Want to know the best Greer Garson movies? How about the worst Greer Garson movies? Curious about Greer Garson box office grosses or which Greer Garson movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Greer Garson movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Greer Garson (1904-1996) was an English Oscar® winning film actress. She was one of the most popular stars working in the 1940s…appearing in 9 $100 million (adjusted gross) movies during that time decade, Greer Garson’s IMDb page shows 41 acting credits from 1934-1982. This page will rank 25 Greer Garson movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances and short films were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: This Greer Garson page was requested by Chris and Flora. Thanks to the MGM Ledgers we were able to not only secure all of Garson’s domestic box office totals….but also most of her worldwide box office totals. As we were researching this page, the start of Garson’s career reminded us of the start of current star, Jennifer Lawrence. Both started their careers off with lots of box office hits and lots of Oscar® nomination. It will interesting to see if Lawrence’s career follows the same path that Garson’s career took.
Greer Garson Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Greer Garson 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 Greer Garson movies by co-stars of her movies and by by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Sort Greer Garson movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Greer Garson movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Greer Garson 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 Greer Garson movie received.
- Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Greer Garson Table
- Thirteen Greer Garson movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 52.00% of her movies listed. Mrs. Miniver (1942) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Greer Garson movie grossed $156.30 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 14 of Greer Garson’s movies are rated as good movies…or 56.00% of her movies. Random Harvest (1942) is her highest rated movie while Adventure (1945) is her lowest rated movie.
- Fifteen Greer Garson movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 60.00% of her movies.
- Five Greer Garson movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 20.00% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 60.00. 22 Greer Garson movie scored higher that average….or 88.00% of her movies.Mrs. Miniver (1942) got the the highest UMR Score while The Law And The Lady (1951) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Greer Garson
1. Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson was born in East Ham, Essex in 1904.
2. Greer Garson was tutored by Laurence Olivier during her theatre days in London.
3. Louis B. Mayer discovered Greer Garson while he was in London looking for new talent.
4. Talk about getting your career off to a good start: Garson received 6 Oscar® nominations during the first 7 years of her career.
5. Greer Garson holds the record with Bette Davis for most years in a row to receive an Oscar® nomination…..5 years in a row. Garson was nominated every year from 1941-1945. Davis did the same accomplishment 1938-1942.
6. Overall Greer Garson was nominated for 7 Oscars®. She won the Best Actress Oscar® for 1942’s Mrs. Miniver. Only twelve people received more acting nominations than her.
7. Greer Garson’s most famous movie is 1942’s Mrs. Miniver. Winston Churchill once said that Mrs. Miniver had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers.
8. Greer Garson was married three times. Her second marriage was to actor, Richard Ney. Ney and Garson co-starred in 1942’s Mrs. Miniver, they married after filming ended. Ney played her son in that movie. Greer had three step-children, adopted by her third husband, Buddy E.E. Fogelson, after his brother’s death.
9. Greer Garson played the wife of Walter Pidgeon a total of eight times; in 1941’s Blossoms in the Dust,1942’s Mrs. Miniver,1943’s Madame Curie, 1944’s Mrs. Parkington, 1948’s Julia Misbehaves , 1950’s The Miniver Story, 1949’s That Forsyte Woman and 1953’s Scandal at Scourie.
10. Greer Garsons’ cumulative movie totals: Adjusted domestic box office: $3.65 billion. Her movies received 62 Oscar® nominations….winning 10 times.
Check out Greer Garson‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Lovely actress. Seen many of her 1940s movies. My favorites would be Mrs.Parkington and Blossums in the Dust. She and Walter Pidgeon made a great screen team. Another winning page.
Hey Stein….thanks for stopping by. I have not seen either of your favorite Garson movies….but I will keep an eye out for them. She and Pidgeon were one of the most succesful screen teams ever!
When I see Greer Garson’s name what immediately comes to mind is her acceptance speech at the Oscars which supposedly broke all records for length. Various film books I’ve read have mentioned her speech lasting 30 or even 45 minutes in length! One rumor was that it may have lasted over an hour! As if anyone would let her ramble on and on at the podium for so long, I doubt it was more than 10-15 minutes tops, which is still a long time to say thank you and get off.
