Hollywood cheapskates, past & present

[Kman0072]

I know that Fred MacMurray and Steve McQueen were, but can anyone here think of any others?

Let the games begin!

[neilmpenny]

Milton Berle, Jack Benny, Howard Hughes.

[HARLOWNUMBER1]

By most accounts - William Powell and Cary Grant.

[Morty]

I've heard Robert DiNiro is a cheapskate, having won the nickname Robert No Dinero

[hrhdiesel]

Mick Jagger big time

[Starstruck]

Bob Hope!!!! Notorious!!

[growl]

I always heard that Jack Benny used that cheapskate thing for publicity, but really he was quite a generous man. I did hear about Bob Hope(ick) and Fred MacMurray, and though not a Hollywood type, John F Kennedy was also notorious for letting others pick up the check, or if he wrote a check for anything he figured it would never be cashed for the signature.

[radiojane]

I always heard that Jack Benny used that cheapskate thing for publicity, but really he was quite a generous man. I did hear about Bob Hope(ick) and Fred MacMurray, and though not a Hollywood type, John F Kennedy was also notorious for letting others pick up the check, or if he wrote a check for anything he figured it would never be cashed for the signature.

Benny was extremely generous, and he and Mary lived in great comfort. He just played one hell of a skinflint.

Benny cast member Phil Harris was a good buddy of Der Bingle's and rivaled him when it came to parsimony, even though his radio character was that of a drunken good timer who had to be put on allowance by his movie star wife!

[STsFirstmate]

Cary Grant, who is mentioned earlier in this thread was legendary in his miserliness. He was staying at the Waldorf and ordered English Muffins for room service breakfast. The menu description said two muffins with butter and jam. They delivered him a single english muffin split in two. He called and protested that the menu said two muffins and he either expected two muffins or to be charged half as much for one. He was also famously lawsuit happy and would file at the drop of a hat.
in this instance he was said to have loudly threatened to sue over the muffins.
This is the same hotel where he allegedly dropped acid while married to Dyan Cannon and was found jumping up and down on the bed buck naked.
Interesting man for sure but allegedly very tight with a buck.
Regards,
Mary

[okidoll]

I have heard stories about Jennifer Lopez being a real b* when it comes to tips and money. The story was Ben Affleck is known for being a really good tipper, but J Lo would pick up the money he would put down as a tip because she thought it was too much.

Again, total gossip, but oh it's so juicy!

[TheWrath of MadelineKahn]

I remember reading in the 80s that Barbra Streisand would reuse greeting cards. She'd just x out whatever the person who sent the card to her had written and write her own message.

[JimC]

I've heard that Ebeneezer Scrooge was a bit tight.

Dan Blocker ("Hoss" from Bonanza) was said to be very "frugal".

[Desert Ghost]

Shannen Doherty
Tori Spelling
Tina Louise
Whitney Houston
Clark Gable
Courtney Love

[Jangles]

I just did a quick search and noticed that Tiger Woods' name came up when I googled "celebrity cheapskates".

I found a few misers' names on this blog, and the first person's name on the list is Madonna's! It's true, I have read about Madge being cheap.

[lucilleball861911]

HARRY COHN all you gotta do is look at what he did to the 3 Stooges... purposely hiding fan mail from the stooges so that they would not know how big they were and ask for more money...its just too much to explain. Google Harry Cohn arguably the worst cheapskate in history

[PerticusRex]

I heard that Charles Barkley is turrrrrrrible when it comes to tipping.

[Buttercup]

When I worked American Airlines security at LAX in 1978, Bob Hope came through. There was maybe around a dozen skycaps who worked that day. A couple of them came up to me and said "Hey Bob Hopes here. If he asks for a skycap, tell him you don't know where we are!" They then proceeded to disappear. And I mean DISAPPEAR! I was in the luggage area, and here comes Bob. It was pretty dead that day, he saw me in the uniform and came right up to me (he seemed to be alone). I remember him being pretty short with huge and hairy ears. He asked me if I could find him a skycap for his luggage. I told him "Mr. Hope, I'm sorry but I can't leave this area (which was the truth). I'm sure one will be around any minute now." Well, after about 10 mins, one finally showed up (he was the newer guy). I swear, Bob must have had a dozen of pieces of luggage. He tipped the skycap .50 cents for the task of loading up a cart and unloading the stuff. The other skycaps who disappeared later told me (after the coast was clear) how cheap Bob was. He usually tipped a quarter, so that day he must have felt generous.

[lucilleball861911]

When I worked American Airlines security at LAX in 1978, Bob Hope came through. There was maybe around a dozen skycaps who worked that day. A couple of them came up to me and said "Hey Bob Hopes here. If he asks for a skycap, tell him you don't know where we are!" They then proceeded to disappear. And I mean DISAPPEAR! I was in the luggage area, and here comes Bob. It was pretty dead that day, he saw me in the uniform and came right up to me (he seemed to be alone). I remember him being pretty short with huge and hairy ears. He asked me if I could find him a skycap for his luggage. I told him "Mr. Hope, I'm sorry but I can't leave this area (which was the truth). I'm sure one will be around any minute now." Well, after about 10 mins, one finally showed up (he was the newer guy). I swear, Bob must have had a dozen of pieces of luggage. He tipped the skycap .50 cents for the task of loading up a cart and unloading the stuff. The other skycaps who disappeared later told me (after the coast was clear) how cheap Bob was. He usually tipped a quarter, so that day he must have felt generous.

Great story! Bob hope was sure notorious for his "generosity" your story confirms the tales

[Buttercup]

Great story! Bob hope was sure notorious for his "generosity" your story confirms the tales

Thanks! You think for someone who probably owned about 1/2 of Southern California he would have least gave them $ 1.00!

[Karma]

I just saw on TMZ that Julia Roberts is a bad tipper. This came directly from a employee at Canter's.