Want to know the best George Cukor movies? How about the worst George Cukor movies? Curious about George Cukor’s box office grosses or which George Cukor movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which George Cukor 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.
George Cukor (1899-1983) was an American Oscar® winning film director. Cukor made films for over 50 years. He was a dialogue director in the early days of sound films. He earned his first major success with Little Women in 1933. He received an Academy Award® for My Fair Lady in 1964. His IMDb page shows 66 directing credits from 1930-1983. This page ranks 44 George Cukor movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His short films, his television projects and his uncredited movies were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: We have to pat ourselves on the back. Our movie database is beginning to be pretty darn awesome. Why do we think this? Well….recently we got a request from Chris and Flora to do a UMR page on George Cukor. Well a quick search showed that Cukor had 48 movies that we would have to research to do his page. A quick look at our database showed that we already had 41 of his movies completed….or 85.41% ready to go! So only needing to research 7 movies…Mr Cukor’s movie page moved up the list of pages to do. Working backwards we quickly found box office information on 1969’s Justine and 1944’s Winged Victory. With only 5 movies to go we were already to 1931….when we ran into 5 Paramount/Cukor movies. Sadly we were only able to find box office information on 1 of those movies. Damn you Paramount! So the remaining Paramount movies were not included. Anyway….hope you enjoy your George Cukor page….Flora and Chris.
George Cukor 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 George Cukor movies by the stars of his movies.
- Sort George Cukor movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort George Cukor movies by yearly domestic box office rank or trivia
- Sort George Cukor movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each George Cukor movie received and how many Oscar® wins each George Cukor movie won.
- Sort George Cukor 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.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above George Cukorl Table
- Twenty George Cukor movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 43.18% of his movies listed. My Fair Lady (1964) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average George Cukor movie grossed $115.90 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 32 George Cukor movies are rated as good movies…or 72.72% of his movies. The Philadelphia Story (1940) is his highest rated movie while Rockabye (1932) is his lowest rated movie.
- Twenty-one George Cukor movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 47.72% of his movies.
- Eight George Cukor movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 18.18% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 27 George Cukor movies scored higher that average….or 61.36 of his movies. My Fair Lady (1964) got the the highest UMR Score while Rockabye (1932) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About George Cukor
1. George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City in 1899. His parents selected his middle name in honor of Spanish–American War hero George Dewey
2. George Cukor was directing Broadway plays in the late 1920s when Hollywood came calling. He signed a contract with Paramount and was co-directing movies by 1930.
3. George Cukor and Katharine Hepburn made 8 movies together. To see these 8 movies just type in “Katharine Hepburn” in the above search box…and they will pop right up.
4. George Cukor worked on 1939’s Gone With The Wind for two years. He was replaced as director because of constant disagreements with producer David O. Selznick over the script and direction. Cukor even filmed scenes that were left in the movie…but got no screen credit.
5. George Cukor directed 20 different actors in Oscar®-nominated performances: Basil Rathbone, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, James Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Ruth Hussey, Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Angela Lansbury, Ronald Colman, Deborah Kerr, Judy Holliday, James Mason, Judy Garland, Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Gladys Cooper and Maggie Smith. Stewart, Bergman, Colman, Holliday, and Harrison won Oscars® for their performances in Cukor’s movies.
6. George Cukor directed 7 movies that received a Best Picture Oscar® nominations. 1964’s My Fair Lady won the Best Picture Oscars®. Cukor was nominated 5 times for a Best Director Oscar®….he won for My Fair Lady.
7. George Cukor was voted the 18th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
8. George Cukor was often regarded as a “women’s director” because his films frequently are centered around strong female characters.
9. George Cukor’s 44 movies listed on this page grossed $5.05 billion in adjusted domestic box office grosses…..earned 67 Oscar® nominations…..and won 18 Oscars®.
10. George Cukor’s first film starred Cyril Maude (1862-1951)….his last movie starred Meg Ryan (1961-) in her film debut. That’s almost 100 years between when his stars were born….that seems pretty cool. Cukor also directed Jack Lemmon in his film debut.
Check out George Cukor‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globe® is a registered trademark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
George Cukor gay? I’m shocked… shocked I tells ya! I’m kidding, Cukor was one of the most successful Hollywood directors, dubbed ‘a woman’s director’ he hated that title but looking at your list that’s exactly what he was. Unless I’m mistaken Clark Gable was instrumental in getting him booted off Gone With the Wind, the ladies were getting far more attention than he was.
I’ve seen just 12 of the 44 films you’ve listed, I expected more. I would have preferred Philadelphia Story topping the UMR chart. I like My Fair Lady but it isn’t one of my favorites, I fast forward thru some of the songs, blasphemy I know. If Rex Harrison wasn’t in it I probably wouldn’t own the film.
Favorites include – The Philadelphia Story, A Star is Born and Adam’s Rib.
I haven’t seen The Women, Little Women or A Woman’s Face.
Nice work Bruce. Voted Up!
Hey Steve.
1. 12 on your tally count? Wow…I have 15….and even combined we trail Flora by 4….so sad….lol.
2. The rumor of Clark Gable getting him fired is a Hollywood legend….many say it was not true…I went with the trouble he had with David S. caused his dismissal. The truth will probably never been known.
3. Philadelphia Story gave My Fair Lady a pretty good run for the money when it comes to the UMR score…that Best Picture Oscar win for My Fair Lady was the difference.
