Want to know the best Jean Simmons movies? How about the worst Jean Simmons movies? Curious about Jean Simmons box office grosses or which Jean Simmons movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jean Simmons 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.
Jean Simmons (1929-2010) was a two-time Oscar® nominated British actress. Her IMDb page shows 95 acting credits from 1944-2009. This page will rank 37 Jean Simmons movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances, and some movies made between 1944 and 1954, and movies not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings. This page comes from a request by Syndi.
Jean Simmons 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
1948
Hamlet (1948)
AA Best Picture Win
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
1960
Spartacus (1960)
1960
Elmer Gantry (1960)
AA Best Picture Nom
1958
The Big Country (1958)
1946
Great Expectations (1946)
AA Best Picture Nom
1955
Guys and Dolls (1955)
1953
The Robe (1953)
AA Best Picture Nom
1954
Désirée (1954)
1954
The Egyptian (1954)
1960
The Grass is Greener (1960)
1959
This Earth Is Mine (1959)
1947
Black Narcissus (1947)
1967
Divorce American Style (1967)
1953
Angel Face (1953)
1958
Home Before Dark (1958)
1953
Young Bess (1953)
2004
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Voice Only
1957
This Could Be The Night (1957)
1956
Hilda Crane (1956)
1949
The Blue Lagoon (1949)
1995
How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
1963
All The Way Home (1963)
1955
Footsteps in the Fog (1955)
1950
Trio (1950)
1957
Until They Sail (1957)
1952
Androcles and the Lion (1952)
2001
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
1967
Rough Night in Jericho (1967)
1950
The Clouded Yellow (1950)
1945
Johnny In The Clouds/The Way to the Stars (1945)
1969
The Happy Ending (1969)
AA Best Actress Nom
1950
So Long At The Fair (1950)
1966
Mister Buddwing (1966)
1965
Life At The Top (1965)
1953
Affair With A Stranger (1953)
1953
The Actress (1953)
1954
A Bullet Is Waiting (1954)
1947
The Inheritance/Uncle Silas (1947)
Limited Release
1975
Mr. Sycamore (1975)
1944
Mr. Emmanuel (1944)
2009
Shadows In The Sun (2009)
1988
The Dawning (1988)
1953
She Couldn't Say No (1953)
Jean Simmons 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 Simmons films by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Jean Simmons films by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Jean Simmons films by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Jean Simmons 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 Jean Simmons film received.
- Sort Jean Simmons 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.
| 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 | Hamlet (1948) AA Best Picture Win AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
Laurence Olivier | 8.90 | 241.1 | 241.10 | 15 | 81 | 07 / 04 | 99.8 | |
| 2 | Spartacus (1960) | Kirk Douglas & Tony Curtis |
31.70 | 495.5 | 495.50 | 2 | 91 | 06 / 04 | 99.6 | |
| 3 | Elmer Gantry (1960) AA Best Picture Nom |
Burt Lancaster | 13.20 | 206.4 | 206.40 | 15 | 87 | 05 / 03 | 99.5 | |
| 4 | The Big Country (1958) | Gregory Peck & Charlton Heston |
10.60 | 191.2 | 191.20 | 11 | 89 | 02 / 01 | 98.8 | |
| 5 | Great Expectations (1946) AA Best Picture Nom |
Alec Guinness & Directed by David Lean |
5.40 | 166.5 | 166.50 | 62 | 84 | 05 / 02 | 98.5 | |
| 6 | Guys and Dolls (1955) | Marlon Brando & Frank Sinatra |
19.60 | 407.2 | 407.20 | 7 | 77 | 04 / 00 | 97.4 | |
| 7 | The Robe (1953) AA Best Picture Nom |
Richard Burton & Victor Mature |
39.20 | 704.8 | 1,216.60 | 1 | 62 | 05 / 02 | 96.3 | |
| 8 | Désirée (1954) | Marlon Brando & Merle Oberon |
12.90 | 301.3 | 301.30 | 15 | 67 | 02 / 00 | 94.8 | |
| 9 | The Egyptian (1954) | Gene Tierney & Victor Mature |
12.90 | 301.3 | 301.30 | 17 | 65 | 01 / 00 | 93.9 | |
| 10 | The Grass is Greener (1960) | Cary Grant & Robert Mitchum |
8.60 | 133.9 | 133.90 | 32 | 77 | 00 / 00 | 91.1 | |
| 11 | This Earth Is Mine (1959) | Rock Hudson & Claude Rains |
