Want to know the best Donna Reed movies? How about the worst Donna Reed movies? Curious about Donna Reed box office grosses or which Donna Reed movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Donna Reed movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Donna Reed (1921-1986) was an Oscar®-winning American actress who appeared in many box office successes from 1941 to 1960. Her IMDb page shows 51 acting credits from 1941-1985. This page will rank 39 Donna Reed movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Reed’s 8 television roles, her two uncredited roles and her short were not included in these rankings. This page comes from a request by John and Lupino.
Donna Reed Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Donna Reed 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 Donna Reed movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Donna Reed movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Donna Reed movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Donna Reed movies by 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 Donna Reed movie received.
- Sort Donna Reed movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Donna Reed Table
- Eighteen Donna Reed movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 46.15% of her movies listed. From Here To Eternity (1953) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Donna Reed movie grosses $109.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 21 Donna Reed movies are rated as good movies…or 53.84% of her movies. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) was her highest rated movie while The Far Horizons (1955) was her lowest rated movie.
- Eight Donna Reed movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 20.51% of her movies.
- Four Donna Reed movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.26% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 22 Donna Reed movies scored higher than that average….or 56.41% of her movies. From Here To Eternity (1953) got the the highest UMR Score while Mokey (1942) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Donna Reed
1. Donna Belle Mullenger was born on a farm near Denison, Iowa in 1921.
2. She was first billed as Donna Adams and then MGM finally decided on Donna Reed. MGM changed her name as there was anti-German prejudice during World War II.
3. While at Los Angeles City College, Donna Reed appeared in several college stage productions. At one of those stage plays Reed was spotted by an MGM talent scout and was signed to a contract.
4. Donna Reed appeared in 12 $100 million adjusted box office hits during the 1940s and 5 $100 million adjusted box office hits in the 1950s.
5. Donna Reed was nominated for one Oscar®….but she made it count….as she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for 1953’s From Here To Eternity.
6. Donna Reed was married three times and had 4 children.
7. After Donna Reed’s movie career slowed down she became an evener bigger star on television. The Donna Reed Show ran from 1958 to 1966….she appeared in 275 episodes of that show.
8. Check out Donna Reed‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Not enough stats for you?….Then check out 17 Donna Reed worldwide adjusted grosses
- Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942) $53.80 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) $200.80 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Dr. Gillespie’s Criminal Case (1943) $62.10 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Eyes in the Night (1942) $81.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Faithful In My Fashion (1946) $40.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Green Dolphin Street (1947) $442.00 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Human Comedy, The (1943) $306.70 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Last Time I Saw Paris, The (1954) $259.00 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Man From Down Under, The (1943) $85.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Mokey (1942) $22.90 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Pepe (1960) $221.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1945) $205.40 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Ransom! (1956) $92.70 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) $224.10 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- They Were Expendable (1945) $305.40 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Thousands Cheer (1943) $472.20 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Trouble Along the Way (1953) $129.30 million in adjusted worldwide box office
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Donna Reed eh… like many here I’ve seen her two most famous films – The Courtship of Andy Hardy and Gentle Annie – several times over the years… and almost as famous – Raiders of the South Seas and its darker sequel Raiders of the Lost Temple of Evil – were the inspiration for a series of successful films produced by George Lucas during the 1980s.
I’ve seen just 6 of the 39 films listed, favorites include From Here to Eternia (remade in 1987 with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man) and It’s a Wonderful Life, the popular sequel to Jimmy Stewarts It’s a Wonderful World (1939) later a hit song by Louis Armstrong.
Scandal Street so highly rated? Never heard of it until now.
Looking at the worldwide grosses – Thousands Cheer was a real crowd pleaser, nearly half a billion adjusted. Green Dolphin Street was also huge, it’s been a while since I last saw these two.
Another top job Bruce. Voted Up!
Hey Steve….thanks for checking out our latest page. I see you have been very busy on your You Tube page….keep those videos coming. You know…when I saw Raiders of the Seven Seas….I also thought of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But the more research I did….the more I realized that this Raiders was a low budget bad movie. Which is the polar opposite of Raiders of the Lost Ark…but any movie that gets me thinking about one of my all-time favorites is ok in my book,
Tally counts:
Flora….19 Donna Reed Movies watched
Bern1960…..17 Donna Reed Movies watched
Lupino……9 Donna Reed Movies watched
Steve…..6 Donna Reed Movies watched
Cogerson…5 Donna Reed Movies watched
Chris…..2 Donna Reed Movies watched
Yep… a Wonderful Life just was not as good as the original Wonderful World….but you can’t have everything….where would you put it? I am in the same boat as you when it comes to Scandal Street….but the fact that it was one of Sam Fuller’s first directed movies has me interested in seeing it.
Solid worldwide box office totals for Donna Reed. Thanks for the kind words, the feedback and the visit.
Cogerson
Thanks for the Donna Reed page. Evaluating her career, she reminds me of Dorothy Malone as a star. She was the leading lady in many mid-budget movies, such as westerns and exotic adventures, won a supporting actress Academy Award for playing a “bad” girl, and generally had featured roles in her big budget movies. Both actresses had hit TV shows in the 1960’s after their movie careers waned. What stands out in retrospect for Reed is landing the lead role in It’s a Wonderful Life. Ironically, its disappointing performance at the box office might have hurt Reed’s casting chances and relegated her to second-string status. But in the long run this role is probably the one she is best remembered for by the general public, despite the Oscar for From Here to Eternity.
