Want to know the best Clifton Webb movies? How about the worst Clifton Webb movies? Curious about Clifton Webb box office grosses or which Clifton Webb movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Clifton Webb movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Clifton Webb (1889-1966) was a three time Oscar®-nominated American actor. Despite his emaciated looks he became a major box-office attraction from the mid 1940s to the end of the 1950s. His IMDB page shows 27 credits from 1917-1962. This page will rank 20 Clifton Webb movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His silent movie appearances and his cameo roles were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: This Clifton Webb page comes from a request by Cameron that was made only a few days ago. So how did it get to the top of the request pile? Well is often the case…when we get a request….we take a quick look to see how difficult the page will be to complete. In this case…60% of his movies were already in our database….but what was even more impressive was the fact that every single Clifton Webb movie was listed in Variety’s Top Grossers of the year. Well…kids….that has never happened before (ok…it did with James Dean…but he only had 3 movies). Not for Clark Gable, not for Cary Grant, not for John Wayne. So since it was not going to take much research….Cameron’s request jumped all the other requests.
Clifton Webb Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Clifton Webb Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Clifton Webb movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Clifton Webb movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Clifton Webb movies by yearly worldwide box office rank
- Sort Clifton Webb movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Clifton Webb movie received.
- Sort Clifton Webb movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Clifton Webb
1. Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1889.
2. Clifton Webb was trained to be a singer and dancer. He even sang with the Boston Opera Company. These skills were never used during his film career….but they did get him to Broadway.
3. Clifton Webb was signed by MGM to a 18-month contract. MGM believed it could make a dancing star out of Webb…the same way RKO had made Fred Astaire a star. The studio wanted Webb to do a musical entitled “Elegance” opposite Joan Crawford. When Crawford lost interest in the project the movie was dropped.
4. Clifton Webb was nominated three times for an acting Oscar®: 1944’s Laura (Best Supporting Actor), 1946’s The Razor’s Edge (Best Supporting Actor) and 1948’s Sitting Pretty.
5. Clifton Webb never married and had no children. He lived with his mother until her death at age 91 in 1960…he passed away in 1966. She called him…her “Little Webb” all of his life.
6. Clifton Webb was the inspiration for Mr. Peabody on “The Bullwinkle Show” cartoon.
7. Clifton Webb was listed three times in the Quigley Top Box Office Star polls: He was ranked 14th in 1949, 7th in 1950 and 21st in 1951.
8. In Joel Hirschhorn’s Rating The Movie Stars book….Clifton Webb has an average score of 3.22 Stars per movie (4.00 stars is the highest in his ratings)….that is good enough to put Webb in the Top 25% of all the stars he rated.
9. In Joel Hirschhorn’s Rating The Movie Stars book….they list 7 of his movies as 4 star performances: 1944’s Laura, 1946’s The Razor’s Edge, 1948’s Sitting Pretty, 1950’s Cheaper By The Dozen, 1952’s Dreamboat, 1953’s Titanic and 1954’s Woman’s World.
10. Check out Clifton Webb’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Check out Steve’s Clifton Webb Movie Ranking YouTube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Just watched The Razor’s Edge yesterday- that gives me a total of 13 movies watched featuring “Little Webb”. The decline of his box office success in the mid fifties also shows the decline in the audience reception for the likes of Dorothy McGuire and Jane Wyman- both highly favoured only a few years earlier..
My favs would include Razor, Sitting Pretty, Laura and The Man Who Never Was. As for Titanic, I still think anything starring Stanwyck is worth watching! Thank you for doing another page on a classic movie star, people like Webb, Thelma Ritter and Marie Dressler are proof that Hollywood was not all about pretty faces 🙂
Hey Lupino…13 or 65% is pretty impressive….especially compared to the 60% Flora (7 movies) and I (5 movies) put up as a combined total. It might be a few days before we hear from Steve….but I would be shocked if he bests your total.
In fairness to Webb …he was pushing 70 by the time the mid to late 1950s arrive…not thinking many people we huge box office draws as they reached that age. I have not seen The Razor’s Edge in years…but I vividly remember his part. I just saw Titanic a few months ago….he was awesome in the movie….I would have rathered have seen his story retold in the Cameron movie than the one he used.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Do I take it that you- like myself- are not the biggest Titanic And my Heart will go on Fan in this world? 🙂
Hey Lupino….I think Cameron’s Titanic is a well shot beautiful movie that makes you believe you are seeing the real event unfold in front of your eyes….the extra plots by Cameron…are average at best. Clifton Webb’s story makes way more sense ….and more believable.
Agree with you completely on this one!
Good to know we are on the same page.
Thank you. Have to say your responses and quick request turn around are surprising.
Hey Cameron.. it might take a day or two….but I tried and respond to every comment made on this page. The requests normally do not happen this quickly…..but your suggestion of Clifton Webb turned out to be a pretty easy to put together. Glad you liked the page.
Hey Dan
1. Thanks for checking out our new Clifton Webb page.
2. Laura is also one of my favorites but I have not seen Stars and Stripes….I will have to check that one out.
3. Not surprising that he does not have many co-stars on the Oracle list…..especially since his last movie was over 55 years ago.
4. Like seeing good old Bobby Wagner popping up on that list.
5. Interesting information on Robert Easton…never really knew him before this comment.
6. Only 9 Oscar winners? Seems low….but this movie total is pretty low.
7. Your connections you list are really showing me how I underestimated the career of Eric Roberts. I mean wow he is only one actor away from Clifton Webb. I would have never guessed that.
