Want to know the best Dorothy McGuire movies? How about the worst Dorothy McGuire movies? Curious about Dorothy McGuire box office grosses or which Dorothy McGuire movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Dorothy McGuire movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Dorothy McGuire (1916-2001) was an Oscar® nominated American actress. McGuire’s acting career last over 6 decades. She is most famous for her roles in 1947’s Gentleman’s Agreement, 1957’s Old Yeller and and 1959’s A Summer Place. Dorothy McGuire’s IMDb page shows 55 acting credits from 1943-1990. This page will rank 28 Dorothy McGuire movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her one short films and her 26 television roles were not included in the rankings. This Dorothy McGuire page was requested by Greg, Lupino and FilmNoirFan.
Dorothy McGuire 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 Dorothy McGuire movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Dorothy McGuire movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Dorothy McGuire movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Dorothy McGuire 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 Dorothy McGuire movie received.
- Sort Dorothy McGuire 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.
- Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Dorothy McGuire Table
- Seventeen Dorothy McGuire movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 60.71% of her movies listed. Swiss Family Robinson (1960) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Dorothy McGuire movie grosses $137.40 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 31 Dorothy McGuire movies are rated as good movies…or 71.42% of her movies. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (1945) is her highest rated movie while Summer Heat (1987) is her lowest rated movie.
- Twelve Dorothy McGuire movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 42.85% of her movies.
- Three Dorothy McGuire movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.71% of her movies.
- An average “good movie” Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 60.00. 20 Dorothy McGuire movie scored higher that average….or 71.42% of her movies. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) got the the highest UMR Score while Summer Heat (1987) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Dorothy McGuire
- Dorothy Hackett McGuire was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1916.
2. Dorothy McGuire first gained some notice with her voice work in radio.
3. After radio, Dorothy McGuire moved to Broadway. First appearing as an understudy to Martha Scott in Our Town, and subsequently starring in the domestic comedy Claudia
4. After seeing her performances on Broadway, super producer David O. Selznick, brought her to Hollywood.
5. Dorothy McGuire was nominated for 1 Oscars®. She received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for 1947’s Gentleman’s Agreement.
6. Dorothy McGuire was married one time. She was married to John Swope from 1943 to his death in 1979. They had two children.
7. Dorothy McGuire’s connections to Star Wars – Part 1 In 1960, McGuire starred in Swiss Family Robinson; which was directed by Ken Annakin. George Lucas was a huge fan of Swiss Family Robinson and would eventually name Annakin Skywalker after the director.
8. Dorothy McGuire’s connections to Star Wars – Part 2 The final climatic scene in Swiss Family Robinson was a direct influence on the final Ewok skirmish in 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.
9. Dorothy McGuire starred with 2 members of the Mills family in 2 different Disney films. She played John Mills’ wife in 1960’s Swiss Family Robinson and Hayley Mills’ mother in 1963’s Summer Magic.
10. Check out Dorothy McGuire‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve’s Dorothy McGuire Movie Ranking Page.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globe® is a registered trademark.
Dorothy McGuire was never on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. These are the people on the 2016 list who have appeared with her and William Smith worked with her. Funny I never saw him as a kid star.
20 MAX VON SYDOW The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
65 ROBERT LOGGIA The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
69 MARTIN LANDAU The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
108 KATHY BATES Summer Heat (1987)
198 DEAN STOCKWELL Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
247 CHARLTON HESTON The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
323 DONALD PLEASENCE The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
571 WILLIAM SMITH A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
610 HAL HOLBROOK Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
622 RALPH MORATZ FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956)
781 SHELLEY WINTERS The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
809 ROBERT MITCHUM Till the End of Time (1946)
828 MICHAEL J. POLLARD Summer Magic (1963)
The following people on the 2000 list appeared with her but have since fallen off;
25 RODDY MCDOWELL The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
45 BURT LANCASTER Mister 880 (1950)
77 JOSE FERRER The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
122 JOHN MILLS Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
132 GLENN FORD Trial (1955)
137 CARROLL BAKER The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
149 TELLY SAVALAS The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
156 GREGORY PECK Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
179 JOHN WAYNE The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
219 ELISHA COOK JR. Trial (1955)
221 JOHN CRAWFORD The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
225 PAUL SMITH (I) I Want You (1951)
231 SIDNEY POITIER The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
