Playing the wizard in 'The Wizard of Oz' is a pretty big deal, right? It's the title role. You'd have thought an actor would be happy with that and let some of the other, smaller roles go to other people. Wrong. Frank Morgan actually had four separate roles in the film other than the titular wizard.
You can also see Morgan as a guard of the palace, a doorkeeper, a professor in Kansas and a cab driver in Emerald City. In fairness to Morgan, an actor is never likely to turn down more money or more screen time, and he was never supposed to be playing the wizard in the first place. W.C. Fields was originally cast in the larger role, but he kept pushing the studio for more and more money, and they eventually lost patience with him. Fields was fired, and Morgan found himself promoted into the bigger part. We bet he couldn't believe his luck!
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.