Want to know the best Gloria Swanson movies? How about the worst Gloria Swanson movies? Curious about Gloria Swanson box office grosses or which Gloria Swanson movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Gloria Swanson movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Gloria Swanson (1899-1993) was an Oscar® nominated American actress. Swanson was the silent screen’s most successful and highest-paid actress. She appeared in numerous early Cecil B. DeMille directed movies. In 1950, after an absence from the screen for several years, Swanson achieved widespread critical acclaim and recognition for her role as Norma Desmond, a reclusive silent film star, in the critically acclaimed 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. Her IMDb page shows 82 acting credits from 1914 to 1974. This page will rank Gloria Swanson movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts and some of her early silent movies were not included in the rankings. To do well in our overall rankings a movie has to do well at the box office, get good reviews by critics, be liked by audiences and get some award recognition. This page was requested by UMR Hall of Famer, bob cox and Me (not Cogerson).
Gloria Swanson Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
| Year | Movie (Year) | Rating | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Movie (Year) | Rating | S |
| 1950 | Sunset Blvd. (1950) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actress Nom |
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| 1920 | Something To Think About (1920) | |
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| 1920 | Why Change Your Wife? (1920) |  |
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| 1919 | Male and Female (1919) | |
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| 1921 | The Affairs of Avatol (1921) | |
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| 1929 | The Trespasser (1929) AA Best Actress Nom |
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| 1928 | Sadie Thompson (1928) AA Best Actress Nom |
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| 1974 | Airport 1975 (1974) | |
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| 1919 | Don't Change Your Husband (1919) | |
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| 1919 | For Better, for Worse (1919) | |
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| 1922 | Beyond The Rocks (1922) |  |
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| 1924 | The Humming Bird (1924) | |
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| 1925 | The Coast of Folly (1925) | |
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| 1925 | Stage Struck (1925) | |
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| 1925 | Madame Sans-Gêne (1925) | |
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| 1931 | Tonight or Never (1931) | |
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| 1923 | Bluebeard's 8th Wife (1923) |  |
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| 1926 | The Untamed Lady (1926) | |
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| 1923 | Prodigal Daughters (1923) | |
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| 1924 | A Society Scandal (1924) | |
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| 1924 | Manhandled (1924) | |
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| 1922 | The Impossible Mrs. Bellew (1922) | |
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| 1927 | The Love of Sunya (1927) | |
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| 1922 | My American Wife (1922) | |
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| 1930 | What A Widow! (1930) | |
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| 1932 | Queen Kelly (1932) | |
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| 1924 | Wages of Virtue (1924) | |
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| 1922 | Her Husband's Trademark (1922) | |
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| 1931 | Indiscreet (1931) | |
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| 1924 | Her Love Story (1924) | |
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| 1921 | Under The Lash (1921) | |
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| 1941 | Father Takes a Wife (1941) | |
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| 1923 | Zaza (1923) | |
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| 1934 | Music in the Air (1934) |  |
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| 1922 | Her Gilded Cage (1922) | |
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| 1926 | Fine Manners (1926) | |
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| 1952 | Three for Bedroom C (1952) |  |
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| 1933 | Perfect Understanding (1933) |  |
Gloria Swanson 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 Swanson movies by her co-stars
- Sort Gloria Swanson movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Gloria Swanson movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Gloria Swanson 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 Swanson movie received.
