Charlotte Rae Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth

What Was Charlotte Rae’s Net Worth?

Charlotte Rae was an American actress, comedian, singer, and dancer who had a net worth of $4 million at the time of her death in 2018. Charlotte Rae was best known for her role as Edna Garrett in the TV series “Diff’rent Strokes” (1978–1984) and “The Facts of Life” (1979–1986). She also played Sylvia Schnauser / Miss Berger on “Car 54, Where Are You?” (1961–1963), Molly the Mail Lady on “Sesame Street” (1971–1972), and Mrs. Bellotti on “Hot l Baltimore” (1975) and voiced Adrienne Van Leydon on “Itsy Bitsy Spider” (1994–1995) and Nanny on “101 Dalmatians: The Series” (1997–1998). Charlotte had more than 90 onscreen acting credits to her name, including the films “Hair” (1979), “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” (2008), and “Ricki and the Flash” (2015) and the television series “The Rich Little Show” (1976), “The Love Boat” (1982–1985), “Sister” (1994–1995), and “ER” (2008). She also performed in several Broadway productions, earning Tony nominations for “Pickwick” in 1966 and “Morning, Noon and Night” in 1969. Rae released the album “Songs I Taught My Mother” in 1955, and she published the autobiography “The Facts of My Life” in 2015. Charlotte Rae died of bone cancer on August 5, 2018, at the age of 92.

Early Life

Charlotte Rae was born Charlotte Rae Lubotsky on April 22, 1926, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Meyer and Esther Lubotsky, and she had two sisters, Miriam and Beverly. Charlotte’s father owned a retail tire business. Her mother was a childhood friend of Golda Meir, who became the prime minister of Israel in 1969. For the first decade of Charlotte’s life, her family lived in an apartment above Meyer’s tire shop, but in 1936, her parents bought a home in Shorewood, Wisconsin. Rae attended Shorewood High School, and after graduating in 1944, she enrolled at Northwestern University but left before earning her degree. There, she befriended future star Cloris Leachman, who would end up succeeding Charlotte after she left “The Facts of Life.” Rae also met Charlton Heston, Agnes Nixon, Claude Akins, Paul Lynde, Gerald Freedman, and songwriter Sheldon Harnick at Northwestern.

Career

Rae made her Broadway debut in a 1952 production of “Three Wishes for Jamie,” and she went on to appear in “Threepenny Opera” (1954), “The Golden Apple” (1954), “The Littlest Revue” (1956), “Li’l Abner” (1956–1958), “The Beauty Part” (1962–1963), “Pickwick” (1965), “Morning, Noon and Night” (1968–1969), “The Chinese and Dr. Fish” (1970), and “Boom Boom Room” (1973). She earned Tony nominations for “Pickwick” and “Morning, Noon and Night.” In the ’50s, Charlotte appeared on the television shows “The United States Steel Hour” (1954), “Armstrong Circle Theatre” (1954–1955), “Kraft Television Theatre” (1955), “NBC Television Opera Theatre” (1955), “Appointment with Adventure” (1955), “The Philco Television Playhouse” (1955), “The Phil Silvers Show” (1955; 1958), “DuPont Show of the Month” (1958), and “Play of the Week” (1959). From 1961 to 1963, she had a recurring role as Sylvia Schnauser / Miss Berger on the NBC sitcom “Car 54, Where Are You?,” then she appeared in the TV movies “The Journey of the Fifth Horse” (1966) and “Pinocchio” (1968). Her first feature film was 1969’s “Hello Down There,” and she followed it with “Jenny” (1970), “Bananas” (1971), “The Hot Rock” (1972), “Sidewinder 1” (1977), “Rabbit Test” (1978), and “Hair” (1979). In the ’70s, Rae also appeared in the TV movies “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” (1975), “Our Town” (1977), and “The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal” (1979) and guest-starred on “The Partridge Family” (1972), “McMillan & Wife” (1972), “Love, American Style” (1972), “All in the Family” (1974), “Good Times” (1974), and “Barney Miller” (1976).

Charlotte played Molly the Mail Lady on the popular children’s series “Sesame Street” from 1971 to 1972 and Mrs. Bellotti on the ABC sitcom “Hot l Baltimore” in 1975. In 1978, she began starring as Edna Garrett on the NBC sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.” The following year, she started starring on the spin-off “The Facts of Life.” Rae appeared in 37 episodes of “Diff’rent Strokes” between 1978 and 1984 and 155 episodes of “The Facts of Life” from 1979 to 1986, and she also played Edna Garrett in “The Facts of Life Goes to Paris” in 1982 and three episodes of “Hello, Larry” in 1978. She received a Primetime Emmy nomination for “The Facts of Life” in 1982. In the ’90s, Charlotte appeared in the films “Thunder in Paradise” (1993) and “Nowhere” (1997) and guest-starred on “Sisters” (1994–1995), and “The Secret World of Alex Mack” (1996). Next, she appeared in the TV movies “Another Woman’s Husband” (2001) and “The Facts of Life Reunion” (2001), the films “Christmas Cottage” (2008) and “Love Sick Love” (2012), and the documentaries “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” (2016) and “Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age” (2018). Rae had a recurring role as Roxanne Gaines on “ER” in 2008, and she guest-starred on “Diagnosis: Murder” (2000), “The King of Queens” (2005), “Pretty Little Liars” (2011), and “Girl Meets World” (2014). She also co-starred with Adam Sandler in 2008’s “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” and with Meryl Streep in 2015’s “Ricki and the Flash.”

Personal Life and Death

On November 4, 1951, Charlotte married composer John Strauss. He came out as bisexual in the mid-1970s, and he and Rae welcomed sons Lawrence and Andrew before divorcing in 1976. In 2011, Strauss passed away from Parkinson’s disease at the age of 90. Andrew was autistic and had epilepsy, and he died in 1999. In the early ’70s, Charlotte joined Alcoholics Anonymous, which became an important part of her life. She had a pacemaker implanted in 1982, and it worked for more than three decades (with periodic alterations) before abruptly stopping a few years before her death. That pacemaker was left in place, and a smaller pacemaker was implanted on the left side of her chest. Rae also underwent open-heart surgery when her mitral valve needed to be replaced with a mechanical equivalent. There was a frequency of pancreatic cancer in Charlotte’s family, so she decided to get screened for the disease in 2009. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but it was caught early, and after undergoing six months of chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free. In 2017, Rae was diagnosed with bone cancer, and she died on August 5, 2018, at the age of 92.

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Awards and Nominations

Rae earned Tony nominations for Best Supporting or Featured Actress in a Musical for “Pickwick” in 1966 and Best Leading Actress in a Play for “Morning, Noon and Night” in 1969. In 1975, she earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special for “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom,” and in 1982, she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for “The Facts of Life.” In 2011, “The Facts of Life” won a Pop Culture Award at the TV Land Awards, and in 2017, Charlotte was honored with The Shirley Temple Award at the Looking Ahead Awards.

Real Estate

In November 1999, Charlotte paid $750,000 for a home in Los Angeles. She left this home to her son, who continues to own the property today.