Can you guess who the highest-paid actor in the world is? When this question arises Hollywood stars naturally come to mind. For many years Hollywood actors have dominated the list of the worlds highest-paid stars. However there was a time when the worlds highest-paid actor wasnt a hero but a villain. Remarkably he surpassed iconic names like Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp. Can you guess who that actor was? Heres another hint: 36 years ago this actor charged 12 times more than the hero leaving everyone stunned. He became the worlds highest-paid actor in 1989. Widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. Throughout his five-decade career he received numerous accolades including three Academy Awards three BAFTA Film Awards six Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award. He also received the American Film Institutes Life Achievement Award in 1994 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In many of his films he played rebels against the social structure. We are talking about actor Jack Nicholson. In the 1989 Batman movie Nicholson played the psychotic villain the Joker. The film was an international smash hit and a lucrative deal earned him a percentage of the box office gross estimated at $60 million to $90 million. He said that he was particularly proud of his performance as the Joker: I considered it a piece of pop art. This profit was apart of his fees of Rs 49.2 crore. In total he got Rs 492 crore at that time. Jack Nicholson became the worlds highest paid actor by earning a fee of Rs 492 crore. He beat stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone who were then charging a fee of Rs 164-246 crore. Michael Keaton who was seen in the role of the superhero created a lot of controversy because got only 5 million dollars (about Rs 41 crores) as fee. He wasnt a big shot then. When Batman was released Jack Nicholson was 52 years old and far from being a box-office sensation. However the films success catapulted him to the status of a top star. At that time actors like Tom Cruise Johnny Depp and Bruce Willis were dominating the industry making Nicholsons rising fame all the more surprising.