Want to know the best Doris Day movies? How about the worst Doris Day movies? Curious about Doris Day’s box office grosses or which Doris Day movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Doris Day movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place ….. because we have all of that information.
Every April 3rd, my wife and Doris Day (1922-2019) share birthdays (with Marlon Brando and Eddie Murphy as well). Doris Day will turned 91 this year and she is still going strong…..as is my wife. Doris Day began her career as a big band singer in 1939. Her popularity began to rise after her first hit recording, Sentimental Journey in 1945. Four years later, Day started her movie career with the movie Romance on the High Seas. She would become one of the biggest movies stars of all time.
Her IMDb page shows 41 acting credits from 1948-1973. This page will rank 39 Doris Day movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances were not were not included in the rankings.
Doris Day Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Doris Day Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In The Following Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Column one – the link will take you to that movie’s trailer
- Sort by Doris Day’s co-stars of her movies.
- Sort Doris Day movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Doris Day movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Doris Day 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 Doris Day movie received.
- Sort Doris Day 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.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | Pillow Talk (1959) AA Best Actress Nom |
Rock Hudson & Tony Randall |
22.20 | 399.4 | 399.40 | 6 | 83 | 05 / 01 | 98.8 | |
| 2 | The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) | James Stewart & Directed by Alfred Hitchcock |
11.70 | 229.6 | 229.60 | 21 | 81 | 01 / 01 | 98.0 | |
| 3 | Lover Come Back (1961) | Rock Hudson | 24.30 | 353.8 | 353.80 | 7 | 79 | 01 / 00 | 97.3 | |
| 4 | Love Me or Leave Me (1955) | James Cagney | 11.50 | 239.0 | 333.60 | 23 | 69 | 06 / 01 | 96.5 | |
| 5 | The Thrill of It All (1963) | James Garner | 15.70 | 197.0 | 197.00 | 14 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 95.7 | |
| 5 | That Touch of Mink (1962) | Cary Grant | 24.30 | 349.1 | 349.10 | 5 | 69 | 03 / 00 | 95.5 | |
| 7 | Move Over, Darling (1963) | James Garner | 17.40 | 218.5 | 218.50 | 9 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 95.0 | |
| 9 | On Moonlight Bay (1951) | Gordon MacRae | 7.80 | 168.7 | 229.80 | 18 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 94.6 | |
| 10 | Young at Heart (1954) | Frank Sinatra | 7.10 | 167.4 | 167.40 | 42 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 94.1 | |
| 9 | Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) | David Niven | 15.20 | 236.9 | 321.70 | 11 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 94.0 | |
| 11 | The Pajama Game (1957) | John Raitt | 7.70 | 147.5 | 219.90 | 26 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 91.8 | |
| 12 | Midnight Lace (1960) | Myrna Loy & Rex Harrison |
10.00 | 156.2 | 156.20 | 22 | 71 | 01 / 00 | 91.8 | |
| 13 | Calamity Jane (1953) | Howard Keel | 7.60 | 136.1 | 204.50 | 30 | 73 | 03 / 01 | 91.2 | |
| 14 | Teacher's Pet (1958) | Clark Gable | 7.70 | 138.6 | 191.00 | 28 | 73 | 02 / 00 | 90.8 | |
| 15 | Send Me No Flowers (1964) | Rock Hudson | 12.90 | 147.4 | 147.40 | 15 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 90.8 | |
| 16 | Romance on the High Seas (1948) | Jack Carson | 5.80 | 156.0 | 228.70 | 54 | 63 | 02 / 00 | 89.3 | |
| 17 | Tea for Two (1950) | Gordon MacRae | 6.60 | 149.0 | 234.30 | 26 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 88.6 | |
| 18 | I'll See You in My Dreams (1951) | Danny Thomas | 7.00 | 150.2 | 196.90 | 30 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 86.6 | |
| 19 | Lullaby of Broadway (1951) | Gene Nelson | 6.00 | 129.5 | 190.00 | 39 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 86.4 | |
| 20 | The West Point Story (1950) | James Cagney | 6.10 | 137.7 | 185.40 | 39 | 61 | 01 / 00 | 86.1 | |
| 21 | April in Paris (1952) | Ray Bolger | 7.60 | 149.7 | 193.80 | 21 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 85.7 | |
| 22 | My Dream Is Yours (1949) | Jack Carson | 5.50 | 138.9 | 190.90 | 47 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 85.5 | |
| 21 | By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) | Gordon MacRae | 5.70 | 102.7 | 143.90 | 53 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 85.0 | |
