Robert Downey Jr. is Hollywood's highest-paid actor

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

Robert Downey Jr., once best known for his orange jail jumpsuit, is now Hollywood's hit machine, the highest-paid actor in town, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of entertainers with boffo bank accounts.

Downey tops the list with an estimated $75 million in earnings, with Channing Tatum at No. 2 and Hugh Jackman at No. 3.

The list is compiled by speaking with agents, producers, managers and other people in-the-know to estimate earnings for each star between June 2012 and June 2013.

Downey's reign at the top is all the more sweet given how far he had fallen in the late 1990s: He was addicted, under arrest, in and out of jail, in and out of rehab, in and out of court, and, finally, in prison for nearly a year, for drug possession. In Hollywood he was seen as talented but damaged goods, and un-insurable.

What Downey lived through actually killed other young actors with substance abuse problems, such as Heath Ledger and, just over the weekend, Glee star Cory Monteith, who was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room. The coroner reported today he died from an overdose of heroin and alcohol.

But Downey survived and today, as the Forbes article says, he's a "hit machine."

"He's starred in six movies that have each grossed over $500 million at the box office worldwide," says the Forbes article. "Two of those films, The Avengers and Iron Man 3, each earned over $1 billion."

He's fully insurable now.