But Cage didn’t hold on to his fortune for long. He squandered it away on a string of expensive and often eccentric purchases, eventually facing foreclosure on several properties and owing the IRS $6.3 million in property taxes.
Now worth around $25 million, Cage is taking roles left and right to help pay off his debts.
As chronicled in CNBC‘s “Secret Lives of the Super Rich,” here’s a glimpse at some of Cage’s craziest purchases.
Cage once owned 15 residences, including a $25 million waterfront home in Newport Beach, California, a $15.7 million countryside estate in Newport, Rhode Island, and an $8.5 million abode in Las Vegas, pictured below.
He also purchased, for $3.4 million, the infamous LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans, known as one of the most haunted houses in America.
Over in Europe, Cage purchased not one but two castles for $10 million and $2.3 million, respectively. $3 million got him a deserted island in the Bahamas.
He also sprung for a nine-foot-tall burial tomb. And even bought shrunken pygmy heads. He blew $450,000 on the late shah of Iran’s Lamborghini and another $150,000 on a pet octopus.
He spent yet another $150,000 on the first Superman comic. Allegedly, Cage also once outbid fellow actor Leonardo DiCaprio for a 7-million-year-old dinosaur skull. The $276,000 artifact turned out to be stolen, however, and Cage had to return it to the Mongolian government.