Want to know the best Gloria Grahame movies? How about the worst Gloria Grahame movies? Curious about Gloria Grahame box office grosses or which Gloria Grahame movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Gloria Grahame movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information. This page comes from a request from Flora, FilmNoirFan and Mike.
Gloria Grahame (1923-1981) is an Oscar®-winning American actress. Grahame received a Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress nomination for 1947’s Crossfire, and would later win the award for her work in 1952’s The Bad and the Beautiful. She achieved her highest profile with 1952’s Sudden Fear , 1953’s Human Desire , 1953’s The Big Heat, and 1955’s Oklahoma!. Gloria Graham’s IMDb page shows 64 acting credits from 1944-1981. This page will rank 37 Gloria Grahame movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television roles and movies not released in North America were not included in the rankings.
Gloria Grahame 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 Gloria Grahame movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Gloria Grahame movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Gloria Grahame movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Gloria Grahame 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 Gloria Grahame movie received.
- Sort Gloria Grahame 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 Gloria Grahame Table
- Eight Gloria Grahame movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 21.62% of her movies listed. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Gloria Grahame movie grosses $82.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 20 Gloria Grahame movies are rated as good movies…or 54.05% of her movies. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) is her highest rated movie while The Losers (1972) is her lowest rated movie.
- Eight Gloria Grahame movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 21.62% of her movies.
- Four Gloria Grahame movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.81% of her movies.
- An average “good movie” Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 60.00. 21 Gloria Grahame movie scored higher that average….or 56.75% of her movies. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) got the the highest UMR Score while The Losers (1972) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Gloria Graham
- Gloria Grahame Hallward was born in Los Angeles, California in 1923.
2. Gloria Grahame was descended from royalty. Her father’s family descended from King Edward III through John of Gaunt; her mother’s, from the Scottish Kings of the Hebrides.
3. Gloria Graham was taught acting by her mother Jean Grahame. Jean Grahame was an English actress. Gloria attended Hollywood High School before dropping out to pursue acting.
4. Louis B. Mayer of MGM spotted Gloria Graham when she was performing on Broadway. He signed her to a movie contract but eventually sold her contract to RKO.
5. Gloria Grahame was unhappy with the tilt of her upper lip, she often stuffed cotton along her gumline to straighten it out. The effect was cosmetically less than flattering and made it difficult for her to speak. A leading man, after kissing her, ended up with a mouth full of cotton.
6. Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner picked Gloria Grahame as one of the toughest film actresses in their book “Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames” (2004).
7. Gloria Grahame was married four times. She had four children.
8. Gloria Grahame’s first marriage was to actor Stanley Clements. Her second marriage was to director Nicolas Ray. Her third marriage was to write Cy Howard. Her final marriage was to Anthony Ray. Anthony was the son of Nicholas. She had one child with Nicolas and two children with Anthony. I imagine those kids had many “Chinatown” moments when introducing their family.
9. Columbia wanted to borrow Marilyn Monroe from 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Debby Marsh in 1953’s The Big Heat, but Fox’s asking price was too high. Gloria Grahame was cast instead.
10. Check out Gloria Grahame‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
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Steve Lensman
November 18, 2017 at 1:35 pm
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing my Gloria Grahame video, appreciate the rating and info. Glad you liked the pictorial aspects of the presentation.
Yeah Gloria Grahame has been in the papers recently, thanks to a new movie that’s just come out – Films Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool – starring Annette Bening as Grahame. There are echoes of the Woody Allen scandal in your Grahame story.
Yes she did play support in a lot of films but she was still the lead female in movies like The Big Heat, In a Lonely Place, Human Desire and Crossfire. She may not have been billed first but she was definitely ‘the leading lady’. She was even billed before Shirley Jones in Oklahoma, I’m assuming because Jones was a fresh new face on screen?
Two of Grahame’s films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – In a Lonely Place and It’s a Wonderful Life. Four scored 9 including The Bad and the Beautiful.
Looking at my chart and in billing terms – In a Lonely Place – was the highest rated film in which she was the leading lady
BOB
November 18, 2017 at 11:58 am
HI STEVE 1. Although at times Gloria Graham would be the leading lady in movies there is only three very minor movies in which she was the out-and-out lead so overall I would categorise her as a supporting actress. Among the smaller fry she probably stood out because she was overtly sexual on the screen which was epitomised by her singing of the song “I’m just a girl who can’t say no” in the musical Oklahoma.
