Want to know the best Judy Holliday movies? How about the worst Judy Holliday movies? Curious about Judy Holliday box office grosses or which Judy Holliday movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Judy Holliday movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which ones got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.
Judy Holliday (1921-1965) was a Oscar® winning American actress, comedian, and singer. She began her career as part of a nightclub act before working in Broadway plays and musicals. Her success in the 1946 stage production of Born Yesterday as Billie Dawn led to her being cast in the 1950 film version for which she won an Oscar® for Best Actress.
Her IMDb page shows 16 acting credits from 1938-1960. This page will rank 9 Judy Holliday movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, shorts, and bit parts were not included in the rankings.
Judy Holliday 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 Judy Holliday movies by movie titles and trailers to those movies
- Sort Judy Holliday movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Judy Holliday movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Judy Holliday movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Judy Holliday 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 each Judy Holliday movie received.
- Sort by how many Oscar® wins each Judy Holliday movie received.
- Sort Judy Holliday movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
I knew she died young of breast cancer, but I did not know she fell under the red scare.
I find Judy Holiday delightful. So far I have seen 6 of her movies. The three I am missing are Winged Victory, Pfft, and Full of Life.
Here are the Holliday films I’ve seen in order of preference:
Born Yesterday – wonderful chemistry with William Holden
Adam’s Rib – my favourite Tracy and Hepburn; they gave Judy close ups as an audition for B.Y.
Bells Are Ringing – wonderfully sweet musical with Dean Martin
It Should Happen to You – fun comedy about fame; Jack Lemmon’s big screen debut
Solid Gold Cadillac – Judy holds shares of stock in a company whose directors are crooked except Paul Douglas
The Marrying Kind – A drama with Aldo Ray about a couple considering divorce after the death of a child
Hey Flora
1. Your Holliday thoughts are greatly appreciated.
2. Tally count…Lupino 7, you 6, me 3 and little Stevie Lensman
3. Good mini-reviews of her movies.
4. I have seen your Top 3….enjoyed all of them too.
5. Of the ones that I have not seen….I want to see It Should Happen To You and The Marrying Kind….that is one of Aldo Ray’s few romantic movies.
Good feedback as always.
Hello Bruce,
Judy Holliday, a long time ago and a very short carrière but i saw Born Yesterday, in french, « comment l esprit vient au femmes » but the only things i remembered it was the smile so nice and i dont forget it
Never , too beautiful
Bye
Pierre
Hey Pierre….well you saw the best of Judy Holliday…they remade Born Yesterday with Melanie Griffith and it is horrible…Holliday’s version is an all-time classic. Her smile was amazing. Thanks for the view on Holliday from France.
Hello Bruce,
We are on live
What time is it for you?
In France it is near half past eight in evening
So funny
Bye
Pierre
I just love Judy Holliday. She managed to make her presence felt next to Hepburn and Tracy in Adam’s Rib, was fantastic in Born Yesterday. I really think she deserved that Oscar, although I do love Eve and Sunset Boulevard. Swanson was great as Norma Desmond, and if she would have won, it would have been ok with me- honouring one of the greatest silent screen stars along the way. Davis’ Margo was a wonderful creation, too, but so was Judy’s Billie Dawn of Born Yesterday. I have seen all but 2 movies from the list, those two being Winged Victory and Full of Life. I liked them all, though my two favs are the ones mentioned at the beginning of my comment. Thank you for giving Judy her due place among other greats here at UMR, even though her Hollywood career was really short 🙂
Hey Lupino.
1. Thanks for the Holliday feedback.
2. With her back to back movies of Adam’s Rib and Born Yesterday it made her an instant star…and amazingly has stayed that way for almost 70 years.
3. Tally count…7 for you, 3 for me and 3 for Steve.
4. Shame all three performances happened in the same year….as Davis, Swanson and Holliday’s performances have all aged nicely.
5. The good news for UMR readers is that it does not take long to count the movies up…lol.
Good stuff as always.
It’s amazing that Judy whose last film was in 1960 still had 2 people on the 2016 Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list.
