Just listened to p stew on stern and he admitted in the first season he was paid 15,000 per week. That was the first time i 'd heard anything about cast salary.
Wonder if it went down from there. I wonder if Burton and wheaton were paid more sonce they were known actors. Wonder if dorn made much much less.
Well, pretty much the whole cast was relative unknowns to the general US public (maybe not in the acting business world, but to most of the audience), but Stewart had his experience with the Royal Shakespeare Company which is probably what got him the job, so I would be surprised if he wasn't the highest paid out of the bunch. In fact, I believe Stewart had been an actor since around age 20...making that about 1960.I do know he was also in I, Claudius, which was about 1976.
He might have had Stand By Me, but we all know where Wheaton's acting career went after TNG (TNG argueably ended his career), and he had a pretty thin resume at the time of TNG, due to his age.
Burton is probably next best known for Roots and Reading Rainbow, and he is a pretty good actor, but I don't know that he was that much in demand by the debut of TNG.
Spinner's Nightcourt appearance is awesome, but the only other thing I remember seeing him in before TNG besides it was an episode of the 1980s Twilight Zone series, and I think he played a hick in that one, too.
Frakes and had all kinds of bit parts in 1980s TV shows, but I think the thing he was known most for up to before TNG was the Civil War miniseries North and South.
The only thing I remember seeing Marina Sirtis in prior to TNG was a bit part in Deathwish 3, where she plays a rape/murder victim.
Denise Crosby had bit parts in a couple Pink Panther movies (the two bad ones), and 48 Hours, so she was pretty much an unknown.
As for Gate Mcfadden, I think before TNG, she was more known in the business as a choreographer or other behind the scenes work, than she was as an actress.
So basically, Stewart had the acting chops the others didn't.
