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.
Hi Mr C;
I just got around to reading some of the comments on Dorothy McGuire, specifically regarding her being listed below the title in Friendly Persuasion and apparently no longer having the box office appeal to be listed above the title with Gary Cooper. Many comments quote Bette Davis’s quote about going out above the title. Interestingly, in the 1959 movie, The Scapegoat, Alec Guinness is the only actor listed above the title with Bette Davis listed below the title as “also starring.” Like Dorothy, Bette also seems to have lost some of her appeal (though she apparently regained it a few years later with Baby Jane.)
Hey Nick….good thoughts on billing, McGuire and Bette Davis. We have debated top billing, over the title and other credits for years. By the time Friendly Persuasion came out….McGuire peak box office years were behind her…and like so many other actresses…her roles turned to mother roles in Disney movies. Davis had a great run….and yes….Whatever Happened To Baby Jane brought her back to star status for sure….but it did not last long. Appreciate the well thought out comment.
“Voted up. Only seen 7 of these movies…but most are in the Top 10. #1 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn…James Dunn steals the show as the dad…Dunn got Oscar for movie. #2 Friendly Persuasion ….huge hit….but Cooper and Perkins have the good roles. #3 Spiral Staircase….nice thriller…liked her in the movie. #5 Gentleman’s Agreement….huge hit..but not one of my favorite Best Picture Oscar winners. #7 Swiss Family Robinson….Disney classic. #10 Three Coins in the Fountain…has not aged well. #15 Greatest Story Ever Told…barely remember her part. Hope you have more success with her video than I did with my page…she is currently the 632nd most popular page on UMR.” – Our thoughts on Steve’s recently added video.
Danke schoen
Steve….receperint vos
HI STEVE Dorothy McGuire had a very solid 1940s career that in the pecking order probably placed her just below the main Legends for female lead roles. She was the star of the minor classics A Tree Grown in Brooklyn and the very creepy The Spiral Staircase. She was billed above Robert Young in her first two movies, Claudia and The Enchanted Cottage, above Mitchum in Till the End of Time, on top of Young again in Claudia and David and before John Garfield [though 2nd to Peck] In Gentleman’s Agreement.
However the 1950s saw her become more of an also-ran in terms of top star status. Her 1954 Make Haste to Live [your first poster] was a B movie that went the rounds over here on a double bill with China Venture starring Edmond O’Brien and Jocelyn Brando [sister of Joel Hirschhorn’s great protégé] By 1956 in Friendly Persuasion Dorothy’s star status was no longer sufficient to secure for her equal billing above the title with Cooper. She was in the 1959 hit A summer Place but was 2nd billed to Richard Egan who was never a vertiginous star and that same year was 3rd fiddle to Hudson and Jean Simmons in This Earth is Mine. Your posters/stills amply demonstrate most of what I have said in these two paragraphs.
Best POSTERS for me in your video are Mr Pennypacker, Flight of the Doves, foreign language one for This Earth is Mine, Invitation, Susan Slade [very picturesque indeed] super foreign language ones for I want You co-starring my own 50s fave Dana Andrews, The Greatest Story Ever Told [which movie of course features The Duke’s notorious in film move historian and film buff folklore “This man truly is the son of Gawd” speech] an excellent entire set of really saucy ones for A Summer Place, and a riveting one for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
A comprehensive set of really classy STILLS, my own favourites among which are (1) Dorothy with Fred and Keel (2) with Burton Lancaster (3) with Guy Madison (4) lobby card for Claudia (5) in Old Yeller (6) with my Greg and Garfield (7) in The Spiral Staircase (8) lobby card for Friendly Persuasion illustrating again Dorothy’s inferior billing that I allude to above (9) and A Tree Grows in Manchester – rightly placed at No 1. However even better than any of those fine displays is Trial with my Glenn which for me is a collector’s item
I always thought that Dorothy looked a lot like Joanne Dru and in fact I used to think they were sisters. You and Bruce agree on 4 of Dorothy’s Top 6 best reviewed. Overall your video is 97.5 rated by my scores. “Vote up!” plus!
Hey Bob….good breakdown on Steve’s video and Dorothy’s career. I agree her peak years were the 1940s…..and I agree her 1950s were rough until she became a Disney mom for a few movies. Good stuff as always.
Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info and trivia, much appreciated.
Happy you enjoyed the picture gallery.
To be fair to Dorothy she was top billed on quite a few of these, she was only 2nd billed when she was up against a major movie star like Peck, Cooper or Lancaster. When her star wattage started to fade her billing dropped, which happens to most actresses. So pointing out McGuire’s “inferior billing” isn’t really fair or nice, unless you have something against actresses.
Two of McGuire’s films scored 10 out of 10 – Friendly Persuasion and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. There are two 9s – The Spiral Staircase and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. And there are 12 films scoring 8 out of 10.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is no.1 on Bruce’s critics chart and on my chart too and is also tops on the IMDB chart. The Enchanted Cottage is no.1 at Rotten Tomatoes.
HI STEVE It would mortify me if I thought that I had misled you or others on this site into thinking I have something against actresses as you put it. That the latter is not the case can hopefully be demonstrated by a reading or further reading of posts that I have left on this site which gush over women like Crawford, Durbin, Day and Julia Roberts as well as many B list actresses such as Rhonda Fleming and Dorothy Malone. Surely you remember how I stood almost alone in going to bat for Joan Crawford when intense debates on this site were being conducted about Crawford v Davis and Crawford v Loy?
When I mention slippage in billing it is not because of any bias or to denigrate an artist of either gender but as markers of the factual historical decline of the performers concerned. It is possible that those markers may be more prevalent in the case of women because of the apparent existence of two very strong historical factors-
1/You may recall that in a comprehensive study W o C concluded that there was career bias against actresses but by HOLLYWOOD which was more tolerant of ageing men than their female counterparts. W o C proved that by demonstrating that a Hollywood male’s top star career lasted on average about 15 years longer than that of a movie actress. Hence actresses’ billing was bound to slip earlier than that of film males.
2/Whilst both genders have had movie stars die tragically young such as Dean, Monroe and Lombard it would seem that even the males of Hollywood’s Golden years [the 1930s and 1940s mainly according to historians] who had a reasonable lifespan died on average younger than their female counterparts among the old Legends. I give a few examples here to help illustrate these points-
CLASSIC ERA MALES NAME/AGE AT DEATH/YEARS ACTIVE/NO OF YEARS
Clark Gable/59/1924-1960/ 36 years
Spencer Tracy/67/1930-67/37 years
Gary Cooper/60/1926-1961/35 years
Errol Flynn/50/1933-1959/26 years
Humphrey Bogart/57/1930-1956/26 years
Continued in Part 2
CLASSIC ERA FEMALES NAME/AGE AT DEATH/YEARS ACTIVE/NO OF YEARS
Bette Davis/81/1929-1989/60 years
Joan Crawford/73/1925-1970/45 years
Dame*** Olivia DeHavilland DBE/? – alive at 102/1935-2009/74 years
Myrna Loy/88/1925-1982/57 years
Katharine Hepburn/96/1932-1994/62 years
***Born of British parents.
Thus in this table the females have enjoyed careers that spanned on average 28 years more that the male counterparts [ie the female careers were almost twice as long as the males]. The downside of that is of course that they will usually see far more years of decline than the males which in turn involves slippage of billing.
Chronicling negative factors about a star or his/her career should not be regarded as disapproval of the performer but simply “telling it as it is” as The Donald would say. For example after 1980 Brando, although still lauded by many and extravagantly paid because of past glories spent 25 years in professional decline and in his final movie 2001’s The Score he was 4th billed whereas DeNiro was the top-billed star. I am sure you will not conclude that my acknowledging that decline indicates bias against The Great Mumbler!
Conversely whilst I suggested that in my opinion Lucille Ball’s movie career was relatively speaking not one of the strongest of all time, I nevertheless highlighted the fact that she was perceived OVERALL as one of the handful of very top Legends who were consistently listed as such by in her case for example being ranked by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Greatest People of the 20th Century from all walks of life and disciplines, and that Variety Magazine had included her in its Top 10 Greatest Entertainers of the 20th Century.
