John Gielgud Movies

Want to know the best John Gielgud movies?  How about the worst John Gielgud movies?  Curious about John Gielgud box office grosses or which John Gielgud movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which John Gielgud 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.

John Gielgud (1904-2000) was an English actor and theater director whose career spanned eight decades.  During the first half of his career, Gielgud did not take the cinema seriously. Though he made his first film in 1924, and had successes with The Good Companions (1933) and Julius Caesar (1953), he did not begin a regular film career until he was in his sixties.  His IMDb page shows 137 acting credits from 1924 to 2000.   This page will rank John Gielgud movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings.

1981’s Arthur

John Gielgud Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

1953’s Julius Caesar

John Gielgud 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 John Gielgud movies by his co-stars
  • Sort John Gielgud movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort John Gielgud movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort John Gielgud movies 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 John Gielgud movie received.
  • Sort John Gielgud movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
1964’s Beckett

Best IMDb trivia on John Gielgud

  1. Arthur John Gielgud was born in South Kensington, London in 1904.

2.  John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century.  Gielgud has been called arguably the century’s greatest “Hamlet”.

3.  John Gielgud appeared with Laurence Olivier in a 1935 production of “Romeo and Juliet” in which he and Olivier alternated the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Gielgud got the better reviews in the lead as Romeo, which spurred Olivier on to become a better actor.

4. John Gielgud was J.K. Rowling’s original inspiration for the character of Albus Dumbledore.

5. John Gielgud was the only actor to appear in a Shakespearean film directed by Laurence Olivier (Richard III (1955)) and one directed by Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996)).

6. John Gielgud was knighted in the Coronation Honours List of 1953 and made a Companion of Honour in the 1977 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Check out John Gielgud’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Steve’s John Gielgud You Tube Video

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18 thoughts on “John Gielgud Movies”

  1. Sir John Gielgud had a beautiful voice as others have remarked on this site and although his features were quite harsh as he grew older, as a young man he was actually quite good-looking – see photograph on Wikipedia or watch Hitchcock’s 1936 Secret Agent.

    For a large part of his acting career he was regarded as one of Britain’s 3 greatest actor-knights, the other two being Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir Laurence Olivier, though the latter later became Lord Olivier.

    I have mentioned before on this site that Sir John (1) taught Brando on set the grasp of English diction for the latter’s role of Marc Antony in the 1953 Julius Caesar that won Marlon an Oscar nomination. It is a tribute to Sir John therefore that the normally hyper-critical Hirsch at least gives Brando 3 stars for that performance (2) certainly Sir John was so impressed with the achievement of his ‘pupil’ that he invited The Great Mumbler to tour the English stage theatres with him. Brando said no because there was more money in films. Maybe if he hadn’t said that Joel would have given him 4 stars for Antony! Brando and Sir John were in the same film again nearly 30 years later in 1980’s The Formula.

    I last recall seeing Sir John in a repeat episode of the Ian McShane’s television series Lovejoy which we discussed just recently on this site. The episode was called The Lost Colony and Sir John played, appropriately enough, Lord Wakering, a probably fictitious descendent of real-life English historical explorer/hero Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the greatest figures of England’s Elizabethan era and known among many other things for popularizing tobacco in England. The episode was aired on 27 Dec 1993.

    At his death in 2000 Sir John is said to have had a net fortune equivalent to $7 million in today’s money, a respectable sum for a thespian whose roots were in the theatre, where as Brando observed the money was, at least in Sir John’s heyday, nowhere near what could be made in movies. “Voted Up!”

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob.
      1. Thank you for an excellent comment.
      2. Good information on this comment. Much I did not know.
      3. Wow…another mention of Lovejoy……there has been a fair share of that this Fall here at UMR.com.
      4. Good to know that Sir John and Brando were good friends off screen…..you would think that their massive talents might not have allowed that to happen..
      5. I think Brando was 100%….there is no money in theater.
      6. $7 million is a decent though not awesome net worth…..at least when you compare it to other Hollywood legends.
      7. Michael Caine has said he feels his career will follow Gielgud’s career. Even in his 90s and near the end of his life….Sir John was debating which of three movies to make. Hopefully Caine will stay healthy enough to do the same.
      Good stuff.

      Reply

      1. HI BRUCE: Re further mention of Lovejoy, I was saying to Steve in another post this week that it seems to be a recurring coincidence on Cogerson that when some star gets a new page other mentions of him/her seem to pop up one way or another. For example after you posted your Sterling Hayden page, I happened to read that a famous Australian – born Irish pop star over here, Johnny Logan, adopted that stage name after Hayden’s character Johnny Guitar.

        Regarding Sir Maurice and Gielgud here are selected snapshots from what IMDB calls its ULTIMATE List of the 100 greatest movie actors of all time.

        1/Nicholson
        2/Mr Mumbles
        3/DeNiro
        5/Day Lewis
        12/Lord Larry
        14/Sir Maurice
        43/Al Leach.

        Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson are not on the list at all because they are regarded more as theatrical actors than movie stars. Good to see Archie making a Great Actors list.