4. I have seen and enjoyed their 3 favorites.
5. The Women is interesting….loaded with so many great performances….and not a single male anything in the movie….even the animals were female. The highlight of The Women is a long bubble bath scene with Joan Crawford. Crawford does the whole scene in a bath tub…while almost the entire cast walks into her bathroom…that scene alone is worth checking out the movie.
6. Thanks for the nice words….it is greatly appreciated.
Hi
Thanks for doing my request. Cukor was a wonderful director. He made so many classy films. I’m glad The Philadelphia Story is number 1. I seen it recently, the whole cast was at the top of their game. Hepburn should have definitely won the Oscar over Ginger Rogers. But hey she did get another three after it.
One of his less known films, Bhowani Junction is excellent. David Copperfield, Adam Rib, My Fair Lady, Born Yesterday and A Woman’s Face. I’m just spoilt for choice about which one I prefer. He definitely had a knack with actresses, but only women he was interested in, that he found fascinating.
He had directed Greer Garson and he said one film was enough, she didn’t interest him as a talent. The same for Lana Turner, but boy didn’t he love Hepburn. He was fantastic with Judy Garland in A Star is Born.
He adored Greta Garbo, and I think it irked him that their second film, Two Faced Woman, was seen as a failure. He spent years trying to coax her out of requirement. And I forgot about Dinner at Eight, still very funny.
I think because he left such a high quality body of work, his reputation will remain in tact. Films like The Philadelphia Story will always have an audience because class is timeless.
Thanks for your page.
Hey Chris. Glad you liked your “requested page”. When I looked at his IMDb page…I quickly realized how many of his movies were already done. That is why your fairly recent request jumped to the top of movie pages to do. The Philadelphia Story is easily my favorite Cukor…so like you I was glad to see it in the top spot. The default setting on this page is critic/audience score. But even using the UMR Score…The Philadelphia Story still has a nice spot at #2. I am not a fan of My Fair Lady at all.
Bhowani Junction has been mentioned as one of his better movies…gotta admit I know almost nothing about that movie. I will have to check it out. Trying to figure out which movie Cukor direced Garson in…I will have to check IMDb on that one. The Hepburn/Cukor partnership created many memorable movies. I think I read somewhere that Cukor came close a few times in getting Garbo back on screen….but the projects always fell apart for one reason or another. Dinner At Eight was one of his first big hits. I agree with you that his “high quality body of work” will continue to gain Cukor more fans as time passes on.
Thanks for the comment and the visit….both are greatly appreciated.
Little Women (1933)
David Copperfield (1935)
Zaza (1938)
Holiday (1938)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Gaslight (1944)
A Double Life (1947)
Born Yesterday (1950)
A Star Is Born (1954)
My Fair Lady (1964)
My favorites
Hey Helakoski
Little Women (1933) 8th
David Copperfield (1935) 12th
Zaza (1938) 28th
Holiday (1938) 2nd
The Philadelphia Story (1940) 1st
Gaslight (1944) 7th
A Double Life (1947) 22nd
Born Yesterday (1950) 19th
A Star Is Born (1954) 4th
My Fair Lady (1964) 6th
Looks like most of your favorites did well in my rankings….with 6 of them having Top 10 spots. Thanks for sharing your favorites….and thanks for visiting.
Thanks for making this page on one of my favourite director of all time, Bruce.
The highest ranked movie I have seen is The Philidelphia Story at number 1.
The highest ranked movie I have not seen is The Model and the Marriage Broker at 15 which until now I did not know existed.
The lowest ranked movie I have seen is The Chapman Report at Number 43.
By rankings, I have seen:
10 of the top 10
18 of the top 20
23 of the top 30
30 of the top 40
31 movies overall
My favourites include in no order:
My Fair lady
Holiday
Gaslight
Adam’s Rib
Dinner at Eight
It Should Happen to You
Born Yesterday
A Star is Born
The Women
Her Cardboard Lover
Cheers.
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. Glad you like your requested George Cukor page.
2. I had not heard of The Model and The Marriage Broker either….statistically it looks like a slightly better than average Cukor movie.
3. Your %….100%, 90%, 76%, 75%, 70%
4. My %…….80%, 50%, 46%, 37%, 34%
5. My tally count is 15…compared to your 31. It might be close between the combined total of Steve and me versus you…getting nervous?….lol.
6. I have seen 8 of your Top 10. No Philadelphia Story? I have not seen Her Cardboard Lover or It Should Happen To You.
7. As always….thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing your classic movie knowledge.
Re: My fair Lady and The Philideplia Story:
MFL is one of the few big screen movies that my favourite Sherlock Holmes Jeremy Brett made.
TPS was just edged out my wanting to include a Robert Montgomery. I enjoy TPS but I prefer High Society for the Cole Porter Music.
Hey Flora….I remember how much you like Jeremy Brett….thanks for the reasoning of why The Philadelphia Story did not make your Top 10. The first time I saw TPS I did not like it….but over time it has become one of my favorite Grant movies.
I love this page. He is a personal hero to me. He is one of the first openly gay men. And he faced all of those obstacles to have such a great career. Wonderful page on a wonderful man. Peace.
Hey Simon. Thanks for checking out my George Cukor page. Glad he was a hero for you. He had a great movie career. Even more impressive with the obstacles he had to overcome. I feel bad that he did not get any credit for Gone With The Wind. Though Vivien Leigh threw plenty of kudos his way. Thanks for sharing your Cukor thoughts.