9.70 | 174.5 | 174.50 | 24 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 90.1 | |
| 12 | Black Narcissus (1947) | Deborah Kerr & Flora Robson |
2.40 | 70.9 | 70.90 | 129 | 85 | 02 / 02 | 88.3 | |
| 13 | Divorce American Style (1967) | Debbie Reynolds & Van Johnson |
13.80 | 122.5 | 122.50 | 23 | 68 | 01 / 00 | 86.9 | |
| 15 | Angel Face (1953) | Robert Mitchum | 3.00 | 54.4 | 54.40 | 132 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 80.1 | |
| 14 | Home Before Dark (1958) | Rhonda Fleming | 3.50 | 62.8 | 102.10 | 63 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 79.1 | |
| 17 | Young Bess (1953) | Charles Laughton & Deborah Kerr |
5.00 | 89.6 | 222.90 | 63 | 62 | 02 / 00 | 78.9 | |
| 17 | Howl's Moving Castle (2004) Voice Only |
Christian Bale & Lauren Bacall |
4.70 | 8.2 | 408.30 | 167 | 87 | 01 / 00 | 77.8 | |
| 18 | This Could Be The Night (1957) | Joan Blondell | 2.50 | 47.8 | 83.60 | 99 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 70.2 | |
| 19 | Hilda Crane (1956) | Guy Madison | 2.90 | 56.0 | 56.00 | 110 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 67.8 | |
| 22 | The Blue Lagoon (1949) | Donald Houston | 2.70 | 68.6 | 68.60 | 120 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 67.7 | |
| 20 | How to Make an American Quilt (1995) | Winona Ryder | 23.60 | 58.5 | 58.50 | 73 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 67.5 | |
| 21 | All The Way Home (1963) | Robert Preston | 1.90 | 23.3 | 23.30 | 95 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 65.2 | |
| 23 | Footsteps in the Fog (1955) | Stewart Granger | 1.20 | 25.2 | 25.20 | 161 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 64.1 | |
| 25 | Trio (1950) | James Hayter | 1.00 | 23.3 | 23.30 | 182 | 68 | 01 / 00 | 62.3 | |
| 25 | Until They Sail (1957) | Paul Newman & Joan Fontaine |
2.10 | 41.0 | 78.10 | 111 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 61.2 | |
| 26 | Androcles and the Lion (1952) | Victor Mature | 3.10 | 61.0 | 61.00 | 114 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 60.9 | |
| 27 | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) | Alec Baldwin & Donald Sutherland |
32.10 | 61.3 | 162.40 | 74 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 58.5 | |
| 28 | Rough Night in Jericho (1967) | Dean Martin & George Peppard |
4.40 | 39.0 | 39.00 | 56 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 58.4 | |
| 27 | The Clouded Yellow (1950) | Trevor Howard | 0.90 | 19.2 | 19.20 | 191 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 57.8 | |
| 29 | Johnny In The Clouds/The Way to the Stars (1945) | Michael Redgrave & John Mills |
0.20 | 5.4 | 5.40 | 169 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 55.7 | |
| 29 | The Happy Ending (1969) AA Best Actress Nom |
Teresa Wright | 1.80 | 13.3 | 13.30 | 112 | 66 | 02 / 00 | 55.0 | |
| 31 | So Long At The Fair (1950) | Dirk Bogarde | 0.40 | 10.0 | 10.00 | 204 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 54.6 | |
| 33 | Mister Buddwing (1966) | James Garner & Angela Lansbury |
2.10 | 20.8 | 20.80 | 95 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 52.6 | |
| 34 | Life At The Top (1965) | Laurence Harvey | 1.50 | 15.8 | 15.80 | 114 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 48.7 | |
| 35 | Affair With A Stranger (1953) | Victor Mature & Linda Douglas |
1.70 | 29.9 | 29.90 | 176 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 47.1 | |
| 36 | The Actress (1953) | Spencer Tracy & Anthony Perkins |
1.80 | 32.3 | 49.80 | 173 | 57 | 01 / 00 | 46.0 | |
| 38 | A Bullet Is Waiting (1954) | Rory Calhoun | 2.20 | 51.9 | 51.90 | 117 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 41.0 | |
| 37 | The Inheritance/Uncle Silas (1947) Limited Release |
Katina Paxinou | 0.10 | 4.0 | 4.00 | 181 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 40.9 | |
| 37 | Mr. Sycamore (1975) | Jason Robards | 1.60 | 8.4 | 8.40 | 127 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 39.2 | |
| 39 | Mr. Emmanuel (1944) | Felix Aylmer | 0.90 | 31.0 | 31.00 | 151 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 34.7 | |