Let me count all the films I’ve watched… 1… 2… um… let me try again… 1… 2… er that’s it. [hands in his film buff badge] I’ve only see Adventure (1945) starring The King and Julius Caesar (1953) starring Mr. Mumbles.
I haven’t seen her most famous film Pepe… sorry, Mrs. Miniver, or any of the sequels – That Miniver Woman, Random Miniver, Miniver Misbehaves and Goodbye Mrs. Miniver.
Another greerly good movie page Bruce. Voted Up.
AFTERNOON STEVE
1 He certainly didn’t mumble in Julius Caesar !!! Or in Burn !!! Or in Mutiny on the Bounty.!!! in all of which the character he played was required to speak good English.
2 Some observers often possibly make the mistake of my father in expecting Terry Malloy or The Wild One to speak like Laurence Olivier.
3 Indeed even when doing foreign accents like the German in The Young Lions or Sakini in The Teahouse of the August Moon Brando’s diction was clear. And look at how proficient he was with ‘Damon Runyon speak’ in Guys and Dolls.
4 It could be as well that some folk are heeding the advice in Liberty Valance to “go with the legend” rather than the facts. Or maybe to paraphrase my own favourite hero Dalton from Road House “senses like opinions vary.”
5 In a way all this could be academic if you read Richard Burton’s diaries. Burton argues that MB’s voice does not matter because his stock in trade was in his expressions and gestures. Like in the famous taxi scene or picking up the glove in On the Waterfront;or in The Missouri Breaks feeding his horse a carrot from his mouth to the point where the carrot vanished and he and the horse kissed – innovations that few other actors would even think of let alone enact wrote the famous film historian David Shipman.
6 And look at the cat scene in Godfather or the coffin sequence in Last Tango – wow !
Burton therefore concludes that had Brando been a silent movie star he would have been unquestionably regarded as the ”greatest scree actor EVER’.”
7 However I know you like to tease Bruce and maybe you’re just trying to wind ME up. “We can get him to draw ANYTIME.” – Ryker to Jack Wilson about Tory in Shane (1953)
8 Whatever – I always like your posts and it’s good to read one of them again
BOB
9 POSTSCRIPT
(1) There is a delicious spoof in The Abominable Dr Phibes about Brando’s Hollywood rise to fame and his fabled ‘mumbling’. It goes something as follows.
(2) Vincent Price is a ham classical actor who loses out on a coveted major acting prize
He therefore starts murdering one-by-one the critics who denied him the award.
(3) He has lead critic Ian Hendry at his mercy and proposing to kill him explains why: “Instead of me a great English-speaking actor you chose a mumbling twitching boy.”
(4) The clash between the old and new schools of acting was also spoofed up in a little known cult film that came out about 20 years ago called Last Train to Hollywood.
(5) The train takes off with Gable, Tracy, Wayne and other famous big star lookalikes and as the journey proceeds they are one by one bumped off by a Brando lookalike. For example while trying to escape through a toilet window on the train a Jimmy Stewart lookalike is stabbed to death by ‘Brando’
Hey Bob…..yes..you are going to have to be prepared for Steve’s friendly nudges on your favorites….like Marlon Brando. My targets are Michael Caine, Bruce Willis and Cary Grant…..Flora’s are Darling Greg and Mr. Widmark. Steve does live in a glass house…as he is a serious fan of Charlton Heston and Alfred Hitchcock.
Good points on Mr. Brando. I will have to check out that Vincent Price movie…sounds interesting. I am shocked that I have never heard of Last Train to Hollywood….I will have to check that one out. Thanks for an entertaining comment.
BRUCE:
1 Try NIGHT Train to Hollywood as well. It was definitely one or the other but I’m not sure if it got even a limited normal cinema release.. Some group of buffs made it I think hence my designation of it as a ‘cult’ movie. I read a review of it which described the slaughter of ‘Gable’ etc by the Brando look-alike.