8. Always glad to see one of my favorites (Caine) linked to so many.
More great information from you…..thank you.
I have seen 7 of Clifton Webb’s movies.
The highest ranked film I have seen is Number 1: The Razor’s Edge
The lowest ranked film I have seen is Number 11: Boy on a Dolphin
My favourite film as you can probably guess is Number 2: Laura. I watch it often.
Hey Flora
1. I have seen 5 Webb movies to your 7….so I am close to your tally….but still behind.
2. So you have seen 7 of his Top 11…..seems that means UMR has the cream of Webb’s movies
rising to the top.
3. Laura is an all-time classic….filled with great performances
As always thanks for stopping by and commenting.
My favorite Clifton Webb movies are Laura and Stars and Stripes Forever
The following are the only people on the current Oracle of Bacon top 1000 of the Hollywood Universe list who worked with Clifton Webb.
Belles on Their Toes (1952) – 937 Robert Easton
Dreamboat (1952) – 937 Robert Easton
Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) – 966 Kathleen Freeman
Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) – 271 Robert Wagner
Titanic (1953) – 271 Robert Wagner
Woman’s World (1954) – 912 Arthur Tovey
You may see Robert Easton (now deceased) on a number of these lists. He usually played young guys with a real Southern drawl. Since you have all those old Variety papers you may recall Robert’s ads for teaching people dialects, he seemed to be in a lot of issues. He wore a bowler hat in his ads. Considering I had only seen him in parts where he also spoke very slowly I found this interesting. Of course at the time I had no idea who he was, this observation is in retrospect. He later popped up in films looking like Wild Bill Hickok, long white hair (sort of like Gregg Allman) and a white beard to boot
Clifton only appeared with 9 Oscar winners as far as I can tell.
Boy on a Dolphin (1957) – Sophia Loren
Dreamboat (1952) – Ginger Rogers
For Heaven’s Sake (1950) – Edmund Gwenn
Holiday for Lovers (1959) – Jane Wyman
Mister Scoutmaster (1953) –Edmund Gwenn
Satan Never Sleeps (1962) – William Holden
The Man Who Never Was (1956) – Gloria Grahame
The Razor’s Edge (1946) – Anne Baxter
The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959) – Charles Coburn
Woman/s World (1954) – Van Heflin
Here’s a few 2 step connections between the current top 10 on the Oracle of Bacon and Clifton Webb.
Eric Roberts was in Betrayal (2013) with one Ric Young who was in Satan Never Sleeps (1962) with Cliff.
Michael Madsen was in The End of Innocence (1990) with Billie Bird who was in Woman’s World (1954) with Cliff.
Mike was in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) with a Jeannie Epper who also is in Elopement (1951) with Cliff.
Mike is in Racing with the Moon (1984) with Max Showalter who is also in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952)
Danny Trejo was in Lost (2004) with Robert Easton who is Dreamboat (1952) with Cliff.
Danny is in Bound by Honor (1993) with Roberto Cantreras (who are these people) who was in Holiday for Lovers (1959).
Danny was in Runaway Train (1985) along with Eric Roberts and so is Tony Epper who is also in Elopement (1951)
Samuel L. Jackson was in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) with Jeannie Epper (Tony and Jeannie are brother and sister and were kids at the time. Jeannie was later Linda Carter’s stunt double on Wonder Woman and Kate Jackson’s on Charlie’s Angels).
Sam was in Betsy’s Wedding (1990) with Nicholas Coster who was also in Titanic (1953).
Harvey Keitel was in Presence of Mind (1999) with Lauren Bacall who was in Woman’s World (1954)
Harvey is in La mort en direct (1980) with William Russell who is also in The Man Who Never Was (1956)
Robert De Niro was in Marvin’s Room (1996) with Gwen Verdon who was also in Dreamboat (1952)
Bob is in The Last Tycoon (1976) with Dana Andrews who is also in Laura (1944)
Willem Dafoe was in American Psycho (2000) with Charlotte Hunter (???) who is also in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952)
Willem is in Manderlay (2005) and The Walker (2007) with Lauren Bacall
Malcolm McDowell was in Red Roses and Petrol (2003) with Robert Easton
Malcolm was in The Player (1992) with Jill St. John who is also in The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)
Malcolm was in Royal Flash (1975) with Michael Hordern who is also in The Man Who Never Was (1956)
Malcolm is in The Passage (1979) with Robert Brown who’s also in The Man Who Never Was (1956)
Malcolm is in Between Strangers (2002) with Sophia Loren who is in Boy on a Dolphin (1957).
Donald Sutherland was in Billion Dollar Brain (1967) with Ed Begley who was in Sitting Pretty (1948)
Donald is in Johnny Got His Gun (1971) with Robert Easton and Arthur Tovey who is in Woman’s World (1954)
Don is in Kelly’s Heroes (1970) with Dee Pollock (???) who is also in Mr. Scoutmaster (1953)
Don is in The Shuttered Room (1967) with Carol Lynley who is also in Holiday for Lovers (1959)
Don is in Promise Her Anything (1966) with Robert Cummings who is also in For Heaven’s Sake (1950)
Don connects in 2 steps through a few more obscure people.
Michael Caine is in The Wrong Box (1966) with Peter Sellers who is The Man Who Never Was (1956)
Michael Caine is in Ashanti (1979) with William Holden who is in Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
Michael is in A Hill in Korea (1956) with Stephen Boyd who is also in The Man Who Never Was (1956)
Michael also connects in 2 steps through a number of lesser known people.