Want to know the best Hedy Lamarr movies? How about the worst Hedy Lamarr movies? Curious about Hedy Lamarr box office grosses or which Hedy Lamarr movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Hedy Lamarr 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.
Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) was an Austrian and American film actress and inventor. She was one of the most popular actresses making movies from the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her IMDb page shows 35 acting credits from 1930-1958. This page will rank 26 Hedy Lamarr movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her early German movies and her few television appearances were not included in the rankings. This UMR page comes from a request by Bob.
Hedy Lamarr Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Hedy Lamarr 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 Hedy Lamarr films by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Hedy Lamarr films by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Hedy Lamarr films by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Hedy Lamarr films 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 Hedy Lamarr film received.
- Sort Hedy Lamarr films by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Hedy Lamarr
- Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna in 1913.
2. In the early 1930s, Hedy Kiesler began to work in the Vienna film industry, first as a script girl, and soon as an actress. She would appear in 4 movies with 1933’s Ecstasy reaching North American theaters.
3. In London 1937, Hedy Kiesler met Louis B. Mayer, who was scouting for talent in Europe. Mayer persuaded her to change her name to Hedy Lamarr, choosing the surname in homage to the beautiful silent film star, Barbara La Marr. He brought her to Hollywood in 1938 and began promoting her as the “world’s most beautiful woman”.
4. Louis B. Mayer brought Hedy Lamarr to Hollywood in 1938 and began promoting her as the “world’s most beautiful woman”. Mayer had hoped he had found the next Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich.
5. Hedy Lamarr was married six times. She had three children.
6. Hedy Lamarr owned the mansion used in 1965’s The Sound of Music.
7. Hedy Lamarr was the inspiration for the DC Comics antiheroine and Batman’s love interest, Catwoman.
8. Hedy Lamarr was one of the few stars with whom costume designer Edith Head admitted she did not like working. The others were Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard.
9. Hedy Lamarr is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Some of her inventions included an improved traffic light and a frequency-hopping signal that could not be tracked or jammed. The United States Navy started using this technology in 1962.
10. Hedy Lamarr’s movies from 1940 to 1949 earned $2.82 billion in adjusted domestic gross. That puts her in 37th place when looking at all the stars of that decade. 1940’s Top Box Office Stars.
Check out Hedy Lamarr’s movie career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
But Wait….We Have More Hedy Lamarr Stats….Worldwide Adjusted Box Office Grosses
- Boom Town (1940) $511.50 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Ziegfeld Girl (1941) $300.70 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- White Cargo (1942) $220.40 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945) $219.00 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Tortilla Flat (1942) $216.90 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Crossroads (1942) $193.50 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Lady of The Tropics (1939) $184.50 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Comrade X (1940) $178.80 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Experiment Perilous (1944) $172.30 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- Algiers (1938) $168.90 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- I Take This Woman (1940) $124.00 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- A Lady Without A Passport (1950) $51.40 million in adjusted worldwide gross
- The Story of Mankind (1957) $17.50 million in adjusted worldwide gross
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Hello Bruce,
two weeks offline (I changed my internet provider- seemingly a bad decision) and so many new interesting pages! I was hard pressed were to start, but after Hedy had chosen to leave her cloud to comment herself, I thought it was ok for me to start with Veronica Lake 😉
First a big thank you for doing this page. Hedy Lamarr sure was a fascinating woman, highly beautiful, smart, and reasonably talented as an actress, although I agree that in some of her films there seemed to be that little bit of extra quality missing that would have turned her into another movie legend. As it is, she had a more than fair career, and in my book even turned in more than satisfactory performances in some movies.I have seen 18 of the listed films, plus one or two she made in Europe before leaving for Hollywood.
Out of those 18 films, I think she turned in a 5 Star performance in Strange Woman, sorry to disagree with Mr. Hirschhorn. Other favs include Samson and Delilah, H.M. Pulham, Esq., Experiment Perilous, Ziegfeld Girl, Boom Town, the campy White Cargo (“I am Tondelayo”) and the glossy melodrama Lady of the Tropics. I already gave my 2 cents on Female Animal on Jane Powell’s site.