2 You should have no trouble with The Abominable Dr Phibes though as I have seen it many times on TV and you would love it. It is delicious tongue and cheek stuff with Price playing an outrageously ham actor called Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg is his -then very sexy -daughter who helps him murder the critics.
3 There’s a funny scene in it where Ian Hendry as lead critic is telling the head policeman that he thinks Lionheart is doing the murders and he asks the cop if he knows anything about Lionheart.. The policeman not wanting to risk offending the acting profession is very guarded as replies cautiously “Yes. A very STRONG actor. Sir.”
4 The scene that I highlighted for Steve is near the end and Hendry retorts to Lionheart that he just plays the classics in the tired old way that they have always been interpreted
whereas William Warrington ** deserves the award because he has brought a freshness and a new vitality to acting. **I’m not entirely sure of that name.
5. From what you and Flora tell me about Steve he reminds me of a guy I knew in the Shipyard who would join a group of workmates, raise a contentious issue, get everyone fighting like rats in a a sack over it, and then quietly withdraw leaving them all to it !!
5 However I find difficulty at times following the dialogue in modern TV series and
some movies and have had to abandon certain series for that reason. Lie to Me starring Tim Curry is an example.
6 Moreover this year the TV networks in Great Britain were bombarded with complaints about the unclear diction in a number of their .plays and series including adaptations of English speaking classics. Therefore as Brando is often credited with introducing modern acting perhaps he should take some of the blame for the downside of it and in a round-about way maybe Steve is right about ‘Mr Mumbles’ and I am wrong [If you can’t beat em join em!] .
7 However a recent article seemed to support Burton’s suggestion that in Bud’s case it doesn’t really matter that much as a Health Organisation that looks after the welfare of deaf citizens is said to be using Brando movies as a training aid.
8 Such people are taught to rely more on facial expressions and gestures than normal folk have to do, and Brando is among those actors whose films are apparently useful in that respect as without hearing the words the deaf are more able to follow them than they can many other actors’ films.
8 Anyway I’m now going to transcribe the Lancaster and Garson updates to my database and it only remains for me to hope that Steve is not spoiling the holiday of Team Cogerson.
BOB
PS: I would never tease ANYONE about Chuck as I admire him in every way especially for his civil rights crusades. Now Alfred – – — – – – !!!
BRUCE
1 Third time lucky but your search is over before it begins !
2 The film is actually called Night Ride to Hollywood (1975) and to my great surprise IMDB covers it and explains that “Marlon Brando murders Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and others with his armpits—”
3. Sounds delightful !! Dr Phibes is not for the squeamish either.
BOB
BRUCE
Sorry – I’ll get it right yet ! Check IMDB under Train Ride to Hollywood.
Hey Bob…..thanks for the information. I found it on IMDb…..looks interesting…..but it does not look familiar at all. I will let you know what I think about it when I track it down?
Oh, dear!
Steve not going to win.
😉
Yep. 2 is not going to finish very well…even Bern1960s’ 10 did not get a medal.
Hey Steve…thanks for checking out our Garson page…..first of all….tally count results.
1st Lyle. 24 Garson movies watched
2nd Flora 17 Garson movies watched
3rd Larry. 12 Garson movies watched
Bern1960 10 movies, Cogerson 6, Steve and Laurent 2.
Ok now that we got that bad news out if the way…..lol. Seems everywhere you turn these days…there is a Mrs. Miniver reference….maybe the gods are trying to tell you something…watch the movie….watch the movie….can you hear them?
Her Oscar speech is legendary for sure. Today….the orchestra would drown her out in 90 seconds…even if it was for one of the big prizes of the night. Thanks for your thoughts on Ms. Garson…as you know they are greatly appreciated.
Hi
There’s a wonderful scene in Random Harvest where Garson does a song and dance routine. It’s absolutely brilliant and you’re left wondering why she didn’t do more of that in her career. Talking of Random Harvest, it must have one of the most far fetched plots ever devised. And yet for some bizarre reason, it all works. Probably because Garson and Coleman are so believable.