| 40 | Shadows In The Sun (2009) | Jamie Dornan | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 428 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 23.2 | |
| 41 | The Dawning (1988) | Hugh Grant & Trevor Howard |
0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 277 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 20.6 | |
| 42 | She Couldn't Say No (1953) | Robert Mitchum | 1.90 | 33.5 | 33.50 | 169 | 40 | 00 / 00 | 13.2 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Jean Simmons
- Jean Merilyn Simmons was born in Lower Holloway, London in 1929.
2. Jean Simmons trained to be an actress from early childhood. She began showing up in movies at the age of 15 in 1944.
3. Jean Simmons was nominated for two Oscars®: She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 1948’s Hamlet and was nominated for Best Actress in 1969’s The Happy Ending.
4. Jean Simmons was nominated for five Golden Globes®: She won the Golden Globe® for Best Actress in 1956’s Guys & Dolls.
5. Jean Simmons was married two times and had two children.
6. Jean Simmons’ first husband was actor, Stewart Granger. Her second husband was director and writer Richard Brooks.
7. Jean Simmons was the only guest star on the television series Murder, She Wrote to receive an Emmy Award® nomination.
8. Director Richard Brooks claimed that he wrote 1969’s The Happy Ending, the filmed story of an alcoholic wife (played by Jean Simmons) as a way to tell his wife that she herself had a problem. The marriage eventually broke up due to Simmons’ drinking and Brooks’ workaholic tendencies.
9. Jean Simmons was William Wyler’s first choice for the role of Princess Ann in 1953’s Roman Holiday (1953), but Howard Hughes, who owned her contract, would not loan her out to Paramount to do the film.
10. Check out Jean Simmons’ movie career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Friend of website….Steve Lensman’s Jean Simmons You Tube Video is worth checking out.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Cogerson
Just a question for clarification. Why did Hamlet end up the #1 movie on the UMR list? Your critics rate it lower than several of her other films. It wasn’t all that big at the box office. It did strongly at the Oscars but not that much better than Spartacus or Elmer Gantry.
To cut to the chase, why does your UMR system rate Hamlet over Spartacus?
*by the way, I think your critics grossly underrate Olivier’s Hamlet. Perhaps I am just more into Shakespeare than they are.
Hey John….good question….the best answer is that Hamlet kicked butt in the third part of the equation in my UMR score….award recognition. Her Oscar nomination in a Best Picture Oscar winner brings some points….her total would have been even higher if she had gotten a Golden Globe nomination. For even further explanation:
Jean Simmons Top Three UMR Movies:
Spartacus – $387.40 million gets 31.00 points which is the max….the top threshold is $200 million. Critic/Audience Review – 88% rating equals 41.36 points out of 47.00 possible points. So total with 78% of the calculation is 72.36
Hamlet – $193.50 million gets 29.99 points out of 31.00. Critic/Audience Review – 81% rating equals 38.07 points out of 47.00 possible points. So total with 78% of the calculation is 69.07
Elmer Gantry – $165.60 million gets 25.67 points out of 31.00.. Critic/Audience Review – 87% rating equals 40.89 points out of 47.00 possible points. So total with 78% of the calculation the score is 66.56
Now adding in the points for award love…..Spartacus got 6.05 points (no individual love for her)….Elmer Gantry got 7.93 points…(a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination) and Hamlet got 12.44 points (Oscar nomination was the biggie here)
Add it up and you see Hamlet leap frogging Spartacus to take the top spot….81.51 to 78.41. When looking at the movies total ranks….both Hamlet and Spartacus are highly rated…with Hamlet just missing the Top 100 by 3 spots..as it comes in 103rd….while Spartacus is at 162nd.