| 24 | Young Man with a Horn (1950) | Kirk Douglas | 4.70 | 105.3 | 149.00 | 64 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 84.9 | |
| 25 | The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) | Rod Taylor | 11.50 | 112.7 | 112.70 | 25 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 82.1 | |
| 26 | It's a Great Feeling (1949) | Jack Carson | 5.70 | 143.4 | 188.90 | 42 | 51 | 01 / 00 | 82.1 | |
| 27 | With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) | Brian Keith | 14.30 | 117.6 | 117.60 | 26 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 81.2 | |
| 28 | Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962) | Jimmy Durante | 7.10 | 102.7 | 164.30 | 36 | 61 | 01 / 00 | 80.4 | |
| 29 | Do Not Disturb (1965) | Rod Taylor | 10.40 | 110.0 | 110.00 | 22 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 80.0 | |
| 30 | Storm Warning (1950) | Ginger Rogers & Ronald Reagan |
3.60 | 80.2 | 80.20 | 93 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 78.7 | |
| 31 | The Winning Team (1952) | Ronald Reagan | 4.00 | 78.3 | 87.40 | 86 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 75.8 | |
| 32 | It Happened To Jane (1959) | Jack Lemmon | 4.90 | 87.3 | 87.30 | 51 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 75.4 | |
| 33 | Lucky Me (1954) | Robert Cummings | 4.60 | 108.9 | 168.10 | 62 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 75.2 | |
| 34 | Starlift (1951) | Gordon MacRae | 4.80 | 104.4 | 141.80 | 64 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 73.9 | |
| 35 | The Tunnel of Love (1958) | Richard Widmark | 5.00 | 89.8 | 138.10 | 50 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 73.0 | |
| 36 | Julie (1956) | Louis Jordan | 4.00 | 79.2 | 145.60 | 77 | 54 | 02 / 00 | 68.6 | |
| 37 | Caprice (1967) | Richard Harris | 5.00 | 44.5 | 44.50 | 50 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 46.7 | |
| 39 | Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) | Robert Morse | 10.00 | 82.3 | 82.30 | 37 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 45.6 | |
| 38 | The Ballad of Josie (1967) | Peter Graves | 1.30 | 11.8 | 11.80 | 126 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 41.7 |
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Doris Day Table
- Twenty-three Doris Day movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 58.97% of her movies listed. Pillow Talk (1959) was her biggest hit.
- An average Doris Day movie grossed $117.40 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 28 of Doris Day’s movies are rated as good movies…or 71.79% of her movies. Pillow Talk (1959) was her highest rated movie while Caprice (1967) was her lowest rated movie.
- Thirteen Doris Day movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 33.33% of her movies.
- Four Doris Day movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.25% of her movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 30 Doris Day movies scored higher that average…. or 76.92% of her movies. Pillow Talk (1959) got the the highest UMR Score while Where Were You When The Lights Went Out (1968) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Doris Day
1. Doris Day (1924-) was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2. At the suggestion of orchestra leader, Barney Rapp, she adopted the stage surname Day. He got Day from the fact that he admired her rendition of the song “Day After Day”.
3. During the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), when she saw how camels, goats and other “animal extras” in a marketplace scene were being treated. From that day she began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.
4. Doris Day was nominated for one acting Oscar® nomination…1959’s Pillow Talk.
5. Doris Day was nominated for five acting Golden Globe® nominations…1958’s The Tunnel of Love, 1959’s Pillow Talk, 1960’s Midnight Lace, 1962’s Billy Rose’s Jumbo and 1963’s Move Over Darling.
6. During the peak of her movie career (1959-1964), she was named the number one movie star…. four times.
7. Doris Day has often said Calamity Jane (1953) as her personal favorite of the 39 films she appeared in.
8. Doris Day briefly dated Ronald Reagan.
9. Doris Day was the first choice to play Mrs. Robinson in 1967’s The Graduate.
10 Doris Day She has two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One for music career and one for movie career.
For one of the best Doris Day pages out there….check out The Magic of Doris Day.
Steve Lensman’s Doris Day You Tube Video
Our Doris Day Box Office Only Page.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Hmmm. I see that this is a page I commented on very early in following you and as such I never said what percentage of movies I’ve seen.