Dorothy Maguire was a lovely, sexy lady who was a fine actress and I do not think I was being unfair or un-nice to her at all, but it is just that you nailed it better by saying pointing out that in her heyday only the very top Legends like Peck and Lancaster got billed above her, which was par for the course. Dorothy’s billing stared to slip seriously only when she turned 40 and you will recall that W o C demonstrated that most actresses fell by the wayside once they hit the “curse of 39”. Therefore Dorothy’s slippage was again par for the course and quite ‘respectable’ Anyway great chatting to you. Take care.
My apologies to the estate of the late Dorothy McGuire for mis-spelling her surname in my previous post.
Hey Bob….interesting points you made in your two comments back to Steve. I think she was a above the title actress for most of her career. I do not think you have anything against actresses…just think you put a little too much stock in first billed when stars make movies together. Putting the stars together is the reason the movie gets made. And yes somebody has to be billed first. Good comment.
Hey Bob…speaking for the estate of Dorothy…I am happy to say you are forgiven.
well stated, thanks for your comments.
Hey Steve….A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a good movie…but not a whole lot of fun to watch….but glad we agree on it being ranked 1st. As for Bob and billing issues….I do not think he has anything against actresses….just “Top Billed” is one of his main ideas on his movie platform. Good stuff.
Hey Lupino….moving this return comment….because it was getting confusing trying to understand which comments went with what comment. (1) I agree…there is a pecking order…..but the ones on the poster need to get some props too. Under Bob’s thinking…if they are not the main star….they should get no credit for the box office. (see our unending conversation on Myrna Loy)….where I say….it they are used to promote the movie……they get credit.
My most recent example….my little ones want to see Sherlock Gnomes. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2296777/ …..after seeing the trailers…WoC and I were thinking…..that’s a pass…..BUT….when I realized Sir Michael Caine was returning in his voice…..all of sudden….we are planning on going to the theater to see it. Is Caine the main character…nope…but how many other Caine fans are doing the same thing. There after all …not too many “new” Michael Caine movies coming.
As for the weather…..school has been out of session since last Wednesday (1/3 early release)…but this has to be the last day (1/10)….as the roads are finally clearing up….our beach area is not used to snow like this….it dumped 10 inches of snow last Thursday (1/4)….and shut down the area for an entire week….up north 10 inches would have been a slight delay on Wednesday.
Good feedback as always.
Hello Bruce,
I understand your thinking about billing, but as BOB would readily agree, the way an actor is billed in his/her latest film shows how he/her is judged by the financers concerning box office status- and Miss McGuire, at this point in her career, seemed no longer important enough to share above the title glory with Gary Cooper. As Bette Davis said: “I want to go with my name above the title”. Even if the film was awful and Bette quit during filming, she did manage that feat ?
How’s the weather at your end now? Another day off to shovel snow or back to work for Cogerson? Whatever it is, hope you enjoy what you’re doing ?
Hello Bruce,
I totally agree with you on the subject of actors attracting additional audiences, even if billed below the title…still, if someone has the main male/female part in a movie and finds his/her name below the title, it is clear that producers are starting to loose faith…A famous quote from Bette Davis: “I want to go out with my name above the Title!”.
I myself have watched numerous films because of the participation of someone named below, some have been very good, some have been plain awful. Let’s put it like this…The last 2 Focker movies wouldn’t have had me in the audience if it hadn’t been for Mother Focker. While Meet the Parents was an ok movie with MF highly visible, the last movie was an awful mess, and I truly regret the money I spent at the box office. Still, a completist is a comletist ;O)
Hey Lupino. Good quote from Bette Davis. I am right there with about going to a movie because of a name under the title. Above the title is important….and certainly shows who is the “big cheese” of that movie.
That is why I do not understand all of the Wahlberg issue with his reshoots. I agree equal pay for all……but the star of a movie should get paid more. Without Wahlberg agreeing to take lesser movie in the first place….All The Money In The World would not have been made. Wahlberg’s name gets movies made. I love Michelle Williams…a great actress…who will one day be “Oscar Winner Michelle Williams”….but her name does not get movies made. On the other side of things……Jennifer Lawrence got more money than Chris Pratt for Passengers….and it was the right thing to do….at the time Jennifer Lawrence was the bigger star…so her name was worth more. It is not based on sex or race….but on box office clout….and not thinking that is going to ever change.
I know the feeling….being a Bruce Willis completist…..the last 5 years has taken me to some pretty crappy DVDs…..yet there I go….grabbing movies like Once Upon A Time in Venice (actually not too bad) Marauders, First Kill and Precious Cargo like they are Citizen Kane.
