Want to know the best Jean Arthur movies? How about the worst Jean Arthur movies? Curious about Jean Arthur box office grosses or which Jean Arthur movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jean Arthur movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Jean Arthur (1900-1991) was an Oscar®-nominated American actress. From the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s, Jean Arthur was one of the most popular actors working. Between 1936 and 1944, she appeared in 15 $100 million (adjusted) box office hits and 5 movies that earned a Best Picture Oscar® nomination. Jean Arthur‘s IMDb page shows 97 acting credits from 1923-1966. This page will rank 26 Jean Arthur movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her silent films, her early 1930s movies, television appearances, uncredited roles and shorts were not included in the rankings.
Drivel Part: This page comes from a request by Lyle. Lyle made the request many many months ago. After lots of fruitless research we have waved the white flag. Her entire film career from 1923 to 1934 is not included in the page. Ok….1930’s Street of Chance was included….but that is the only one. Maybe some box office numbers on her early career are somewhere out there…..but we can not find it….and we give up! Every movie she made from 1935 to 1953 did make the rankings….and it does include her most famous movies. So we are apologizing up front for all the missing movies.
Jean Arthur 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 Jean Arthur movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Jean Arthur movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Jean Arthur movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Jean Arthur 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 Jean Arthur movie received.
- Sort Jean Arthur 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.
- Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Jean Arthur Table
- Sixteen Jean Arthur movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 61.53% of her movies listed. Shane (1953) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Jean Arthur movie grossed $127.70 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 20 Jean Arthur movies are rated as good movies…or 76.92% of her movies. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) is her highest rated movie while Arizona (1940) is her lowest rated movie.
- Eleven Jean Arthur movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 42.30% of her movies.
- Five Jean Arthur movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 19.23% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 21 Jean Arthur movies scored higher that average….or 80.76% of her movies. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) got the the highest UMR Score while Arizona (1940) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Jean Arthur
1. Gladys Georgianna Greene was born in Plattsburgh, New York in 1900.
2. So how did Gladys Greene become Jean Arthur? Her screen name came from two of her greatest heroes, Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) and King Arthur.
3. Jean Arthur was cast in over twenty low budget westerns (Action Pictures) in a two-year period during the 1920s. She was paid $25 dollars per movie. Twenty movies at $25 per movie equals a total pay of $500!
4. Jean Arthur was nominated for one acting Oscar®….1943’s The More The Merrier.
5. In Danny Peary’s excellent book, Alternate Oscar®, he (Peary) makes a great case of the fact that Jean Arthur should have won the Best Actress Oscar® for 1943’s The More The Merrier.
6. Jean Arthur was married two times….but did not have children.
7. Jean Arthur’s favorite leading man?……Mr. Gary Cooper.
8. Director George Stevens famously called Jean Arthur “one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen” while Frank Capra credited her as “my favorite actress”.
9. After retiring, Jean Arthur was teaching at Vassar at the same time that Meryl Streep was studying there in her junior year. Upon seeing the young drama major rehearsing August Strindberg’s play “Miss Julie”, Arthur remarked it was “just like watching a movie star”.
10. Check out Jean Arthur‘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.
Bruce, I am amazed about all the great stuff I still find here exploring your pages, and I’m sure it will take me many more months to come before I’m halfway done! Jean Arthur was a wonderful actress, I loved her movies long before I heard her original speaking voice for the first time (on german TV most movies are dubbed). Of the above listed films, I have seen 16. I guess I love all of them, but of course I do have favorites 🙂
Shane is one of the few westerns I really enjoy, Easy Living, The More the Merrier, Mr. Smith & Mr. Deeds, Talk of the Town…I fell in Love with Jean when I first saw You can’t take it with you (No.2 of 38!). I find her at her most engrossing in A foreign Affair, though…set against Dietrich’s glamour, her “Girl next Door” appeal makes you root for her 🙂 While Dietrich (in one of her best parts imo) seductivly warbles songs like Black Market and Illusion, Arthur’s croaking of the Iowa Song is not just one of the movies highlights, but also serves as a statement as to Glamour Queen vs. real woman. No matter how much I love Dietrich, here Jean is the real thing!
Jean Arthur supposedly was an insecure person, a bit like Monroe and thus not easy to work with. Still, she sure belongs up there with the Greats of cinema’s immortals. I always wanted to see her TV show, but no luck so far. Thanks for giving Miss Arthur her due on your UMR website…as your gif says, she demanded and deserved it 🙂
Hey Lupino…..glad to hear you are enjoying our website. Glad you found our Jean Arthur page….she was a request that I put off for awhile…mainly because I could not find any box office information on her silent movies.