- Sort Gloria Swanson movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR 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 | Sunset Blvd. (1950) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actress Nom |
William Holden & Directed by Billy Wilder |
6.70 | 150.8 | 150.80 | 24 | 90 | 11 / 03 | 99.0 | |
| 2 | Something To Think About (1920) | Directed by Cecil B. DeMille | 4.60 | 246.8 | 246.80 | 5 | 87 | 00 / 00 | 98.6 | |
| 4 | Why Change Your Wife? (1920) | Directed by Cecil B. DeMille | 3.80 | 204.6 | 272.00 | 8 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 96.5 | |
| 3 | Male and Female (1919) | Directed by Cecil B. DeMille | 6.70 | 379.1 | 379.10 | 1 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 94.6 | |
| 5 | The Affairs of Avatol (1921) | Directed by Cecil B. DeMille | 5.30 | 273.5 | 273.50 | 5 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 94.3 | |
| 6 | The Trespasser (1929) AA Best Actress Nom |
Robert Ames | 4.00 | 122.1 | 122.10 | 18 | 76 | 01 / 00 | 89.6 | |
| 8 | Sadie Thompson (1928) AA Best Actress Nom |
Lionel Barrymore | 3.30 | 105.7 | 105.70 | 15 | 77 | 02 / 00 | 88.5 | |
| 7 | Airport 1975 (1974) | Charlton Heston & Karen Black |
76.70 | 442.1 | 442.10 | 5 | 43 | 00 / 00 | 86.4 | |
| 9 | Don't Change Your Husband (1919) | Directed by Cecil B. DeMille | 1.60 | 88.8 | 88.80 | 7 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 82.5 | |
| 10 | For Better, for Worse (1919) | Directed by Cecil B. DeMille | 1.40 | 77.3 | 77.30 | 8 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 81.7 | |
| 11 | Beyond The Rocks (1922) | Rudolph Valentino | 1.50 | 73.3 | 73.30 | 10 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 79.6 | |
| 13 | The Humming Bird (1924) | Edmund Burns | 1.20 | 50.4 | 50.40 | 20 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 78.3 | |
| 13 | The Coast of Folly (1925) | Anthony Jowitt | 1.90 | 76.2 | 76.20 | 17 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 74.3 | |
| 14 | Stage Struck (1925) | Lawrence Gray | 1.50 | 58.5 | 58.50 | 20 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 74.3 | |
| 17 | Madame Sans-Gêne (1925) | Charles de Rochefort | 2.40 | 94.6 | 94.60 | 13 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 73.7 | |
| 15 | Tonight or Never (1931) | Melvyn Douglas & Boris Karloff |
1.10 | 55.6 | 55.60 | 141 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 73.4 | |
| 18 | Bluebeard's 8th Wife (1923) | Huntley Gordon | 0.20 | 9.9 | 9.90 | 44 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 69.5 | |
| 20 | The Untamed Lady (1926) | Lawrence Gray | 1.00 | 34.7 | 34.70 | 45 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 68.1 | |
| 19 | Prodigal Daughters (1923) | Ralph Graves | 0.20 | 9.0 | 9.00 | 47 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 67.9 | |
| 21 | A Society Scandal (1924) | Rod La Rocque | 0.90 | 36.8 | 36.80 | 25 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 67.6 | |
| 22 | Manhandled (1924) | Tom Moore | 0.90 | 39.9 | 39.90 | 23 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 67.5 | |
| 23 | The Impossible Mrs. Bellew (1922) | Robert Cain | 0.70 | 34.1 | 34.10 | 21 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 65.1 | |
| 24 | The Love of Sunya (1927) | John Boles | 1.40 | 48.3 | 48.30 | 45 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 65.1 | |
| 25 | My American Wife (1922) | Antonio Moreno | 1.20 | 57.8 | 57.80 | 12 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 64.6 | |
| 26 | What A Widow! (1930) | Owen Moore | 0.90 | 50.8 | 50.80 | 127 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 64.3 | |
| 24 | Queen Kelly (1932) | Walter Byron | 0.40 | 17.5 | 17.50 | 177 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 63.5 | |
| 27 | Wages of Virtue (1924) | Ben Lyon | 1.00 | 43.1 | 43.10 | 21 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 60.6 | |
| 28 | Her Husband's Trademark (1922) | Richard Wayne | 0.80 | 37.7 | 37.70 | 19 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 59.4 | |
| 29 | Indiscreet (1931) | Directed by Leo McCarey | 0.80 | 42.0 | 42.00 | 163 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 58.3 | |
| 31 | Her Love Story (1924) | Ian Keith | 0.80 | 34.8 | 34.80 | 28 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 56.1 | |
| 30 | Under The Lash (1921) | Mahlon Hamilton | 0.40 | 22.3 | 22.30 | 14 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 55.4 | |
| 32 | Father Takes a Wife (1941) | Adolphe Menjou | 1.30 | 49.8 | 49.80 | 155 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 53.8 | |
| 33 | Zaza (1923) | H.B. Warner | 0.80 | 35.8 | 35.80 | 23 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 51.0 | |
| 35 | Music in the Air (1934) | Marjorie Main | 0.90 | 44.5 | 44.50 | 115 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 46.7 | |
| 34 | Her Gilded Cage (1922) | David Powell | 0.80 | 38.5 | 38.50 | 17 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 46.6 | |
| 36 | Fine Manners (1926) | Eugene O'Brien | 1.00 | 37.2 | 37.20 | 39 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 42.8 | |
| 37 | Three for Bedroom C (1952) | James Warren | 0.90 | 17.4 | 19.30 | 206 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 33.8 | |
| 38 | Perfect Understanding (1933) | Laurence Olivier | 0.40 | 16.7 | 16.70 | 174 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 14.6 |
Best IMDb Trivia On Gloria Swanson
1.Gloria May Josephine Swanson was born in Chicago, Illnois in 1899.