2 It seems that her private life to a degree reflected her on-screen persona. She was married to Nicholas Ray who directed her in what was perhaps her finest role as Bogie’s lover in the 1950 film In a Lonely Place though she won a supporting actress Oscar for the Bad and the Beautiful ans a supporting nomination for Crossfire. However during that marriage Nicholas found her in bed with his 13 year old son Tony by a previous marriage and that led to scandal and ultimately to a divorce. However around decade later Tony and Gloria did the decent thing when they themselves married.
3 To a large extent your posters and stills well reflect that overt sexuality that I mentioned and overall my pick of the very best were Blood and Lace, Naked Alibi, Roughshod, The Good Die Young, the 1st of the 2 for Not as a Stranger, The Big Heat and par excellence both of the ones for Sudden Fear showcasing my Joan.
4 A particularly stunning run of stills in this one and I would highlight the 1st solo of Gloria, the one of her again alone from The Cobweb, the one with Bogie from the aforementioned In a Lonely Place and definitely collector’s items for me are the two with my Glenn and the one of Gloria and Chuck – is the latter an informal off-film photograph? Overall one of your almost “top of the class” presentations earning 97% rating from me.
Reply
1 BRUCE/STEVE. Good companion piece to Steve’s excellent Gloria Grahame video. That presentation provoked friendly disagreement among us about how big a star Gloria was with as usual you two lining up against me. However as you know I’m fond of quoting the Chuck/Charles Bickford scene from The Big Country “I’ve bee alone before!”
2 There is no need to keep repeating ourselves here as I am copying to this page our main exchanges at the time of Steve’s video and Bruce decided we would agree to disagree. So I will add to my original comments just that I am now delighted to have sight of Gloria’s stats.
3 I was also interested to learn from Bruce that Gloria was once married to Stanley Clements [nicknamed “Stash” in real life]. I’ve mentioned before that I loved B movies when I was a kid and Stanley appeared in those and in fact replaced Leo Gorcey as the leader of the Bowery Boys in the final 7 films from 1956-1958 in that series.
4 Actually though the one film that I most remember Stanley for was an A picture, 1945’s Salty O’Rourke starring my Laddie and Gail Russell. Ladd was Salty and Stanley was a jockey. Ironically “Stash” was chosen for that part [originally intended for Joe Yule Jr] because Clements was diminutive by Hollywood standards and yet at 5Ft 7ins he was three quarters of an inch taller that the Great Alan though the cameras made Laddie look the taller! “The fighting Ladd you love is gunning for trouble again!” sang out the posters.
NB Gable was originally intended for the Ladd role but in the 1940s and early 1950s Laddie too could bring home the bacon at the box office and Salty O’Rourke has an adjusted domestic Cogerson gross of $148 million.
Hey Bob…..thanks for going back and putting these comments in a better place. Kudos to you for finding them……I think I would have had a very hard time finding these comments myself……but we do cover a lot of Grahame territory in these comments.
Hey Bob…..once again…thanks for finding and re-posting these comments.
H Bruce,
For my part, I have only seen Gloooria in 7 movies, which is not bad as it’s only just below Steve :). She strikes me as an actress who was particularly effective in rather tragic and melancholic roles (though I have not see Okahoma! where she may have been more upbeat). I liked her in The Bad and the Beautiful,The Big Heat and Crossfire, but I would like to particularly point out The Man Who Never Was, a classic British WWII espionage drama based on a true story, which interestingly starred two Americans, Clifton Webb and Gloria Grahame (for the longest time, I though Webb was British because of that movie). Grahame only had two major scenes, but is quite memorable.
Great work as always.
Hey PhilHoF17
1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Gloria Grahame.
2. The Bad and the Beautiful,The Big Heat and Crossfire would be in my Top 6 as well.
3. I have not seen The Man Who Never Was….I will have to check that one out.
4. I have recently been watching some Clifton Webb movies…and I have enjoyed his performances….with Titanic and a Woman’s World being ones I really enjoyed.