248 ARTHUR KENNEDY A Summer Place (1959)
248 ARTHUR KENNEDY Trial (1955)
265 RICHARD CRENNA Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
289 ANTHONY PERKINS Friendly Persuasion (1956)
326 ANGELA LANSBURY The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)
326 ANGELA LANSBURY The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
379 ANN DORAN A Summer Place (1959)
399 NEHEMIAH PERSOFF The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
421 MICHAEL ANSARA The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
451 DANA ANDREWS I Want You (1951)
467 VAN JOHNSON Invitation (1952)
476 ROSSANO BRAZZI Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
503 RICHARD CONTE The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
506 DOUGLAS FOWLEY Callaway Went Thataway (1951)
508 ROBERT BLAKE The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
520 WILLIAM SCHALLERT Friendly Persuasion (1956)
532 JIM BACKUS I Want You (1951)
562 PAUL BRYAR Callaway Went Thataway (1951)
583 PAUL STEWART The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
589 ROCK HUDSON This Earth Is Mine (1959)
592 WHIT BISSELL Trial (1955)
606 ALBERTO MORIN This Earth Is Mine (1959)
606 ALBERTO MORIN Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
704 TROY DONAHUE A Summer Place (1959)
704 TROY DONAHUE Susan Slade (1961)
731 JOHN HOYT Trial (1955)
746 HERB VIGRAN Mister 880 (1950)
754 NOBLE WILLINGHAM Summer Heat (1987)
765 LOUIS JOURDAN Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
767 PHILIP AHN Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
786 LLOYD NOLAN A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
786 LLOYD NOLAN Susan Slade (1961)
824 FRANK WILCOX Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
824 FRANK WILCOX Mister 880 (1950)
824 FRANK WILCOX Trial (1955)
914 DOUG MCCLURE Friendly Persuasion (1956)
963 FRANK FERGUSON Trial (1955)
973 JEAN SIMMONS This Earth Is Mine (1959)
979 CLU GULAGER Summer Heat (1987)
994 ELLEN CORBY The Spiral Staircase (1945)
994 ELLEN CORBY The Spiral Staircase (1945)
994 ELLEN CORBY Till the End of Time (1946)
I count 21 Oscar winners for Dorothy and a lot are from one movie;
BURL IVES Summer Magic (1963)
BURT LANCASTER Mister 880 (1950)
CELESTE HOLM Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
CHARLES COBURN The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)
CHARLTON HESTON The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
EDMUND GWENN Mister 880 (1950)
ETHEL BARRYMORE The Spiral Staircase (1945)
GARY COOPER Friendly Persuasion (1956)
GREGORY PECK Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
JAMES DUNN A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
JOHN MILLS Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
JOHN WAYNE The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
JOSE FERRER The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
JOSEPH SCHILDKRAUT THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965)
KATHY BATES Summer Heat (1987)
KATY JURADO Trial (1955)
MARTIN LANDAU The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
MARY ASTOR Claudia and David (1946)
SHELLEY WINTERS The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
SIDNEY POITIER The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
VAN HEFLIN The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Hey Dan.
1. Thanks for checking out our Dorothy McGuire page.
2. About half of the first list comes from The Greatest Story Ever Told.
3. I did not realize William Smith was in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn….hard to believe that little boy grew up to become Jack Wilson of Any Which Way You Can.
4. Looks like that database has Ellen Corby listed twice for The Spiral Staircase.
5. Once again…The Greatest Story Ever Told represents almost half of the Oscar winners….I just that movie….but can’t remember who her scenes were with in that movie.
Good stuff as always.
She plays the Virgin Mary.
Thank you Dan…..appreciate that information.
Ellen is in my database once for The Spiral Staircase, I just copied her twice. I copy and paste the connections.
Hey Dan….I figured it was an error at UVA…..versus with your database. Thanks for the information.
I have seen 11 Dorothy McGuire movies.
The highest ranking film I have seen is Gentlemen’s Agreement.
The highest ranking film I have not seen is Old Yeller.
The lowest rated film I have seen is Calloway Went Thataway
My favourite McGuire film – as well as my favourite Robert Young film is:
The Enchanted Cottage.
Other favourites of mine are:
The Spiral Staircase
Three Coins in a Fountain
Friendly Persuasion
Gentlemen’s Agreement.
The other films I have seen are:
Trial
A Summer Place
Callaway Went Thataway
Swiss Family Robinson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Hey Flora
1. Thanks as always for contributing to our newest page.
2. Tally count…Greg is holding on to the number one spot with 12, you are second with 11, I am at 7 and Steve brings up the rear with 5.
3. I have seen three of your Top 5…..I have not seen Three Coins In A Fountain or The Enchanted Cottage.
4. I will have to check that one out…..David Niven has a movie with a similar title that I really enjoyed, so maybe this will be just as good as that one.
Good feedback as always.
1 BRUCE: I welcome this Dorothy McGuire page with its super Possibly Interesting Facts – I never knew about the Star Wars connection and hadn’t noticed the Mills link. You’ve out-Danned Dan!.I thought that Dorothy was one of the loveliest young actresses about in her heyday and indeed to me she seemed so remarkably like the beautiful Joanne Dru [who married John Ireland and was The Duke’s leading lady in Red River] that I researched whether there was any McGuire/Dru family connection but there was none that I could find. My research did reveal though that Joanne had a rather rude-sounding family name that certainly would not have been allowed to go on any theatre/cinema marquee!