I know probably too much information…..but you asked…lol,
Cogerson
“I know probably too much information”
No. Not at all. I didn’t remember that she got an Oscar nomination and your system rates those nominations highly. Of course, the movie actually won best picture.
Hey John…there are lots of little factors in the equation…but individual Oscar nominations and wins help improve a score. Surprisingly she only got two nominations….for Hamlet which was before she was a major star….and then 21 years later for The Happy Ending….which was made long after her box office pull had been lost. 🙂
HI BRUCE
Though Jean Simmons did play seductresses {The Many Loves of Hilda Crane- aka juast Hilda Crane] and “bitches” [as in Angel Face] generally I thought of her as the prim and proper “English Rose” and the Sister Sarah type from Guys and Dolls whereas I always regarded Jones as a great sex projector as in Ruby Gentry and particularly Duel in the Sun. That’s how I made the distinction between the two though again in Jennifer’s case it is not perfect as she played the saintly Bernadette and was I think a goody, goody nurse in Hudson’s A Farewell to Arms
Hey Bob….thanks for the breakdown of their screen personas. I have seen more of Jones’ movies than Simmons’ movies. The benefit of doing these pages is that it allows me to expand my movie knowledge.
When Joseph Mankiewicz directed Jean Simmons in Guys and Dolls, he called her “fantastic”. Critics have been saying the same thing for years through good vehicles (Elmer Gantry) and bad (Hilda Crane and Mr. Buddwing).
Hey Joel….thanks for the the thoughts on Jean Simmons. I wonder what do you think are the best Jean Simmons performances?
Glad you asked….in my humble opinion…here are the Top Jean Simmons’ performances
1946’s Great Expectations
1947’s Black Narcissus
1948’s Hamlet
1950’s So Long At The Fair
1950’s The Clouded Yellow
1952’s Angel Face
1953’s The Robe
1953’s The Actress
1955’s Footsteps in the Fog
1956’s Guys and Dolls
1958’s The Big Country
1958’s Hours Before Dark
1959’s The Earth Is Mine
1960’s Elmer Gantry
1960’s Spartacus
1963’s All The Way Home
1967’s Divorce American Style
1969’s The Happy Ending
All 4 star performances in my book Rating the Movie Stars
Thanks Joel….I have all of these movies in the ranking table except for So Long At The Fair….I will go back and see if I can uncover any information on it’s box office totals.
Thanks for the video link Bruce, it is appreciated. Good to see Joe Hershorn’s a Jean Simmons fan, but I don’t see Desiree on his list. [wink]
No problem Steve…Desiree…might not have made Joel’s 4 star performances…..but he still gave it a 3 star performance rating….so I guess he just did not like Marlon in that movie….lol.
I like the new banner, better than the last one, nice color too.
Bruce, it’s been 9 months since I uploaded a video on Jean Simmons, better late than never. Have you done on Deborah Kerr yet? Vivien Leigh? [cue Bruce snarling]
I’ve seen 13 of the 37 listed, more a third. Favorites include – Spartacus, The Big Country, Black Narcissus, The Robe, Great Expectations, Final Fantasy and Howl’s Moving Castle.
I still haven’t seen Elmer Gantry, I always try to avoid movies that win awards…. I’m kidding! I’m sure Burt was great in his Oscar-winning role but I’d rather watch his buddy Kirk as Spartacus.
Good work Bruce. Another big movie page added to your hefty tome. Vote Up
Hey Steve
1. Thanks for the visit, the tally count and the compliment on the new banner. Some William and Mary marketing professors were checking out our website….and their analysis of the site was mainly three things (a) the scope/subjects was impressive (b) the site needs to be monetized and (c) our banner sucked. It reminded me of Clint’s movie The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…lol.
2. I have since included your video…I thought you had a video on her…but by the time I got to the interesting facts part…it was almost 2 in the morning…and I confuse I got tired and did not look…..but it is now part of the page.