478 JOHN SAXON It Should Happen to You (1954)
912 ARTHUR TOVEY Adam’s Rib (1949)
Arthur has since fallen off.
The following actors on the first list in 2000 but have since fallen off appeared in a film with Judy.
9 ORSON WELLES Too Much Johnson (1938)
53 CHARLES BRONSON The Marrying Kind (1952)
58 JACK LEMMON It Should Happen to You (1954)
58 JACK LEMMON Phffft (1954)
158 JOSEPH COTTEN Too Much Johnson (1938)
185 KEVIN MCCARTHY Winged Victory (1944)
207 WILLIAM HOLDEN Born Yesterday (1950)
222 BESS FLOWERS Phffft (1954)
232 ROY JENSON Bells Are Ringing (1960)
237 PETER LAWFORD It Should Happen to You (1954)
241 BRODERICK CRAWFORD Born Yesterday (1950)
301 LEE J. COBB Winged Victory (1944)
359 KARL MALDEN Winged Victory (1944)
394 ALDO RAY The Marrying Kind (1952)
483 MURRAY HAMILTON Something for the Boys (1944)
503 RICHARD CONTE Full of Life (1956)
522 RED BUTTONS Winged Victory (1944)
592 WHIT BISSELL It Should Happen to You (1954)
592 WHIT BISSELL Winged Victory (1944)
617 PAUL FREES Bells Are Ringing (1960)
732 ARTHUR O’CONNELL The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)
746 HERB VIGRAN Bells Are Ringing (1960)
840 FRANK GORSHIN Bells Are Ringing (1960)
867 RORY CALHOUN Something for the Boys (1944)
882 DEAN MARTIN Bells Are Ringing (1960)
903 JACK KRUSCHEN It Should Happen to You (1954)
961 NICKY BLAIR Bells Are Ringing (1960)
963 FRANK FERGUSON The Marrying Kind (1952)
965 MARY WICKES Too Much Johnson (1938)
Judy in her few films appeared with 10 Oscar winners or 3.1 x Tyler Perry.
BRODERICK CRAWFORD Born Yesterday (1950)
DON AMECHE Greenwich Village (1944)
EDMUND O’BRIEN Winged Victory (1944)
GEORGE BURNS The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)
JACK LEMMON It Should Happen to You (1954)
JACK LEMMON Phffft (1954)
KARL MALDEN Winged Victory (1944)
KATHARINE HEPBURN Adam’s Rib (1949)
RED BUTTONS Winged Victory (1944)
SPENCER TRACY Adam’s Rib (1949)
WILLIAM HOLDEN Born Yesterday (1950)
Hey Dan
1. I agree…pretty amazing that she still has a connection to the current top 1000
2. Good old Tovey and Saxon holding on….though I suspect Tovey’s time is running out.
3. Good to see a Bess Flowers sighting….only one movie…but Holliday made so few movies.
4. 10 Oscar winners for only 9 movies seems to be a pretty good ratio.
Thanks for sharing these lists…always appreciated.
What’s embarrassing here is that I’ve seen more Tyler Perry films than Judy Holliday films. 🙂
Only 9 films? What happened? And I was planning a video on Judy too, now I’m not sure I’ll bother. I’ve seen just 2 of the 9 films – Born Yesterday and my favorite Tracy/Hepburn movie – Adam’s Rib.
I know Judy best as the actress that somehow beat Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard) for that years Best Actress Oscar.
Fascinating!
Hey Steve
1. Wow….I was doing a comment as the same time as somebody else…and just lost my epic and awesome return comment to you.
2. Thanks for the comment, tally and visit.
3. Tally count. Bruce 3, Steve 2. I have seen the two you have seen and her outing with Dean Martin in Bells Are Ringing.
4. Her short career is due to three things…(1) Spent most of her acting career on stage (2) Got caught in the Red Scare at her peak…and the studios shyed away…and (3) Her tragic early death when she was in her 40s.
5. She overcame lost of obstacles with Born Yesterday…..the stage producer and movie producer did not want her in the lead role….both used her as a “last resort”….then she upset heavy favories Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson to win the Oscar.
Good feedback as always.