5. Good feedback as always.
The first Gloria Grahame movie I remember seeing was Blood and Lace about a year after it was out on TV. San mainly to see Melody Patterson of F Troop. I didn’t like it. Gloria has never been on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. These are the actors on the 2016 list who appeared with her;
34 ALFRED MOLINA A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
85 LANCE HENRIKSEN Mansion of the Doomed (1976)
112 ROD STEIGER Oklahoma! (1955)
198 DEAN STOCKWELL Song of the Thin Man (1947)
198 DEAN STOCKWELL The Loners (1972)
199 JOHN RHYS-DAVIES A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
232 CHARLES NAPIER Melvin and Howard (1980)
247 CHARLTON HESTON The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
421 MARY STEENBURGEN Melvin and Howard (1980)
468 JASON ROBARDS Melvin and Howard (1980)
469 JOSS ACKLAND A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
482 EDWARD ASNER The Todd Killings (1971)
523 HARRY FIELDER A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
622 RALPH MORATZ NOT AS A STRANGER (1955)
781 SHELLEY WINTERS Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
809 ROBERT MITCHUM Crossfire (1947)
809 ROBERT MITCHUM Macao (1952)
809 ROBERT MITCHUM Not as a Stranger (1955)
828 MICHAEL J. POLLARD Melvin and Howard (1980)
912 ARTHUR TOVEY Not as a Stranger (1955)
912 ARTHUR TOVEY The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
966 KATHLEEN FREEMAN The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
966 KATHLEEN FREEMAN The Glass Wall (1953)
966 KATHLEEN FREEMAN The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
The following actors were on the first list in 2000 but have since fallen off, all having worked with Ms. Graham.
14 JOHN CARRADINE The Nesting (1981)
26 JACK PALANCE Sudden Fear (1952)
32 KIRK DOUGLAS The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
39 FERNANDO REY Tarot (1973)
43 KEENAN WYNN Song of the Thin Man (1947)
43 KEENAN WYNN Without Love (1945)
50 JEFF COREY Roughshod (1949)
75 CAMERON MITCHELL Man on a Tightrope (1953)
76 EDDIE ALBERT Oklahoma! (1955)
90 JOHN IRELAND Roughshod (1949)
90 JOHN IRELAND The Good Die Young (1954)
94 ROBERT MORLEY The Good Die Young (1954)
102 DAVID NIVEN A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
119 RICHARD WIDMARK The Cobweb (1955)
131 VITTORIO GASSMAN The Glass Wall (1953)
132 GLENN FORD Human Desire (1954)
132 GLENN FORD The Big Heat (1953)
147 LLOYD BRIDGES Ride Out for Revenge (1957)
151 CESAR ROMERO Prisoners of the Casbah (1953)
155 ROYAL DANO Chandler (1971)
160 ROBERT RYAN Crossfire (1947)
160 ROBERT RYAN Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
169 JOHN DEHNER Man on a Tightrope (1953)
175 MICHAEL HORDERN The Man Who Never Was (1956)
186 AVA GARDNER Blonde Fever (1944)
194 LAWRENCE TIERNEY The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
203 JOE SPINELL Melvin and Howard (1980)
213 BEN JOHNSON Oklahoma! (1955)
221 JOHN CRAWFORD Prisoners of the Casbah (1953)
221 JOHN CRAWFORD The Big Heat (1953)
221 JOHN CRAWFORD The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
222 BESS FLOWERS Song of the Thin Man (1947)
222 BESS FLOWERS Sudden Fear (1952)
222 BESS FLOWERS The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
222 BESS FLOWERS The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
236 LEE MARVIN Not as a Stranger (1955)
236 LEE MARVIN The Big Heat (1953)
237 PETER LAWFORD It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
241 BRODERICK CRAWFORD Human Desire (1954)
241 BRODERICK CRAWFORD Not as a Stranger (1955)
258 DABNEY COLEMAN Melvin and Howard (1980)
270 FRANK SINATRA It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
270 FRANK SINATRA Not as a Stranger (1955)
310 STEVE FORREST The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
318 RICHARD BRIGHT Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
321 LAUREN BACALL The Cobweb (1955)
344 JAMES STEWART It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
344 JAMES STEWART The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
354 CYRIL CUSACK The Man Who Never Was (1956)
361 JAMES WHITMORE Oklahoma! (1955)
362 BARRY SULLIVAN The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
364 LESLIE CARON Chandler (1971)
380 STERLING HAYDEN Naked Alibi (1954)
384 GILBERT ROLAND The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
393 CHARLES BOYER The Cobweb (1955)
395 WALTER PIDGEON The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
397 ELKE SOMMER A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
406 EDMOND O’BRIEN The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
423 BRETT HALSEY Naked Alibi (1954)
431 MARIANNE STONE The Good Die Young (1954)
444 GERT FROBE Man on a Tightrope (1953)
453 WARREN OATES Chandler (1971)
456 JACK RILEY The Todd Killings (1971)