Top ten movie score:
I’ve seen 8.
11-20:
I have seen 9 now with Midnight Lace added.
21-30:
Hmmm. I’ve only seen 5 of these. A couple I hadn’t heard of.
31-38:
I’ve seen 5 of 9 of these. I’ve heard of nine of them, so I think these should be higher than the ten before full of things I don’t know, but…oh well.
So I have seen 17 of her top 20. That is 85%.
Overall, I have seen 27 of 38 movies. That is 71%
Last night I watched Midnight Lace for the first time. It is full of great stars and character actors. It is a taut thriller I highly recommend. It shouldn’t be called Mignight Lace. That sounds like Pillow Case as if it were a romantic comedy. Plus, it refers to an outfit Day buys early in the film made of midnight black lace. While she does wear it near the end of the film, it is not important to the plot. I would have called it Mrs. Preston, similar to the thriller she made with louis Jourdan being called Julie. The person on the phone tormenting her always calls her Mrs. Preston.
Hey Flora….This was the hub that almost had me quit HubPages. As soon as I hit publish…it got tagged with a duplicate message and HubPages pulled it…..after arguing with them they made it active again….then pulled it down again saying it was duplicate again…it took almost a month to finally get things straight….the computer said it was too similar to my James Stewart hub. Granted they made a movie together but I think there were over 100 movies on the two hubs and one was the same…and it got a duplicate….it still makes me mad when I think about it…can you tell?…lol. Eventually they gave me this on my hub…that only I can see.
CERTIFIED ORIGINAL: This Hub has been granted an exception and is no longer considered by HubPages to be duplicated.
Ok…I am done ranting….71% you must be a Doris Day fan. I have only seen 6 of these movies…and three of them have been since I wrote the hub….although I almost checked out Caprice the other day. I will keep an eye out for Midnight Lace, I remember my mother always liking that movie…and it also stars Myrna Loy. Thanks for the update…they are always greatly appreciated.
Forgive me for leaving out a number……”I believe the adjusted number for 2011 dollars should be over 70 million since “Eggroll” grossed more at the box-office than “The Glass Bottom Boat” two years earlier. My mistake and sorry.
Great job here…lots of work but most impressive. I’ve seen all the films including “With Six You Get Eggroll”, 54 times when it opened in the summer/fall of 1968. I was at the World Premiere in Boston at the Orpheum Theatre and sat in front of co-stars Pat Carroll and Barbara Hershey. “Eggroll” is one of the top ten moneymakers of Miss Day’s career with more than 10 million gross in the US alone. I believe the adjusted number should be over million based on the gross as reported by Variety.
Hey Paul E. Brogan…thanks for checking out my Doris Day hub. Wow you saw Eggroll many times and the World Premiere at the Orpheum sounds like a very memorable experience…thanks for sharing that story. As for the adjusted box office…rechecked my box office Variety magazines….On January 8th 1969 Variety reported that With Six You Get Eggroll was the 30th biggest hit of the year with rentals of 3.6 million…..in the Variety May 4 1983 issue…it gives With Six You Get Eggroll…credit for 4.5 in rentals….I use a 2.2 multiplier which gets the box office gross up to the 10 million you mention which translates to 60.40 million which is based on 7.6 million tickets sold for Eggroll..
Checking Glass Bottom Boat now…Variety on January 4th 1967 reported Glass Bottom Boat was the 20th biggest hit of the year with 4.32 million in rentals…and reported in Variety May 4 1983…Glass Bottom Boat earned 4.6 million in rentals which translates to 9.2 million tickets sold or 73.10 million in 2012 dollars….granted this is not an exact science..but I think our numbers are pretty close but different…thanks for the input it is greatly appreciated.
I haven’t said how many I’ve seen!? Oh, dear I must amend this. That will never do!
I have seen 18 of them thus far, 49% of her films. And they are all through the list. The lowest ranked film I’ve seen is The Ballad of Josie. Of the top ten I have seen 7 of them. Of the ones I haven’t seen, I can’t say the comedies where children cause a lot of noise, mess or jealousy are high on my list of priorities (I think I’ll be fine if I never see With Six You Get Eggroll.)
Hey Flora well you more than triple my total and more than double Steve’s total….so you are easily the winner again. I have been thinking I want to watch the Garner/Day movies again. Probably do that after I am done watching Fred Astaire movies. Thanks for coming back for another visit to my Doris Day page.