Rick Harrison Net Worth; The Amazing Actor Of 'Pawn Star'

Rick, short for Richard Kevin Harrison is an American entrepreneur. Those who are a fan of reality TV shows or have a certain knowledge of it, would certainly know of him. For Rick happens to be featured in ‘Pawn Stars’, which is an American reality television series, filmed in LA and was broadcasted in History channel.

However before proceeding onward with Pawn stars and what was the role of Rick in it, it’s best if we go back. Way back when Rick was just an average white person.

Background of Rick Harrison

Rick was born on 22 March 1965 in Lexington, North Carolina to Richard Benjamin Harrison Jr and Joanne Rhue Harrison. Rick’s father was a veteran, serving the U.S. Navy for 20 years while his mother was a real estate agent.

It is said that the Harrisons are distantly related to Benjamin Harrison, who was a lawyer and a politician, and served as the United States 23rd president, from 1889 to 1893.

Rick is the third child of Harrisons. He has 3 other siblings; The elder sister Sherry Joanne, elder brother Joseph Kent and younger brother Chris. Sherry Joanne was suffering from Down syndrome. She died when she was only six years old.

Rick himself was suffering health wise; he was diagnosed with Epilepsy at age 8. Because of unannounced seizures happening from time to time, Rick was confined to his bedroom. With no sports to distract him due to his physical predicament, Rick then sought the world of books, with reading becoming his favorite pastime.

The reading material varied, but it soon became apparent what was Harrison absolute favorite; the works of John D. Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald wrote a series known as ‘the Great Brain’, in which all the money-making schemes were mapped out and were implemented by the main character, throughout the whole story. Subtle it was, but the story did make its impact on Rick at such a tender age.

In addition to literature, Rick also liked reading books on physics and history, particularly history of Royal Navy. Rick attended the Taft Middle school, but dropped out of it at grade 10.

Rick’s family then moved from San Diego, California to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1981. The family real estate’s business failed due to high interest rates plaguing the market, hence the relocation.

Personal Life

Rick Harrison was first married to Kim. The couple had two sons; Corey and Adam. Their marriage only lasted for 4 years.

Rick then got remarried to Tracy Ann Hill in 1987. They too had a child together; a son name Jake. The couple got separated in 2011, despite being together for 24 years.

In year 2013, Rick got engaged to Deanna Burditt, who like him was divorced twice as well. The couple got married on July 2013.

Rick Harrison follows Libertarian school of thoughts.

Career of Rick Harrison

Once getting settle in Las Vegas, Rick’s father opened his first store with whatever little capital he has managed to save. The shop was called ‘The gold and Silver coin shop’. It was of 300 square foot and was secondhand.

During the day, Rick helped his father by working in the store. And in nighttime, he would do the business of repossessing cars.

After five years, the shop was transferred to a much bigger space, from Boulevard South to Fremont street. The shop continued to operate smoothly for two more years, until Benjamin lost his lease.

The shop again was relocated to a new building in a commercial district. What Rick’s father had in mind was; he wanted to convert the family store into a pawn shop.

Acquiring licenses for opening a pawn shop had its requirements like the city having this much population and etc.

The wait was agonizing. But after a city’s population reached a certain number and getting it confirmed from a statistician, the Harrisons were finally able to obtain the license of a pawn shop in 1989.

With that being done, the shop was renamed from ‘The gold and Silver coin shop’ to ‘The gold and silver pawn shop’.

This time, the business succeeded. The shop’s unique selling point (USP) was housing special sports items such as New England Patriots Super bowl ring and jewelry. In a matter of months, gamblers became the regular patrons to the shop as well.

By year 2005, net worth of Rick Harrison and his father earned enough fortune, that they were loaning out money and were earning an interest on it, which amounted to nearly $700,000.

Reality Show

In year 2003, ‘The gold and silver pawn shop’ was featured in the show ‘Insomniac with Dave Attell’ on Comedy Central channel. From there, Rick had an idea that they could make a show about their pawn business. But sadly, nothing constructive came together and the proposition was stashed away in a drawer.

Then in year 2008, Rick was approached by Brent Montgomery and Colby Gaines of leftfield pictures. The duo was aiming to make a reality show about a pawn shop and the Harrisons’ shop was their first choice.

Pitching an idea is one thing. Executing it was a whole another matter. Making a reality show on pawn shop wasn’t easy. At first it was suggested that the show should be filmed in taxicab confessions style- where everything was to be shot through hidden cameras. But it didn’t sound convincing enough and wasn’t adding up.

It was then, Nancy Dubec from History channel stepped in, changing the entire format of the show. Everything was to be captured on-camera. The cast consisted not only of pawnshop staff and its customers, but connoisseurs as well, who were an expert in this field.

The show name was changed several times as well, before finally agreeing on one catchy title; Pawn stars.

The production finally rolled in and the first episode was aired on 19 July 2009. The show recorded pawn shop’s daily activities, from selling to pawning to negotiations and the interpersonal conflicts of the staff. The main cast consisted of Rick Harrison himself, His father, His son Corey Harrison and Corey childhood friend’s Austin Russell.

By 2011, Pawn stars program was charting highest rates on History channel and was the second highest rated reality show.

In addition to this, Rick Harrison made a guest appearance in a sitcom; iCarly and in TV series; The Middle.