2. Gloria Swanson made her movie debut in 1914 as an extra in The Song of Soul. She moved to California in 1916 to appear in Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios comedies opposite Bobby Vernon. With their great screen chemistry, the pair became popular.
3. Gloria Swanson was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of Morticia Addams in The Addams Family, when were published in The New Yorker in 1938. Swanson was 39 years old at the point.
4. Gloria Swanson’s performance as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. (1950) is ranked #31 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
5. Gloria Swanson was known for her extravagant lifestyle, it was reported that she earned $8,000,000 between 1918 and 1929 and spent nearly all of it. By the time of her death in 1983, her gross estate was valued at just over $1,440,000.
Check out Gloria Swanson’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. Emmy® and Tony® are registered trademarks.
I saw 4 including 3 of top 8. 10 and favorite Sadie Thompson (incredible performances by swanson and lionel Barrymore in this incompletely restored classic). 10 not favorite: sunset blvd.. thanks for incredibly rapid response on difficult/dated request.
Hey bob cox. I am thinking you are going to be the tally count winner. Four for you, 2 for me and Steve and only one from Flora 1. This might be the first time ever that Flora is not in the Top 3 in a tally count when the subject was a classic star. The world really is upside down these days.Her Sadie Thompson is not one I have seen, but based on your mini-review I need to check it out. Glad you liked your requested page. I was pretty happy we were able to track down most of her movies. Good feedback.
I have only seen one Gloria Swanson film: Sunset Blvd, a fabulous film noir which I watch at least once a year. I am not sure why I have not seen her silents aas TCM does air silents on Sunday nights, but so far I have not seen any.
Hey Flora….stunned…I tell ya stunned. A classic movie star and you are not in the Top 3 when it comes to movies watched. I have only seen Sunset Blvd. twice…so I think you have still spent more time watching her than me. Maybe this page will motivate you to check out some of her silent movies when TCM shows them. Good stuff as always.
The precise release pattern of Queen Kelly is slightly unclear in my sources in which indeed its history seems to me to be unusually badly written-up; but it appears that in 1932 a sound or partial-sound version of that 1929 final silent Swanson movie was created and released and possibly that’s why Bruce quotes 1932 as its release date in the tables above though he does – commendably in my view- list and give box office stats for a whopping 27 of her silent productions if we take Queen Kelly as a silent one because of its origins.
NB: The 1932 Queen Kelly has a different ending from the silent version. Queen Kelly also had personal historical implications for Gloria not only being her final silent film but also because her lover at the time Joseph P Kennedy joined her and Erich von Stroheim in the film’s production.
Those 27 silent films have an overall adjusted US gross of nearly $2 billion according to Bruce’s comprehensive figures which is an average of around $69 million per flick. I regard that as excellent because the world was a lot smaller then; I don’t think that for the most part thesilent era was a big blockbuster movie era; and for example the much-hyped Great Garbo’s 24 films on her Cogerson page don’t come to much more than $2 billion overall in adjusted US grosses and include a lot of later talkies.
Gloria appeared in 15 television productions between 1950 and 1980. That haul includes the TV horror movie 1974’s TV Killer Bees in which Gloria was top billed and it was the only TV movie she made.
See para 5 of Bruce’s Trivia section above. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Gloria’s earnings of $8 million [assuming that sum is actual] between 1918 and 1929 would for that overall period equate to an average YEARLY income of around $10 million in today’s money – big earnings for the silent movie era when film making was in its infancy. The $1.44 million in Gloria’s estate when she died that Bruce quotes would be equivalent to $3.67 million today which isn’t bad considering that Bruce reckons Gloria was a big spender.