I am impressed with her 109.80 average box office considering she made so many programmers.
Concerning the critics reaction to her movies, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Picture of Dorian Gray, From Here to Eternity, and They were Expendable are an obvious top four for me. Scandal Sheet has a wonderful premise–a reporter hot on the scent of a murderer who is in fact his editor boss who is also his close father figure. It should be great, but my reaction on my first viewing was that the execution of this great idea was poor and while okay, the movie was not nearly what it should have been. I have it so I plan to re-watch it to see if I still react the same way. As for Reed, she is stuck in a dull outside-the-main-plot love interest role whose principle function is to carp about how corrupt and immoral the tabloid she and John Derek work for is. The Picture of Dorian Gray gets my vote as the best 1940’s horror movie. Hurd Hatfield is uniquely creepy as Dorian, and it features terrific performances by George Sanders and Angela Lansbury.
Hey John
1. Glad you found your requested Donna Reed page.
2. Good connection and examples of Reed’s and Dorothy Malone’s career….I had not connected them that way.
3. It’s A Wonderful Life is always labeled “disappointing or box office bomb” but it was the 27th biggest hit of 1947 (according to Variety). Just for fun I looked at the last 27th biggest hits of the year….2016 Independence Day 2….made money…just not as much as they hoped for 2015 Spy…was considered a hit 2014 Night At The Musuem 3….considered disappointing….but crossed $100 million and 2013 Now You See Me….considered a hit…with a sequel. So I guess the reality is it made money just not as much as they wanted….due to cost….and the whole…Jimmy Stewart is back in theaters push.
4. Sorry went off on a tangent….you are right….the “failure” of that movie did not help her at all.
5. I agree….she is best known for Life versus Eternity….I think although she won the Oscar….she was overshadowed by everybody else…Sinatra, Clift, Lancaster, heck Ernie Borgnine….not to to mention the kiss on the beach.
6. I like all of your favorites…though I have not seen her version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
7. When I read Scandal Sheet was directed by Sam Fuller…I immediately became interested in checking that one out….thanks for the mini-review on both movies I want to see.
8. Seems everywhere I turn….George Sanders keeps popping up….either as a co-star on these pages…..or in the random movies I watch…..just saw him go down with the ship in The Last Voyage….and watched him be a killer in Witness to Murder with Barbara Stanwyck…maybe it is time to do a page on him.
Thanks for the feedback….and the visit.
I have seen 19 Donna Reed movies.
The highest rated movie I have seen is From Here to Eternity.
The highest rated film I have NOT seen is Green Diolphin Street.
The lowest rated film I have seen is Calling Dr. Gillepsie.
My favourite Donna Reed movies are From Here to Eternity, They Were Expendable, and Backlash.
Great to see another page on a classic actress.
Hey Flora….well you are tops so far…with 4 tallies in.
Flora….19 Donna Reed Movies watched
Bern1960…..17 Donna Reed Movies watched
Cogerson…5 Donna Reed Movies watched
Chris…..2 Donna Reed Movies watched
Wow…It’s A Wonderful Life did not crack your Top 3….I find that very surprising…..I imagine Mr. Richard Widmark had something to do with Backlash making your Top 3.
I think I am averaging about every two weeks for a new classic actress….I know Kathryn Grayson has lots of research done….so she should be pretty soon too. As always…thanks for the comment and the visit.
I look forward to Grayson’s page. I recently rewatched Kiss Me Kate.
Back to Donna Reed:
Yes, Widmark had something to do with Backlash making my top 3. As for It’s a Wonderful Life not cracking my top 3, it is in my top 5.
Hey Flora….Who would have thought Widmark had anything to do with it….lol. I think I have completed the research on Grayson…..as her days at MGM made it easy research. Glad to know that It’s A Wonderful Life has a spot in your Top 5. Thanks for the revisit.
Hi
I’ve really only seen Donna Reed in two movies, but two outstanding movies. It’s A Wonderful Life and From Here to Eternity. In both movies she was fantastic. The roles were so different.
I don’t remember her television series ever shown in the UK, but I remember when she got the part of Ellie in Dallas. It was very controversial and there was a lot of stuff in the press about the way she was treated on set. And so she finally left after one series.
She’ll always be remembered for them two great movies.
Hey Chris….well…I would say it is safe to say that you have watched the two most famous Donna Reed movies. I imagine reruns of the Donna Reed Show might have eventually made it your way. As for me….I am aware of the show….but I have not watched a single episode. Yep…her time on Dallas was short but filled with lots of turmoil She was apparently getting ready to sue the producers when she passed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Ms. Donna Reed.
I always liked her show. I have seen 17 of her movies. I liked her role in The Far Horizons and The Last Time I Saw Paris. Another great page.
Hey Bern1960…thanks for being the first to comment on our latest page. I was not too impressive with The Far Horizons…but I am interested in seeing The Last Time I Saw Paris. Your tally of 17 should do well in our tally contest…..let’s see….currently in 2nd place.
Flora….19 Donna Reed Movies watched
Bern1960…..17 Donna Reed Movies watched
Cogerson…5 Donna Reed Movies watched
Chris…..2 Donna Reed Movies watched