Tally count…as best as could see when I went through the comments.
Lupino 16 Arthur movies watched
Laurent 9 Arthur movies watched
Cogerson 9 Arthur movies watched
Steve L. 8 Arthur movies watched
Of your favorites…I am right there with you on Shane, More the Merrier (though Steve was not impressed with that one), Talk of the Town, Mr. Smith and Mr. Deeds…all classic greats. I have not seen Easy Living yet. I was not impressed with You Can’t Take It With You…though she was good in the movie.
Thanks for the visit, the comments and the Jean Arthur mini-reviews…all are greatly appreciated.
Jean Arthur was never on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. There is only person on the current list who worked with her and it’s;
The Plainsman (1936) – 681 Anthony Quinn
People that were on the original 2000 list who have fallen off over the years and appeared in a movie with her are listed below (rank is for 2000).
A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) – 179 John Wayne, 256 Hank Worden
Adventure in Manhattan (1936) – 222 Bess Flowers, 982 Billy Benedict
Arizona (1940) – 207 William Holden, 740 George Chandler, 969 Byron Foulger
Diamond Jim (1935) – 151 Cesar Romero
Easy Living (1937) – 187 Ray Milland, 832 Don Brodie
History is Mad at Night (1937) – 393 Charles Boyer, 969 Byron Foulger
If You Could Only Cook (1935) – 81 Lionel Stander, 222 Bess Flowers
More Than a Secretary (1936) – 81 Lionel Stander
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) – 81 Lionel Stander, 222 Bess Flowers, 379 Ann Doran, 571 Charles Lane
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) – 108 Dub Taylor, 344 James Stewart, 379 Ann Doran, 571 Charles Lane, 740 George Chandler, 969 Byron Foulger
Only Angels Have Wings (1939) – 671 Don ‘Red’ Barry
Public Hero #1 (1935) – 783 James Flavin
Shane (1953) – 26 Jack Palance, 213 Ben Johnson, 219 Elisha Cook Jr., 994 Ellen Corby
The Defense Rests (1934) – 222 Bess Flowers, 832 Don Brodie
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) – 542 Paul Fix
The Impatient Tears (1944) – 356 Phil Brown
The More the Merrier (1943) – 379 Ann Doran
The Plainsman (1936) – 256 Hank Worden
The Saturday Night Kid (1929) – 222 Bess Flowers
The Talk of the Town (1942) – 147 Lloyd Bridges, 982 Billy Benedict
The Whole Town’s Talking (1935) – 222 Bess Flowers, 463 Edward G. Robinson, 832 Don Brodie
Too Many Husbands (1940) – 651 Melvyn Douglas
You Can’t Take it With You (1938) – 100 Ian Wolfe, 108 Dub Taylor, 222 Bess Flowers, 344 James Stewart, 379 Ann Doran, 571 Charles Lane, 783 James Flavin, 969 Byron Foulger
I count 19 Oscar winning stars that Jean appeared in films with;
John Wayne, William Holden, Ray Milland, Paul Lukas (Halfway to Heaven (1929), Young Eagles (1930), Gary Cooper (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936, Paramount on Parade (1930), The Drug Store Cowboy (1925), The Plainsman (1936), James Stewart, Fredric March (Paramount on Parade (1930), Walter Brennan (Party Wire (1935), Lionel Barrymore (Public Hero #1 (1935), You Can’t Take it With You (1938), Jack Palance, Ben Johnson, Van Heflin (Shane (1953), Charles Coburn (The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), The More the Merrier (1943), The Impatient Years (1944), Jane Darwell (The Most Precious Thing in Life (1934), The Past of Mary Holmes (1933), Anthony Quinn, Ronald Colman (The Talk of the Town (1942), Melvyn Douglas, Joan Crawford (Winners of the Wilderness (1927), Thomas Mitchell (Adventure in Manhattan (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Hey Dan….thanks for the lists.
List 1: Not surprising that Anthony Quinn is the last man standing…..especially since her last movie was ONLY 63 years ago…..even more amazing is the fact that the Quinn/Arthur movie that still made the list is 80 years old.
List 2: Compared to others…this list is not too long….and you even included movies that I “gave up” on. Looks like You Can’t Take It With You and Shane had the most active cast members…though looking at those 12 actors…I only know have of them…..and that is counting Bess Flowers….and I only know her from your lists.
