Indictment: The McMartin Trial | 1995 | TV Movie | Lael Rubin |
| On Hope | 1994 | Short | Wendy |
| Last Action Hero | 1993 | Irene Madigan | |
| Lost in Yonkers | 1993 | Bella Kurnitz | |
| The Fisher King | 1991 | Anne | |
| Another You | 1991 | Elaine / Mimi Kravitz | |
| The Cosby Show | 1990 | TV Series | Bernadette Foley |
| Crazy People | 1990 | Dr. Liz Baylor | |
| Crimes and Misdemeanors | 1989 | Party Guest (uncredited) | |
| Slaves of New York | 1989 | Samantha | |
| Married to the Mob | 1988 | Connie Russo | |
| Big | 1988 | Mrs. Baskin | |
| Leader of the Band | 1987 | Miss Cooper | |
| The Secret of My Succe$s | 1987 | Sheila | |
| 84 Charing Cross Road | 1987 | Kay | |
| Radio Days | 1987 | Ad Man | |
| Twisted | 1986 | Cybelle | |
| Heartburn | 1986 | Eve | |
| Kate & Allie | 1986 | TV Series | Millie |
| Our Family Honor | 1985 | TV Series | Louise Taylor |
| ABC Afterschool Specials | 1984 | TV Series | Sandy |
| Four Friends | 1981 | Woman in Taxi | |
| The Warriors | 1979 | Policewoman | |
| Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands | 1976 | American girl in casino |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big | 1988 | performer: "Chattanooga Choo Choo" - uncredited |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict | 2015 | Documentary | Herself - Interviewee |
| Doctors of the Dark Side | 2011 | Documentary | Narrator (voice) |
| Broadway Beat | 2007 | TV Series | Herself |
| Operation Lysistrata | 2006 | Documentary | Herself |
| The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson | 2006 | TV Series | Herself - Guest |
| The 56th Annual Tony Awards | 2002 | TV Special | Herself - Nominee: Best Leading Actress in a Play |
| Working in the Theatre | 1991-2002 | TV Series documentary | Herself |
| The Rosie O'Donnell Show | 2002 | TV Series | Herself - Guest |
| Intimate Portrait | 2001 | TV Series documentary | Herself |
| The Directors | 2000 | TV Series documentary | Herself |
| The Making of 'Spooky House' | 1999 | Video documentary short | Herself |
| The 49th Annual Tony Awards | 1995 | TV Special | Herself - Nominee: Best Featured Actress in a Play |
| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | 1993 | TV Series | Herself - Guest |
| The 47th Annual Tony Awards | 1993 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Best Featured Actress in a Play |
| The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | 1993 | TV Series | Herself - Guest |
| The 65th Annual Academy Awards | 1993 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Best Actor in a Supporting Role |
| The 64th Annual Academy Awards | 1992 | TV Special | Herself - Winner: Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
| The 49th Annual Golden Globe Awards | 1992 | TV Special | Herself - Winner: Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture |
| The 45th Annual Tony Awards | 1991 | TV Special | Herself - Winner: Best Leading Actress in a Play |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 80th Annual Academy Awards | 2008 | TV Special | Herself |
| A Conversation with Art Director Roy Christopher | 2004 | Video documentary short | Kate Costas (uncredited) |
| Bulldog Crazy | 2004 | Video short | Kate Costas (uncredited) |
| The Crane Brothers Remember Season 3 | 2004 | Video documentary short | Kate Costas (uncredited) |
| The 57th Annual Tony Awards | 2003 | TV Special | Herself |
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Film Excellence Award | Boston Film Festival | ||
| 1992 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1992 | Golden Globe | Golden Globes, USA | Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1992 | Saturn Award | Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA | Best Supporting Actress | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1992 | American Comedy Award | American Comedy Awards, USA | Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1992 | CFCA Award | Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1992 | DFWFCA Award | Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1991 | BSFC Award | Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Supporting Actress | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1991 | LAFCA Award | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1991 | Pasinetti Award | Venice Film Festival | Best Actress | The Fisher King (1991) |
| 1989 | NSFC Award | National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA | Best Supporting Actress | Married to the Mob (1988) |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Imagen Award | Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Actress - Television | A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story (2006) |
| 2006 | Prism Award | Prism Awards | Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries | Mom at Sixteen (2005) |
| 1995 | CableACE | CableACE Awards | Actress in a Movie or Miniseries | Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) |
Known for movies
Big (1988)
as Mrs. Baskin
Last Action Hero (1993)
as Irene Madigan
The Fisher King (1991)
as Anne
Gia (1998)
as Kathleen Carangi