        Under each and every main statistical criterion of IMDB’s, Jack and Mumbles score a dead heat and Mr Mumbles indeed used to be No 1 on that same list. However I think Jack got one more late-life award and the list organisers applied the adage that it’s “the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.” [or maybe between publishing the 1st and the revised list the organisers had read The Master’s book!] As usual there is plenty of flack from the Steve-types whose own favourites haven’t made the cut, with for example one irate viewer complaining that “the greatest movie actor of all time” wasn’t on the list: Frederic March.

        Reply

  2. [Leaps majestically onto the stage] Friends, Romans, countrymen…. lend me your ears… Thanks for the video share, much appreciated.

    I’ve seen 25 of the 61 films on the chart, which is a lot better than I did on my video top 40. Favorites include – Murder By Decree, Secret Agent, Becket, Richard III, Hamlet, First Knight, Gandhi, Lion of the Desert, Dragonheart, The Elephant Man and Around the World in 80 Days.

    Top rated films I haven’t seen include – Chimes at Midnight and Shine.

    Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!

    Johnny’s buddy Sir Ralph Richardson on the UMR cards mayhap? 😉

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve. Bravo for your mini-Shakespeare performance…it brought tears to my eyes reading it. Tally count 25 for you, 23 for me and 14 for Flora. I have seen all of your favorites with the exception of Secret Agent and Lion Of The Desert. I would put The Elephant Man, Murder By Decree and Dragonheart on my favorites list as well. I find it strange that Sir John made a movie with your favorite (Chuckie H.) and Bob’s favorite (Marlie B.)…and that both were Julius Caesar. I have not seen Chimes At Midnight/Falstaff either….but I want to. It is one of Danny Peary’s Cult Movies picks. As for Shine…good movie with great performances….but a one and done movie for me. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  3. Hello
    He was one of the most brilliant actor of the English theater and cinema.
    Listen to him to play and to said the words is a pleasure.
    English is such a beautiful language like french of course but to day, this is the world language for work for everything even Diplomatie…but when it is speak with talent it is wonderful.
    I saw Downtown abbey few weeks ago, I love the série and I love very much the film
    All the actors where brilliant…as usual.
    Good day
    Pierre

    Reply

    1. Hey Pierre….thanks for the great comment on Sir John Gielgud. I think your thoughts represent so many people that saw him perform on stage. Thanks for the mini-review of Downton Abbey. That would have be a great place to squeeze in a role for Sir John. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  4. Finally John Gielgud gets a page. I requested this page a long time ago. I know there is likely a lot of films missing from this page due to Box Office data.

    I have seen 14 John Gielgud movies, including 6 of the top 10.

    The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Hamlet starring Olivier.

    The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Chariots of Fire.

    The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Saint Joan.

    Favourite John Gielgud Movies:

    Hamlet (Olivier)
    Murder on the Orient Express
    Murder By Decree
    Around the World in 80 Days
    Julius Caesar
    Secret Agent

    Other John Gielgud Movies I Have Seen:

    Ghandi
    Chimes at Midnight
    Oh! What a Lovely War
    The Shoes of the Fisherman
    The Barretts of Wimpole Street
    Appointment with Death
    Saint Joan

    Reply

    2. Hey Flora…thanks for the thoughts and visit and our latest page. I have seen 23 of the 61 movies listed. As for missing movies….actually…..we are not missing too many. Of his 137 IMDb credits…68 were television or shorts. We have 61 movies listed. That only leaves 9 movies….and that includes his two silent movies and about 4 movies that did not get released in theaters….so the final total of missing movies is only 3….not too bad…certainly not the reason for me to delay this page for so long.

      I have seen all of your favorites with the exception of Secret Agent. I have not seen many of the early Hitch movies….I want to check that one out. Murder on the Orient Express and Murder By Decree would be my favorites too…along with his performance in Arthur….though I do not like the movie as much as him in it. Chimes At Midnight is also on my list of movies to watch as well…as that one is considered to be a cult classic. I guess I am surprised that Chariots of Fire and Arthur are not on your “watched list”. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  5. “In the Celebrity Register, John Gielgud was quoted as saying, “I’ve at last learned to relax. The emotional crises are finished so can concentrate more on one’s work.” This dedication has been responsible for a breathtaking gallery of characterizations.”

    Rating The Movie Stars 4 Star John Gielgud Performances
    1936’s Secret Agent
    1941’s The Prime Minister
    1953’s Julius Caesar
    1955’s Richard III
    1956’s The Barretts of Wimpole Street
    1957’s Saint Joan
    1964’s Beckett
    1966’s Chimes At Midnight/Falstaff
    1968’s The Charge of the Light Brigade
    1970’s Julius Caesar
    1977’s Providence
    1979’s Murder By Decree
    1980’s The Elephant Man
    1980’s The Human Factor
    1981’s Arthur
    1981’s Chariots of Fire
    1982’s Gandhi

    Sir John is ranked 36th of the 400 plus stars listed in the book Rating The Movie Stars

    Reply

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