Ethel Fleming Net Worth at Death
Ethel Fleming, the first wife of American businessman Ray Kroc, was estimated to have a net worth of over $10 million. She obtained a significant portion of her wealth from her acting career and from Kroc, who was the founder and former CEO of McDonald’s and credited with the global expansion of the fast food chain. Kroc’s personal fortune was estimated to be around $600 million at the time of his death.
Ethel Fleming Bio
Ethel Fleming was a well-known American actress and athlete. Before pursuing a career in acting, she was a skilled swimmer who gained fame in her hometown of Staten Island for her endurance in the water.
She was often referred to as the “surf girl” due to her love of spending up to four hours a day in the water during the summer months.
In addition to her strength and athleticism, Fleming was known for her passion for outdoor activities and her ability to swim up to 7 miles before being picked up by boats.
Ethel Fleming Age
Ethel Janet Fleming was born on December 25, 1890 in Ohio. She was of American ethnicity and was the daughter of Alexander Frew Fleming and Janet Fleming. There is no further information available about her background or personal life.
Ethel Fleming Career
Fleming was an actress and chorus girl who began her career in the early 1900s. She gained experience performing in various productions in New York City, but it wasn’t until she joined the cast of The Summer Widowers in October 1910 that she traveled outside of the city with a theatrical troupe.
Fleming’s parents were initially hesitant to allow her to tour with the company, but eventually agreed under the condition that all members would be closely supervised.
In 1918, she had the opportunity to work with William Desmond in The Pretender and played the leading woman in the show.
She later returned to the stage in 1923 to co-star with Desmond in The Fighting Pretender. During this time, she traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the production, which was the farthest she had ever traveled for a show.
Ethel Fleming First Husband
In the summer of 1915, Ethel Fleming traveled to Los Angeles to study film painting, and it was there that she met William Courtleigh Jr. for the first time. Although neither had considered marriage at the time, they met several times and their relationship developed quickly.
After only three weeks of dating and a day off from work, the couple passed by a registrar’s office, where Courtleigh made an impromptu proposal that they obtain a marriage license, which Fleming dismissed. Fleming recalled a clerk asking her to sign a form and how “it all happened so quickly.”
The couple married on July 25, 1915, in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, and by August 1915, they were living in their first home, a bungalow. Courtleigh died of pneumonia in 1918.
They were married for three years until her husband died in 1918. She didn’t have any children at the time because she was at the pinnacle of her career.
The Second Marriage of Ethel Fleming
In the early 1900s, Ethel Fleming, an aspiring actress, married Ray Kroc, a twelve-year-old salesman before he became famous. They were high school lovers at the time, which was the only reason they were together.
The couple married in 1922 and were married for the next forty years. Surprisingly, she gave up her lucrative acting career shortly after marrying to devote her time to her family.
For many years, the two were inextricably linked. Fleming welcomed the couple’s sole child, Marilyn Kroc, into their lives. As the saying goes, every successful man has a woman on his side. Ray Kroc’s financial breakthrough as the creator of McDonald’s occurred while he was married to Fleming.
Ray Kroc’s ex-wife, Ethel Fleming, divorced him.
Ethel Fleming was a Hollywood sensation in the early 1900s. In her acting career, she has approximately sixteen credits on the big screen. Even though everyone thought Ethel Fleming and Ray Kroc had a happy and inspiring marriage, they had problems.
The cause of their divorce, McDonald’s, perplexed the majority of them. Fleming flatly refused to sell milkshake machines to the creator of McDonald’s, who was preoccupied with business.
Following McDonald’s success, Kroc became preoccupied with his business, which led to their divorce. Unlike Fleming, who never married, Kroc married after their divorce Jane Dobbins Green and Joan Beverly Smith.
Ray Kroc’s McDonald’s Corporation
Following WWII, Ray Kroc found himself marketing milkshake mixers. This eventually brought him into contact with Richard and Maurice McDonald, the two brothers who founded McDonald’s. Ray Kroc worked as a franchise agent before opening his own McDonald’s restaurants across the country. Ray eventually purchased the McDonald’s brothers for $2.7 million in 1961, giving him complete control of the company.
Over the course of several years, Kroc transformed the fast-food industry, introducing numerous significant changes to the franchise model. His primary goal was to maintain as much control over each franchise location as possible in order to achieve maximum consistency.
All of the sites were kept clean at all times, and the menu remained consistent. The goal was to make each burger taste the same regardless of where it was served. Harry Sonneborn, his financial genius, also assisted him.
Among other things, Harry was instrumental in the buyout of the McDonald brothers. Kroc had expanded the McDonald’s franchise to 7,500 locations across the United States by the time he died. Many more may be found in the 31 countries and territories. During this time, the McDonald’s corporation was worth $8 billion.
Ray Kroc owned a large number of real estate properties.
According to reports, Ray Croc’s original 554-acre property was advertised for $29 million in 2020. Locals refer to the property’s circular residence as the hamburger. Kroc and his wife Jane purchased the property for $600,000 in 1965.
Soon after, McDonald’s went public, making Kroc a millionaire overnight. He named the property the J and R Double Arch Ranch after acquiring it. Ray used the site for McDonald’s research as well as a vacation spot for himself and his most trusted McExecutives after erecting a number of stunning structures.
Kroc did not construct the renowned hamburger restaurant until the 1970s. He had recently remarried.
The structure is reasonably elegant, with an open floor plan and high ceilings. It also has panoramic views of the surrounding valley and a central fire pit that serves as a focal point for the entire area.
As a nod to McDonald’s, this house used to have two stylized golden arches at the entryway. This functionality, however, was later removed. The site’s most spectacular feature is a 17,000-square-foot lodge built in the late 1960s. It has a 100-person dining room, a 3,000-square-foot great room, and a 5,200-square-foot conference hall.
Joan Kroc eventually sold this property for $14 million in 1989. She intended to donate the proceeds to charity, but the property was eventually purchased by Gerald Kessler, the founder of Nature’s Plus supplements. Following his death, Kessler renamed the ranch the Circle K Ranch, and a legal battle erupted among his heirs. Kessler’s widow later purchased the property and advertised it for sale in 2020.
Ethel Fleming Cause of Death
Ethel Janet Fleming was born in Ohio, USA, on December 25, 1890, to Alexander Frew Fleming and Janet Fleming. Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish scientist and pharmacologist best known for developing benzylpenicillin, the world’s first antibiotic, is not to be confused with him (Penicillin G).
Fleming spent a portion of her childhood in Melrose Park, Cook County, Illinois. Peter W Fleming, Malcolm Blair Fleming, Alexander Fleming, Andrew Edward Fleming, and Mae Belle Nerger were her siblings.
There is no information about her upbringing or her parents’ jobs. She did, however, attend Oak Park’s Lincoln School, the same high school as Ray Kroc. Ethel went on to become a successful actress and performer, best known for her roles in classic films such as The Kiss (1916), The Wonderful Thing (1921), and Under Cover (1923). (1916).
Ethel Fleming passed away on December 26, 1965. Following her divorce, the former actress led a quiet life away from the limelight. As a result, she died of natural causes in Miami, Florida, at the age of 75.