I never understood how Lamarr could follow up the triple A plus production Samson and Delilah with the little programmer that was Lady without a Passport. I think that one killed her career right after it had been restored (and more) with Delilah. There would be a few more stories to tell on Hedy Lamarr, her experiences while studying for her part in the never produced “I was a Female Shoplifter”, her early years in Austria plus her “escape” from hubby no.1, her unhappy love life, her never finished autobiography “Hedy” and some. All in all, a fascinating, and probably highly complicated woman who deserves not to be forgotten among Hollywood’s legendary stars.
Hey Lupino.
1. Great comment on Hedy Lamar.
2. Two weeks being offline? I could not do that….I am addicted to being connected.
3. Samson and Delilah was her last hurrah….but it was not enough to reverse the trend her career was headed. She started off strong but by the end of the 1940s, I think she knew the end was coming.
4. 18 is an impressive total…your classic movie viewings is impressive.
5. It is more than acceptable to disagree with Joel….I do it all the time myself.
Good feedback as always. Glad you got internet access back.
Hey Bruce,
sometimes I ask myself where on earth I took the time to watch all those classic movies- but then I remember that I hardly watch anything else nowadays, apart from the news and the occasional stuff like Bates Motel or American Horror Story.
2 weeks without internet access wasn’t that hard-I often stay away from the net for a few days. The thing that bugged me was that it wasn’t my decision but technical shortcomings I had no influence over. The fact that the phone didn’t work either was much harder, for I really hate using a mobile…old fashioned, not just when it comes to my taste in movies 😉
13 days without internet access here on my otherwise lovely cloud…and accessing this page for the first time in almost 2 weeks I find this long overdue page on my lovely self. Thank you Mr. Bob for your request, and, well, better late than never Mr. Cogerson!
(Translation: Dear Bruce, I am so thrilled now that I’ve got my own UMR page! Thanks a lot 😉 )
Hey Hedwig. Glad you like your page. The saying better late than never really fits in well here.
Hi
Lamarr was arguably the most beautiful of female stars of the 40’s. I’ve seen quite a few of her movies, most notably Samson and Delilah. It was interesting that Louis B Mayer seen her as the new Garbo. The problem was that while she was undoubtedly beautiful, she didn’t have the mystique of Garbo. Somebody mentioned Boom Town, I don’t even remember her being in it. Madam X was so-so. In Zeigfield Girl she wasn’t as memorable as Garland and Turner. But in saying all this she had a great run in the 40’s. It’s amazing her other world of invention.
I once watched a documentary about it and that part was more interesting than her movie career.
Hedy Lamarr was never on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list.There is only one actor who appeared on the 2016 list that ever appeared in a film with Hedy and that is;
27 DENNIS HOPPER The Story of Mankind (1957)
Dennis is now down to 35 on the latest list.
The following actors were on the first list back in 2000 and have since fallen off and have appeared in a film with Hedy;
14 JOHN CARRADINE The Story of Mankind (1957)
27 MARC LAWRENCE My Favorite Spy (1951)
93 HARRY CAREY JR. Copper Canyon (1950)
100 IAN WOLFE Copper Canyon (1950)
100 IAN WOLFE Dishonored Lady (1947)
125 VINCENT PRICE The Story of Mankind (1957)
146 MIKE MAZURKI My Favorite Spy (1951)
146 MIKE MAZURKI Samson and Delilah (1949)
151 CESAR ROMERO The Story of Mankind (1957)
169 JOHN DEHNER Let’s Live a Little (1948)
186 AVA GARDNER H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
187 RAY MILLAND Copper Canyon (1950)
222 BESS FLOWERS Boom Town (1940)
222 BESS FLOWERS Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)
222 BESS FLOWERS The Conspirators (1944)
222 BESS FLOWERS Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
234 AKIM TAMIROFF Tortilla Flat (1942)
278 KEYE LUKE Comrade X (1940)
299 FRITZ FELD Come Live with Me (1941)