Hey Bob…..great breakdown of her stats. She was Cecil B. DeMille’s star for her early blockbusters…..but as the 1920s got rolling she stopped appearing in his movies and seems to appear in smaller movies and got smaller grosses. I got a lot of the box office grosses from Box Office Madness….a competitor of mine. I have tried to contact the person that created that site to figure out the ways that got their information….but have never heard back. That site has been out since 2017….and no feedback at all on any of his pages. And you complain when it takes me a few days sometimes to catch up on comments…lol.
Anyway…I bring this up because not feeling too comfortable in all of these non- DeMille movies grosses from 1921-1926. But it is better than nothing. I think you are correct…with regards to seeing movies back then….the world was much smaller….and a movie grossing $50 million in todays money was impressive…especially when some of the budgets were around $100,000. I agree with you about Garbo. Good point about her net worth…..she might have spent a lot of money…..but she was still very comfortable with almost 4 million to play with. Good stuff as always.
Cogerson
April 27, 2020 at 7:50 am
“I got a lot of the box office grosses from Box Office Madness….a competitor of mine. I have tried to contact the person that created that site to figure out the ways that got their information….but have never heard back.”
HI BRUCE: My heart goes out to you but you should remember the old axiom: “A magician never revels his secrets!” When the moderator of that site received your plea he probably thought “I don’t know who this competitor of mine thinks I am but my name’s certainly not ‘Claus’!”
Actually I came across that site when it first came out in 2017 and I wrote to you about it at the time and you told me you didn’t think much of it. Initially I thought that Box office Madness might be an old site of Joel’s which he had devised as a companion piece for his 2001 book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Songwriting [HIS OWN title not MINE I hasten to add!”]
I pulled your leg you back in 2017 when I wrote to that in some cases I might choose for my databases a few of the BO Madness grosses in preference to yours. For example BO Madness credits 1972’s Godpop with an adjusted US gross of $870 million whereas you in common with most sources that bother at all quote an adjusted gross of around $720 million.
You know our old saying “When the legend’s more pleasing with the truth go with the legend!”. However it’s “swings and roundabouts” as BO Madness quotes lesser adjusted grosses for some other Brando films than you do.
I think though I know one reason why we seemingly get outlandish grosses at times for some movies. To arrive at a gross a lot of sites multiply the rental by the known average rental to gross ratio for the year concerned but in the case of Godpop for example IT was considered the wonder of the age in its day so that Paramount was able to secure a much higher than usual rental ratio for the film -the rental was almost 2/3 of the gross instead of say just around half- so that if the usual rental to gross multiple was applied you would get a very exaggerated gross.
Anyway I wish I had held back a copy of your and my 2017 exchanges but I didn’t realize that BO Madness would someday have a serious significance and in fact I didn’t expect it to be around long. The posts concerned are no doubt still somewhere on THIS site but goodness knows where.
Hey Bob…I am disappointed. You are the site’s detective when it comes to finding older comments. There only about 100,000 comments floating around the website…..surely you can easily find the one or two you are talking about….lol.
Not thinking it has reached a “serious significance” yet. I think Google likes UMR a lot more than BOM. This Gloria page will be an interesting test to my theory. Right now BOM has the 6th best result when typing in Gloria Swanson Box Office…..when UMR gets included in Google searches (it takes a couple of days)….I bet UMR gets placed ahead of BOM….even though that page is 3 years old and my site is 2 days old. I will be checking that out in the next few days.
Good stuff.
Hey Bob. One of the negatives about Box Office Madness is that new pages and updates pretty much stopped as soon as the initial batch of pages came out. Also the page is not dynamic…..the numbers there are stuck in 2017…and average ticket price keeps going up. Granted….they might be going drastically down at this virus mess is over.
The site also says they have all the daily information for box office gross during the heyday of movies….it also says that source is Variety. Well..through a link Steve shared….I can read every Variety for every year up to 1954ish….I have never seen any weekly lists in the ones I have looked through. Variety did have weekly charts in the 1980s….but they stopped….not sure when they started.
