Remember Ola Ray, the gorgeous video model/actress from Michael Jackson’s 1983 “Thriller” video?Well we don’t know how we missed this information a couple years ago, but somehow we did: Ola Ray came up big time with her “Thriller” royalty money.
First of all, she has got to be the highest paid video model/actress I’ve ever seen! I can’t say that I’ve heard of music video models getting paid royalties from videos, as opposed to just getting one flat fee for their work, but somehow royalties is exactly what Ola Ray got. She played the game right and also must have had an incredible agent, so kudos to her.
Anyways, Ola Ray and Michael had a great friendship, but it was his estate, not him, that was causing her to get jacked out of her royalties. She said:
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“Michael would always re-release Thriller in different packages so that I would get my royalties. He really did his personal best to help me while he was alive. Unfortunately, the people handling his estate have not been acting according to his wishes since his death.”
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Ola Ray ultimately sued Jackson’s estate to get her dough and like we said, she came up…all the way up to the tune of $75,000. Many would say that’s a lot for…
I beg to differ. She was no video model. She acted in this video. She put in some work. Please don’t judge her by today’s video models. They don’t even compare. She deserves the money and Michael thought so too!
Thanks for your feedback Beaushan. This article was not an attempt to judge or downplay Ola Ray’s contributions to the biggest video in the history of music, that’s why we gave her props and stated that she was the perfect person for the job. She is a model who has also had a few acting roles throughout her career, so yes that does make her an actress also, but she spent the bulk of her career as a model. In fact it was a modeling spread that landed her the role as the premiere video model for the “Thriller” video. You’re right, she also acted in the video, just as other models have done. It’s just that Ola Ray’s acting time was more extended in this because the “Thriller” video was just about as long as a short mini movie. By the way, this article wasn’t comparing her to video models of just one particular era, because we can compare her to video models of the 80’s era who were in videos like Lionel Richie’s “Hello” video where the video model was acting as if she was a blind ballet dancer and art student, but she is also clearly an actress as well. Ola Ray has many talents and being a model and an actress are included. So you see Beaushan, this was in no way intended to take away from the dynamic performance Ola Ray gave in the “Thriller” video, we were just stating the facts: that most women/actresses/models, etc. do not typically get paid royalties for appearing in a video and for that reason, I think Ola Ray played the game really smart. I don’t think they could have cast a better woman for the part. Thanks for joining the convo.’
I beg to differ. She was no video model. She acted in this video. She put in some work. Please don’t judge her by today’s video models. They don’t even compare. She deserves the money and Michael thought so too!
Thanks for your feedback Beaushan. This article was not an attempt to judge or downplay Ola Ray’s contributions to the biggest video in the history of music, that’s why we gave her props and stated that she was the perfect person for the job. She is a model who has also had a few acting roles throughout her career, so yes that does make her an actress also, but she spent the bulk of her career as a model. In fact it was a modeling spread that landed her the role as the premiere video model for the “Thriller” video. You’re right, she also acted in the video, just as other models have done. It’s just that Ola Ray’s acting time was more extended in this because the “Thriller” video was just about as long as a short mini movie. By the way, this article wasn’t comparing her to video models of just one particular era, because we can compare her to video models of the 80’s era who were in videos like Lionel Richie’s “Hello” video where the video model was acting as if she was a blind ballet dancer and art student, but she is also clearly an actress as well. Ola Ray has many talents and being a model and an actress are included. So you see Beaushan, this was in no way intended to take away from the dynamic performance Ola Ray gave in the “Thriller” video, we were just stating the facts: that most women/actresses/models, etc. do not typically get paid royalties for appearing in a video and for that reason, I think Ola Ray played the game really smart. I don’t think they could have cast a better woman for the part. Thanks for joining the convo.’