3. Sorry I was not able to find so many of her English movies from 1944 to 1950…you Brits needed better box office records….lol. Basically of her four Stewart Granger movies…only one made this page….I was disappointed in that….but from 1951 to the end of her career….I have every movie with the except of her movie with Victor Mature….An Affair With A Stranger….which once again…I struck out on the research on that one.
4. Tally count I am at 11….looking at your video I was at 8…so I have been closing the gap on you these last 9 months.
5. I have seen all of your favorites…Final Fantasy still looks amazing almost 20 years later. I was not much of a Black Narcissus fan but it sure looked amazing as well.
6. Elmer Gantry is good…but not one I re-visit….I was doing a watch every Best Actor, Actress, Picture, Director, Supporting Actor & Actress Oscar winning movie…of the 560ish movies…I have seen all of them except for 19….I just watched the final 2016 Award winner a couple of nights again..Viola Davis in Fences…she was very deserving of the award….sorry went off on a tangent.
7. Good feedback as always.
1 HELLO THERE “NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON’T”! Jean never joined the ranks of the Legends like Liz or Marilyn but in the 1950’s she was well up on the A list of actresses in demand and indeed you have revealed that she was first choice for the classic Roman Holiday that made A H a star.
2 Sadly Jean’s main heyday as an important star was relatively short, probably from The Robe in 1953 until 1960 when she was in 3 hits, Elmer Gantry, Spartacus and The Grass is Greener after which it was downhill as major star.
3 However in those few years she worked with virtually every major male actor in Hollywood at that time providing solid feminine interest with her beauty. I count 16 of them at least in your co-stars column and it will be seen that they included legends of the calibre of Lancaster, Peck, Heston, Olivier, Grant, Burton and Brando.
4 She also of course made movies with her own husband of the 1950s Stewart Granger and her biographer claims that she cheated on Granger with Burton while filming The Robe.
5 In one video in the series of Brando videos for which you kindly gave me a link a short while ago Jean was interviewed and said that when she made Guys and Dolls with Bud the two of them had so much fun in each other’s company on the set that she didn’t want to leave and go home at the end of the day. Your beautiful miniature of Mumbles and her fills me full of nostalgia for those days long when I watched that movie twice in the one week at local cinemas and in fact on one of those occasions walked miles to see it.
6 She was always second billed to other important stars [Young Bess being the exception as she had the title role] and her stand-alone movies were all flops. However artistically she was a true professional in them and my own favourite stand-alone Simmons movie is Home Before Dark where she played a woman on the edge who is driven into an institution by the mental cruelty of her husband.
7 I am delighted with this new page and have been looking out for it for some time as Jean is one of the few important female stars of the 1950s whom you had hitherto not profiled the other two that spring immediately to mind and who are still outstanding are the Janes Powell and Russell.
8 Now that we have a Cogerson Simmons page to complement Steve’s excellent video [well worth the revisit that I have just made] I can compare Top 5s. You and Steve agree on 3 of the Top 5 and surprisingly he has Big Country at just 5 whereas you make it No 1 for critic/audience on this page. I agree with you as would every other TRUE fan of Greg and Chuck! Nice miniature of Jean & Kirk.
Hey Bob
1. Thanks for checking out our latest UMR page.
2. I have to admit growing up I got Jean Simmons and Jennifer Jones mixed up on a regular basis…I think if she had been a bigger star…that might not have been the case.
3. The Robe made her a superstar….though she was a Top 10 star in England by 1950. The Robe is still on the all-time adjusted box office hit list…47th currently….and for a time it was only behind Gone With the Wind.
4. I always like it when a star makes lots of movies with other stars…it makes doing an UMR page so much easier…though I will admit…this one was a lot harder than I was thinking…all her 1940s movies required lots of research and in many cases I came up empty handed.
5. Glad she and Brando got along on Guys and Dolls…and glad you like the photo.
6. Jane Powell will probably be coming soon….as she almost got a page this time around….I have not thought about Jane Russell too much….seems she has many B movies…and those are really difficult to find box office grosses on.
7. 3 out of 5 is not too good….hard to believe he has 4 other movies higher than The Big Country…..I guess he is just confused….lol.
Good feedback as always.