I like your quote about the magician….but in this case…..I am a magician too…..and have access to the same materials, the same process and the same set design engineers (mine looks like Sir Caine from The Prestige). Maybe I am more like Penn and Teller….showing the how….because I let people know my sources….the good sources….the not so good sources….and the iffy sources. Good stuff.
HI BRUCE: Thanks for your further thoughts about BO Madness.
When I used the expression “serious significance” I was referring to your own efforts to communicate with them; your desire to learn their means of locating the Gloria Swanson kind of movie grosses; and your use of the fruits of their labour in compiling her new Cogerson page if I have understood you correctly.
To be honest I personally have never consulted BO Madness again since I wrote to you in 2017 about the site as I was not overly impressed with it as in my opinion it is for example nowhere near as diverse/comprehensive/well-organised/clearly presented as your own.
The latest information that you have provided about it in thses exchanges with me confirms my earlier misgiving about the site. Indeed it sounds like something that Joel SHOULD have been involved with!! Anyway I hope you are keeping safe.
The Bob and Cogerson, Gloria Swanson was considered the most bankable star in movies in 1925. she was offered the unheard of $1,000,000 a year (equivalent to $14,750,000 a yr in 2019 dollars per Wikipedia) in 1925 by paramount but she chose to go with united artists to have the freedom to be her own producer. by the end of 1927 she was broke , her checking account held $65 and joseph kennedy rescued her and managed her and eventually her French husband.
Hey bob cox….thanks for the information on Gloria Swanson. Wow…..broke by 1927….that is an amazing tidbit of information. Glad Joseph Kennedy was able to rescue her. Good stuff!
Unsurprisingly as her movie career was largely in the silent era and she made only 3 movies after 1950 when I first started watching films the only Swanson flick that I have ever seen is Sunset Boulevard. Whilst her performance in that is iconic Bill Holden had the lead role and was the top-billed star though his own mega-star eracommencing with 1953’s Stalag 17 was still 2 years away.
Normally I would have watched a Charlton Heston film regardless of who else was in it but I am not a fan of franchises as I regard them as gimmicky and mainly rip-offs of themselves and usually they have little new to impart. Godfather 2 was a notable exception whereas 1983’s Psycho 2 was I thought a travesty at least when compared with Hitch’s original. Accorzdingly I didn’t go to see Gloria in Airport 1974 though Chuck was in it.
In the silent era Gloria reportedly made 24 short subjects and 39 features. According to Wikipedia her final silent film was 1929’s Queen Kelly which was written/produced/directed/story-created by Erich von Stroheim who played her butler in Sunset Boulevard; Gloria co-produced the film with Erich but seel also Part 2
Hello Bob. Thanks for your two part comment on Gloria Swanson. Part 1. Two shocking things have come from reading the comments this morning. First Flora is not in the Top 3 in the tally counts and second…..you have skipped another Heston movie…what is going on in the world. I imagine she was only a “known name” to you with so few movies made. Good information on shorts and career. Good stuff.
Hi Bruce, I had considered Gloria Swanson a couple of times for one of my video charts but was always put off by the number of silents and too few ‘talkies’.
Kudos for finding box office info on all those films.
I’ve seen just 2 of the 38 films on the chart – Sunset Blvd. and Airport 75, both favorites.
Nice work. Vote Up!
“They won’t ever let me forget Sunset Blvd. Maybe I shouldn’t have done it. These people who watch the film now never heard of me. They weren’t alive when I did silent films. They think I was Norma Desmond, and I keep telling them Norma Desmond was a creation, not a real character. I NEVER was Norma Desmond, and I don’t know anyone who lived like that!”
Hey Steve. Tally count: bob cox 4, you and me at 2 and Flora and Bob at 1. I put off doing a page on Swanson for so long for the same exact reasons as your self….too many silents. As for box office…..I did use Box Office Madness for a lot of the movies from the 1920s…..with an % increase….as I have always felt their numbers were too low. During Google searches…Box Office Madness and some dude call Top Ten Charts from YouTube pop up as my main competition for attracting views. I have seen the exact 2 movies as yourself. Though her Airport runs into other Airport movies in my memory. Not too mention Airplane…which I just re-watched on Saturday. Good quote from Swanson on her Norma Desmond and it’s lasting impression it made on people. Good stuff. Stay safe and healthy.