2 McGuire was of course a much bigger star than Dru but worked largely under the radar compared with the likes of Irene Dunne and Claudette Colbert. However it is maybe a record of a kind for a female newcomer in Hollywood that Dorothy got top billing in her first 7 movies over established stars such as Robert Young and when she made Till the End of Time in 1946 she was a bigger star at that juncture than relative newcomer Mitchum. The sequence was broken when she was billed second to [naturally!] my Greg in the 1947 Gentleman’s Agreement though even then she was billed before John Garfield in that movie.
3 Your McGuire stats table shows that overall Dorothy’s box office career was not vertiginous but that in her peak years from say 1943 until 1960 she was in many hits that crashed your adjusted domestic 100 million barrier. Also as you have indicated she had multi-media success on the stage, radio and TV as well as in the movies and for example between 1951 and 1988 made 19 television appearances. Her overall professional career lasted nearly half a century from 1943 until 1990.
5 This profile is in my opinion a strong New Year follow-up to your Barry Fitzgerald page and if my memory serves me correctly you have on this occasion stolen a march on Steve! My personal favourite McGuire flicks are A Summer Place, The creepy The Spiral Staircase, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Trial with my Glenn
Hey Bob
1. Out Danning Dan….proud day indeed….lol.
2. Glad the Possibly Interesting Facts were so informative…..actually her Wiki page is pretty slight….so I had to really go digging for those Star Wars tidbits.
3. Good information on Dru/McGuire….I see the resemblance.
4. David O. Selznick was really in her corner when he got her off Broadway…..so I can see her being billed over Young and Baby Mitchum.
5. Not thinking either you or Flora would think she should be above Peck in Gentleman’s Agreement.
6. I was shocked when she had 17 $100,000,000 hits. That is up there with some pretty major film actresses.
7. A Summer Place is sitting at my local library….I all have to do is go and check it out. Which after doing this page….I am sure I will be doing it soon. Granted we are currently dealing with 10 inches of snow…and might not get out and about until Monday. Beach cities do not know how to handle snow.
Good feedback as always.
I have seen 5 of the 28 films listed – Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, Gentleman’s Agreement, A Summer Place and The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Not that familiar with Dorothy McGuire or even what she looked like until I saw the page, but I knew the name.
Interesting Star Wars trivia, especially about British director Ken Annakin. He has an interesting filmography that would make a colorful Top 30 video some day. Battle of the Bulge is a favorite of mine, The Longest Day too.
Vote Up!
Hey SteveHoF 14 (I wanted to use it at least once)
1. Tally count…..Greg 12, me 6 and you 5.
2. I have always gotten her mixed up with Dorothy Malone. Actually I was convinced McGuire had won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar…..so convinced I spent about a hour looking for that movie…until I finally realized it was Malone was the Oscar winner while McGuire was the Oscar nominated actress.
3. Glad you liked the Star Wars trivia. Actually I did a tweet on that subject today…..and when I put the Swiss Family Robinson poster picture next to Return of the Jedi…..the wild animal race in Swiss looks pretty close to the pod scene chase in Jedi…so maybe Lucas was influenced there as well.
4. Thanks for the comment, the vote and the tally count.
Absolutely love Dorothy McGuire and out of the twenty eight movies listed on this UMR page, I have seen sixteen of them. Just my opinion but Ms. McGuire should of won the Oscar in 1946 for her BRILLIANT performance in THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE which is my favorite of all her films. Other Dorothy McGuire movies I have enjoyed over the years include THE INVITATION, GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT, FRIENDLY PERSUASION, DARK AT THE TOP STAIRS, CLAUDIA, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, TIL THE END OF TIME, A SUMMER PLACE, CALLAWAY WENT THATAWAY ,and THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE. The one Dorothy McGuire movie that I haven’t seen yet but really want to see is TRIAL especially since Juano Hernandez, who is one of my favorite character actors, is also part of the cast of the film plus, if memory serves me, Arthur Kennedy also got an Oscar nomination for his performance in TRIAL as well. I also enjoyed the three films that Miss McGuire made for Disney with OLD YELLER being my favorite of those particular films. Thanks Bruce for once again honoring my request for a page featuring one of the most unique and underrated leading ladies in all of Hollywood history in such a timely fashion.
Hey Greg
1. Congrats on finding this Dorothy McGuire page so quickly.
2. My area (which is a beach resort area) is actually experiencing blizzard type weather…..so with my work being canceled….I had time last night to put this page together.
3. 16 is pretty impressive…..only 12 from being a McGuire completist. I have seen 6….so you double my total. I have seen 4 of the Top 5.
4. I also enjoyed The Spiral Staircase….what a cast.
5. Of your other favorites…I have seen 3 of them….Gentleman, Persuasion and Tree in Brooklyn….of those three Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my favorite.
6. I have not seen all of Old Yeller…..though I have seen about 75% of it…..but I do not count it in my tally count.
7. One of the DVDs WoC brought into our marriage was Swiss Family Robinson…..it is still the only McGuire movie we have in our collection.
Thanks for the kind words…and thanks for the “push” to get an UMR page done on her.
PS. 17 one hundred million dollars is pretty impressive….I had no idea she was in that many hits.