Hello everybody,
I wrote a detailed post on Miss McGuire here yesterday, but it seems it didn’t show up? First time that has ever happened to me. So, here is the short version: I have always enjoyed this delicate actress, she started on a very high level of success, but stayed on top only for a very short time- I often thought that Hollywood didn’t really know what to do with her, since she was neither a conventional beauty nor had that extra special larger than live quality that women like Crawford or Davis had. She simply was a damn good actress. Like Bruce, I was “shocked” when I saw how many big hits she had, made me even more curious what went wrong in the long run. I have seen 16 movies from the chart above, plus many of her TV performances, where she always was believable and sincere. My fav McGuire movies are The Enchanted Cottage, A Tree grows in Brooklyn, The Spiral Staircase, Invitation, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and Friendly Persuasion- where she didn’t even receive Star billing! On her debut as “Claudia” I have to say that making me root for her character in that movie is high proof of the quality of her acting. She was charming as the naive young woman, while her charater, in lesser hands, could so easily have become either too cute or simply annoying. As the mother in TV’s Rich Man, Poor Man she portrayed a totally different part, a woman mourning about what she had gotten out of her life compared to what she thinks she would have deserved, while making life miserable for those around her. Those parts, too, easily become one dimensional cliches- but not in the hands of one of Hollywood’s unsung great talents!
Hey, Lupino!!!
Interesting that Miss McGuire didn’t receive star billing in “Friendly Persuasion” but still won a few awards for her acting in that film. If memory serves me, The National Board Of Review, here in The States gave Dorothy their Best Actress Award for 1956.
Hey Greg….the movie posters I just saw on Friendly Persuasion pretty much give her star billing….Gary Cooper is first….but right after him (ok William Wyler is ahead of her) is McGuire. McGuire did win the NBR in 1956…..sadly the Oscar nor the Golden Globe people gave her any recognition. Thanks for the feedback.
Hey Lupino
1. Sorry your comment disappeared. I looked for it the “trash” section on my comment box….but it was not there. Sometimes when two people post a comment at the same exact time….it makes a comment disappear.
2. But glad you came back today….and this comment made it.
3. Tally count. You have bumped Greg from the top spot as your 16 is the current leader Other counts….Greg 12, Flora 11, I am at 7 and Steve brings up the rear with 5.
4. I like your thought process of how Hollywood did not know what to do with her….I think Sophia Loren’s Hollywood career would be a fine comparison…as for years they could never give her good roles.
5. Of your favorites….I really enjoyed The Spiral Staircase and Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Not a huge fan of Friendly Persuasion…..and have not seen the others.
6. As for Rich Man, Poor Man….I heard about that series…but I never watched it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Ms. McGuire…it is greatly appreciated.
Hi there Greg and Bruce,
when I read your comments, I thought that memory must have betrayed me, thus I dug out my DVD of FP and watched the beginning: Gary Cooper in William Wyler’s FP costarring Dorothy McGuire. So one might argue if a billing below the the Tiltle, while your screen partner is soley featured above, can still be counted as star billing. But what made me write my original comment is the fact that I remembered the german opening as the above mentioned, but “mit Dorothy McGuire”, which would be translated into english as “with”, not costarring. Minor hickups here, so back to undoing all the christmas stuff…tree is gone, but all those boxes need to go, too 😉
Thanks for checking out the movie….to see if your memory was correct. Billing is one of Bob’s favorite subjects….I always go with….if they were used to promote the movie…via…being in the trailer or on the poster….they are one of the stars too…just not the lead star. Glad you are taking care of your Xmas stuff…hard to believe but Valentine’s Day is only about a month away.
Hello Bruce,
I understand your thinking about billing, but as BOB would readily agree, the way an actor is billed in his/her latest film shows how he/her is judged by the financers concerning box office status- and Miss McGuire, at this point in her career, seemed no longer important enough to share above the title glory with Gary Cooper. As Bette Davis said: “I want to go with my name above the title”. Even if the film was awful and Bette quit during filming, she did manage that feat 😉
How’s the weather at your end now? Another day off to shovel snow or back to work for Cogerson? Whatever it is, hope you enjoy what you’re doing 🙂