As for her Oscar winning Mrs Miniver, the Miniver;s were hardly a typical British family, the husband was an architect and their son was marrying into landed gentry.. But Garson is so enchanting in the role that you want to believe that she is typical of British women at that time.
After Random Harvest, MGM cast her in a line of big production movies, Madam Currie, The Parkinsons, Valley of Decision, all highly successful but they really limited her to lady like roles which is a pity.
In 1948, MGM made The Three Musketeers, the villainous role played by Lana Turner would have been far better served had they given Garson the part. I think she would have been a revelation.
By the 50s, her career was practically over and then she met a successful cattle baron from Texas and lived happily ever after. On youtube, there’s interviews where she talks about her career, even in her late 70s, she looked fantastic and came across as genuinely a nice person.
So for that brief time in the 40s, she shone like a real star. Thanks for the page.
Hey Chris.
1. Another one of your requests knocked out….not thinking you have too many left on the request list.
2. I am very familiar with the Random Harvest scene you describe. She had Colman made a wonderful screen team….surprised with the success of Random Harvest that they did not make more movies.
3. Good point about Mrs. Miniver….as well as the parts she played throughout the 1940s….I am sure nobody at the studio wanted to mess with her successful box office formula….that is why the world has 3 Burt Reynolds Smokey and the Bandit movies and two Cannonball Run movies….lol.
4. I think you are correct she would have done well in the Turner role in 3 Musketeers.
5. Thanks for the post movie career news….she seems to have a good full life…so kudos to her for that.
Thanks for sharing some our Greer Garson thoughts.
Hello Bruce.
Greer Garson is one of my all time personal favorites. I’ve seen all of her films except The Happiest Millionaire (1967). I love Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), Pride and Prejudice (1940), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Random Harvest (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944) and Julia Misbehaves (1948). My least favorite of her films is The Law and the Lady(1951), Adventure (1945) is okay but she plays such a strange character it’s hard to like, and Desire Me (1948) isn’t very good. When Ladies Meet (1941) with Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor and Herbert Marshall is quite enjoyable. All of her remaining films except 1939’s Remember are pretty good. Thanks for doing another great page.
Hey Lyle. Wow the only Garson movie you have not seen is one of her latest movies….seems of all her movies that is the one I have seen around the most. Your 96% is pretty impressive when thinking about all of her movies you have watched. I have seen and enjoyed most of the ones you really like with the exception of Madie Curie and Julia Misbehaves. Glad to see the one you do not like ….The Lady And The Law sitting at the bottom of the UMR rankings. Congrats on your win in our tally contest.
1st Lyle. 24 Garson movies watched
2nd Flora 17 Garson movies watched
3rd Larry. 12 Garson movies watched
Bern1960 10 movies, Cogerson 6, Steve and Laurent 2.
Thanks for the mini-reviews, the visit, the comment and the kind words….all are greatly appreciated.
Hi Bruce,
I have appreciated Greer Garson vehicles for decades. Impossible to watch her without loving a whole different way of cinema…a whole different way of life.
Great page. One question though;
Why does Walter Pidgeons name never appear in blue?
Marcel
Hey Marcel. Glad you like our Greer Garson page. I agree her movies ….fall into the category of They Don’t make them like that anymore.”. As for my Walter Pidgeon is not in blue…it is because we do not have a UMR page on him. I do not think we have ever gotten a request to do a page on him….is he somebody you would interested in? Thanks for the comment and for stopping by.
Hi Bruce,
It was a subtle hint…he was extremely successful in the years immediately following the advent of sound (this was due to his distinctive voice) and continued to work until the late 70’s. A fantastic body of work! I think you’ve covered a good portion already.
I mean the original Admiral Nelson needs representation does he not?
Thank you again for all the great work
Marcel
Hey Marcel….well I got that hint. Currently writing a Walter Pidgeon page….76 of his movies will be in the table….pretty much all of his movies from 1932 to 1978….I did not fare as well with his silent movies. Should be published by this time tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.