List 3: Oscar winners……19 is a decent number for her generally short career….I do not imagine many people survived those low budget westerns of the 1920s…if she the star was only getting 25 bucks a movie…..I imagine the rest of the cast worked for free.
Great lists….thanks for sharing them…..it is always appreciated.
What an outstanding career.
Another actress who could have, and probably should have, made the AFI 25 legends list.
Hey John…I think you are 100% correct…..she would be a strong candidate for the AFI legends list. Bob has said that there used to be a list of the finalists…..I would really like to see that list….I imagine Arthur was one of the last ones to get cut. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Bruce
1 You highlighted that Cooper was Jean’s favourite actor; and they shared a wonderful scene in the closing moments of The Plainsman that compensated for the silly scene that I mentioned in a previous post where Coop disguises himself as a buffalo.
2 In Plainsman he plays Wild Bill Hickok and she is Calamity Jane who has a shine for him that he never reciprocates, and usually on his return from the plains she will come running up to him in the bar and kiss him but he always dismissively wipes it off. At the end of the movie he lies dead on the barroom floor and heartbroken she cradles him in her arms , kisses him and says “That’s one you won’t wipe off.” It would be difficult to locate in today’s cinema a love scene so underplayed yet so memorable.
3 You’ve mentioned that you were unable to locate grosses for a number of Arthur’s earlier movies but your table probably includes all her major hits and certainly the inclusion of her great classics like Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take it with You and Only Angels have Wings and her list of sixteen 100 million dollar + movies, 15 within a 9 year period, out of a total of the 26 you have listed illustrate why she is considered to have been one of the important and most popular stars of the early talkies. Accordingly your profile of her is most welcome. It is a pity that although Shane was a massive box office hit and a perennial classic of the western genre she never made a film after it but at least she retired in the glow of a great success; and as one of your other readers pointed out she had a very distinctive voice, and used it to fine effect right to the end.
4 Anyway I think you have now paid tribute to so many of the greatest stars of the classic era that anyone who does not have a Cogerson page must be turning in the grave! I leg-pull about you neglecting for example George Raft but truth be told I am amazed that you have been as comprehensively prolific as you have been. Best wishes BOB
Hey Bob
1. Somehow I have figured out a way not to see The Plainsman…..but when I do so it…I will keep an eye open for both of the scenes you mentioned.
2. I agree, I think I got almost all of her popular well known movies….but I like seeing the “struggle” a performer goes through to reach their stardom….so not including all of her early movies was frustrating….but if I did not give up these 26 movies would have stayed in my database collecting dust.
3. Though if you had done a “homage” again you could have found 17 of these movies already on different UMR pages.
4. As for Shane being her swan song….at 53 she would was probably headed for supporting roles….and this way so goes out with a bang…and leaves a lasting impression of being young and pretty….nothing wrong with that.
5. Georgie is coming soon….currently working on Linda Darnell……having fun with that one….though I just read how she died……a very tragic death at 41.
Thanks for the feedback.
Yes tragic death of a lovely woman BOB
Hey Bob…..Wow just read a Darnell book that had a whole chapter on her final hours…..that was a horrible way to go. RIP Linda Darnell.
Thank you Bruce.
I am so happy you’ve done a page on Jean Arthur. This is a great Page to me for I am a great fan of Jean Arthur. This page gave me nine more box office figures that I didn’t already have. I can’t tell you enough how happy this page has made me. Thank You. I love Shane (1953) but my favorite Arthur films are her comedy dramas. Jean Arhur is to my mind the Queen of the screwball comedies. The Devil in Miss Jones, The More the Merrier, Only Angels Have Wings, Mr. Smith, Mr. Deeds, The Whole Town’s Talking, The Talk of the Town and Shane are all great films. I also love History Is Made at Night, The Plainsman, If You Could Only Cook, Easy Living and More Than a Secretary. Thanks again Bruce for doing my requested page.
Hey Lyle.
1. Glad you like your requested page.
2. Sorry it took so long to get the page done.
3. Glad it unlocked 9 more box office grosses on Arthur movies.
4. She might not be the Queen….but she is in the royal family of screwball comedies.
5. With the exception of The Whole Towns Talking I have seen every one of your “great Arthur movies”. Of those Only Angels Have Wings is my favorite.
6. Good comment….thanks for sharing your thoughts on Jean Arthur.