299 FRITZ FELD My Favorite Spy (1951)
323 GEORGE SANDERS Samson and Delilah (1949)
323 GEORGE SANDERS The Strange Woman (1946)
326 ANGELA LANSBURY Samson and Delilah (1949)
344 JAMES STEWART Come Live with Me (1941)
344 JAMES STEWART Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
356 PHIL BROWN H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
379 ANN DORAN The Female Animal (1958)
393 CHARLES BOYER Algiers (1938)
395 WALTER PIDGEON I Take This Woman (1940)
395 WALTER PIDGEON White Cargo (1942)
420 MAURICE MARSAC Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)
421 MICHAEL ANSARA My Favorite Spy (1951)
520 WILLIAM SCHALLERT The Story of Mankind (1957)
534 BOB HOPE My Favorite Spy (1951)
606 ALBERTO MORIN I Take This Woman (1940)
606 ALBERTO MORIN My Favorite Spy (1951)
623 RUSS TAMBLYN Samson and Delilah (1949)
671 EDUARDO CIANELLI The Conspirators (1944)
682 RAY TEAL Samson and Delilah (1949)
682 RAY TEAL The Strange Woman (1946)
682 RAY TEAL Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
783 JAMES FLAVIN Dishonored Lady (1947)
783 JAMES FLAVIN Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
824 FRANK WILCOX Let’s Live a Little (1948)
824 FRANK WILCOX Samson and Delilah (1949)
851 CEDRIC HARDWICKE The Story of Mankind (1957)
894 PHILIP VAN ZANDT Copper Canyon (1950)
894 PHILIP VAN ZANDT The Conspirators (1944)
915 IVAN TRIESAULT My Favorite Spy (1951)
969 BYRON FOULGER Boom Town (1940)
969 BYRON FOULGER H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
969 BYRON FOULGER Let’s Live a Little (1948)
969 BYRON FOULGER Samson and Delilah (1949)
980 VICTOR MATURE Samson and Delilah (1949)
Hedy appeared with 12 Oscar winners in films.
CHARLES COBURN H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
CHARLES COBURN The Story of Mankind (1957)
CLAIRE TREVOR Crossroads (1942)
CLARK GABLE Boom Town (1940)
CLARK GABLE Comrade X (1940)
CLAUDETTE COLBERT Boom Town (1940)
GEORGE SANDERS Samson and Delilah (1949)
GEORGE SANDERS The Strange Woman (1946)
JAMES STEWART Come Live with Me (1941)
JAMES STEWART Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
JOSEPH SCHILDKRAUT LADY OF THE TROPICS (1939)
PAUL LUKAS Experiment Perilous (1944)
RAY MILLAND Copper Canyon (1950)
RONALD COLMAN The Story of Mankind (1957)
SPENCER TRACY Boom Town (1940)
SPENCER TRACY I Take This Woman (1940)
SPENCER TRACY Tortilla Flat (1942)
VAN HEFLIN H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941)
We all remember that great 1931 German film she appeared in with Peter Lorre, Die Koffer des Hernn O.F.
Hedy was supposed to be in 1957’s Slaughter on Tenth Avenue starring Jeff Chandler but her scenes were deleted.
Hey Dan
1. Thanks for the lists…you are the man.
2. So Dennis Hopper is the last man standing. Not surprising since her last movie was over 60 years ago.
3. Looking at the second list….Bess Flowers and Byron Foulger had the most Hedy movies…..but some legends on the list as well.
4. 12 Oscar winners is on the low side for sure. Especially for all the Oscar winners walking around the MGM lot in the 1940s.
5. Lol….yes amazingly I could not find much information on Die Koffer des Hernn O.F….maybe somebody will find a box office ledger in an attic in Germany one of these days.
Good feedback as always.
Hey, I have only seen a couple of her movies. Did not remember she was in Boom Town. I found it interesting that she owned the mansion in The Sound Of Music. Wonder what she got paid for them to use her home……..she was a beautiful woman. She had some interesting leading men in her movies. Thanks for another interesting site.
HAVE YOU GOT MOST OR ALL OF THE OLD MOVIES STARS COVERED BY NOW?
Hey Bern1960….thanks for checking out our latest UMR page. I think it is safe to say she was the 4th biggest star in Boom Town….by the time they made that movie….Tracy, Gable and Colbert were Oscar winning mega-stars…while Hedy was pretty much just getting going. Glad you liked the Sound of Music trivia….I found that one interesting as well. Thanks for the kind words….but there are still lots of classic thespians to go….Veronica Lake…has since joined our lineup since your comment.