Revealed: Burl Ives's Total Wealth & Career Highlights Net Worth 2026: Career Earnings & Assets

Many fans are curious about Burl Ives's financial success in 2026. In this article, we dive deep into the assets and career highlights.

What Was Burl Ives' Net Worth?

Burl Ives was an American singer, musician, actor, and writer who had a net worth of $5 million at the time of his death in 1995. Burl Ives won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his performance in the 1958 film "The Big Country." Ives had more than 50 acting credits to his name, including the films "East of Eden" (1955), "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), "Our Man in Havana" (1959), "Just You and Me, Kid" (1979), and "Two Moon Junction" (1988) and the television series "O.K. Crackerby!" (1965–1966), "The Bold Ones: The Lawyers" (1969–1972), and "Alias Smith and Jones" (1971–1972). He also performed on Broadway, appearing in productions of "The Boys from Syracuse" (1938–1939), "Heavenly Express" (1940), "This Is the Army" (1942), "Sing Out, Sweet Land" (1944–1945), "She Stoops to Conquer" (1949–1950), "Show Boat" (1954), "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955–1956), and "Dr. Cook's Garden" (1967).

Burl was also a Grammy-winning singer who released numerous albums, and he was known for singles such as ""Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" (with Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers), "On Top of Old Smoky" (with Percy Faith and His Orchestra), "A Little Bitty Tear" (with The Anita Kerr Singers and Owen Bradley's Orchestra), and "Funny Way of Laughin'" (with Owen Bradley's Orchestra). He narrated the 1964 special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and his holiday songs from that special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas," were still charting on the "Billboard" Holiday Songs chart in the 2020s. Ives also published the several books, such as the autobiography "Wayfaring Stranger" (1948) and the children's book "Sailing on a Very Fine Day" (1954). Burl died of oral cancer on April 14, 1995, at the age of 85.

Early Life

Burl Ives was born Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives on June 14, 1909, in Hunt City, Illinois. He was the son of Cordelia and Frank Ives, and he grew up with siblings Artie, Argola, Norma, Audry, Clarence, and Lillburn. Frank was a farmer, then he took a job as a contractor for the county. One day, Burl's uncle overheard him singing with Cordelia in the garden and asked him to sing at an old soldiers' reunion. Ives performed the folk song "Barbara Allen" and impressed the audience. Burl played football at Eastern Illinois State Teachers College, which he attended from 1927 to 1929. When he was sitting in English class during his junior year, Ives decided that he was wasting his time, and as he was walking out the door, his professor made a snide comment. Burl slammed the door, causing the window in the door to shatter. Six decades later, the college named a building after him. Ives was a member of the fraternal organization The Order of DeMolay (Charleston Chapter), and he was inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame in 1994. In 1927, he was initiated into Scottish Rite Freemasonry. Burl was later elevated to the highest degree and elected the Grand Cross. In 1933, he enrolled at New York's Juilliard School.

(Photo by Ernst Haas/Ernst Haas/Getty Images)

Career

In the early '30s, Ives traveled around the U.S. as a singer and performed on the Terre Haute radio station WBOW. He began appearing on Broadway in 1938, and he got his own radio show, "The Wayfaring Stranger" (named after one of his songs), in 1940. Burl was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942, and at Camp Upton, he became a cast member of Irving Berlin's "This Is the Army" and was transferred to the Army Air Forces when the show moved to Hollywood. In September 1943, he was honorably discharged. His first film was 1946's "Smoky," and he followed it with "Green Grass of Wyoming," "Station West," and "So Dear to My Heart" in 1948. The following year, Ives' single "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" (with Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers) reached #1 in Australia. His singles "On Top Of Old Smoky" (with Percy Faith and His Orchestra), "A Little Bitty Tear" (with The Anita Kerr Singers and Owen Bradley's Orchestra), "Funny Way of Laughin'" (with Owen Bradley's Orchestra), and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" were top 10 hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. "A Little Bitty Tear" also reached #1 on the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary chart. His cover of the song "Lavender Blue" earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song after he performed it in the 1948 film "So Dear to My Heart."

Ultimately, Burl Ives's financial journey is a testament to their success.

Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.