459 DABBS GREER The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
460 SCATMAN CROTHERS Chandler (1971)
467 VAN JOHNSON The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
486 JOHN GLOVER Melvin and Howard (1980)
492 GEORGES RIGAUD Tarot (1973)
499 JESSICA TANDY Blonde Fever (1944)
506 DOUGLAS FOWLEY Merton of the Movies (1947)
513 RICHARD JORDAN A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
524 RICHARD WATTIS The Man Who Never Was (1956)
534 BOB HOPE The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
542 PAUL FIX Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)
555 HUME CRONYN Blonde Fever (1944)
571 CHARLES LANE It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
583 PAUL STEWART The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
583 PAUL STEWART The Cobweb (1955)
592 WHIT BISSELL Not as a Stranger (1955)
599 JOHN DOUCETTE The Big Heat (1953)
618 JACK KEHOE Melvin and Howard (1980)
621 RICHARD JOHNSON A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
634 JOAN COLLINS The Good Die Young (1954)
638 HUGH GRIFFITH A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
645 LAURENCE HARVEY The Good Die Young (1954)
648 HARRY MORGAN Not as a Stranger (1955)
651 MELVYN DOUGLAS A Woman’s Secret (1949)
673 PETER SELLERS The Man Who Never Was (1956)
686 MITCHELL RYAN Chandler (1971)
732 ARTHUR O’CONNELL Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)
740 GEORGE CHANDLER Without Love (1945)
745 RICHARD BASEHART Mansion of the Doomed (1976)
745 RICHARD BASEHART The Good Die Young (1954)
746 HERB VIGRAN Not as a Stranger (1955)
767 PHILIP AHN Macao (1952)
783 JAMES FLAVIN Song of the Thin Man (1947)
783 JAMES FLAVIN Without Love (1945)
795 STEPHEN BOYD The Man Who Never Was (1956)
800 MARTHA HYER Roughshod (1949)
824 FRANK WILCOX Naked Alibi (1954)
824 FRANK WILCOX The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
830 SUSAN STRASBERG The Cobweb (1955)
840 FRANK GORSHIN Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)
859 MYRON HEALEY In a Lonely Place (1950)
867 RORY CALHOUN Ride Out for Revenge (1957)
868 LEX BARKER Crossfire (1947)
889 ROBERT BROWN The Man Who Never Was (1956)
894 PHILIP VAN ZANDT Macao (1952)
894 PHILIP VAN ZANDT Prisoners of the Casbah (1953)
906 GEOFFREY KEEN The Man Who Never Was (1956)
915 IVAN TRIESAULT The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
959 LEON AMES Merton of the Movies (1947)
959 LEON AMES Song of the Thin Man (1947)
962 OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND Not as a Stranger (1955)
972 RICHARD BOONE Man on a Tightrope (1953)
975 MAUREEN O’HARA A Woman’s Secret (1949)
982 BILLY BENEDICT Merton of the Movies (1947)
994 ELLEN CORBY A Woman’s Secret (1949)
994 ELLEN CORBY It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Gloria appeared with 28 Oscar winners;
BEN JOHNSON Oklahoma! (1955)
BING CROSBY The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
BRODERICK CRAWFORD Human Desire (1954)
BRODERICK CRAWFORD Not as a Stranger (1955)
CHARLTON HESTON The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
DAVID NIVEN A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
DONNA REED It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
EDMOND O’BRIEN The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
FRANK SINATRA It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
FRANK SINATRA Not as a Stranger (1955)
FREDRIC MARCH Man on a Tightrope (1953)
HUGH GRIFFITH A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
HUMPHREY BOGART In a Lonely Place (1950)
JACK PALANCE Sudden Fear (1952)
JAMES STEWART It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
JAMES STEWART The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
JASON ROBARDS Melvin and Howard (1980)
JESSICA TANDY Blonde Fever (1944)
KATHARINE HEPBURN Without Love (1945)
LEE MARVIN Not as a Stranger (1955)
LEE MARVIN The Big Heat (1953)
LIONEL BARRYMORE It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
MARY ASTOR Blonde Fever (1944)
MARY STEENBURGEN Melvin and Howard (1980)
MELVYN DOUGLAS A Woman’s Secret (1949)
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND Not as a Stranger (1955)
ROD STEIGER Oklahoma! (1955)
SHELLEY WINTERS Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
SHIRLEY JONES Oklahoma! (1955)
SPENCER TRACY Without Love (1945)
THOMAS MITCHELL IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
Hey Dan
1. As always…thank you for the efforts to produce these lists.
2. Sorry you did not enjoy Blood and Lace….I did read that it picked up a cult following over the years….as it played at drive-in theaters in the early 1970s.
3. Not surprised she was not on the Oracle lists.
4. The current co-star list is dwindling very fast.
5. Bess Flowers leading the way with 4 movies….why am I not surprised….lol.
6. 28 Oscar winning co-stars almost on average compared to other actresses.
Good stuff as always.