Myrna Loy Movies

Myrna Loy made movies for seven decades...from 1925 to 1980.
Myrna Loy made movies for seven decades…from 1925 to 1980.

Want to know the best Myrna Loy (1905-1993) movies?  How about the worst Myrna Loy movies?  Curious about Myrna box office grosses or which Myrna Loy movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Myrna Loy 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.

At the suggestion of Robwrite, I began researching Myrna Loy’s career about two months ago for this movie page. My knowledge of Myrna Loy was pretty much limited to… she had been in the successful Thin Man series and had appeared in a couple of Cary Grant movies. Other than those two things, I did not really think there was much to really know about Myrna Loy’s career…..boy was I wrong.

“Myrna Loy was one of cinema’s brightest stars. Beautiful, talented, warm, witty, wise and urbane, she swept all before her with a startling succession of box-office hits that lasted from 1932 until 1941, when wartime commitments overtook her career. Adored by moviegoers, Myrna was crowned “Queen of Hollywood” in 1938, with twenty million fans casting their votes in the largest poll of its kind ever conducted. Spencer Tracy was besotted with her, Valentino and Barrymore smitten and President Roosevelt obsessed, whilst Miss Loy had to push Gable off her front-step for “getting fresh”! Her extraordinary profile also supplied plastic surgeons with the most requested image of the 1930s, despite Myrna never having gone under the knife. Loy also managed to royally piss off Hitler by speaking out against his treatment of Jews and, with Chaplin, had the distinction of heading his blacklist”.

“Yet, somehow, Myrna Loy – at her peak more popular than Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn combined – seems almost forgotten. Whether this can be attributed to her gracious acting style (allowing her leading men to dominate), the lack of scandal in her private life, or the relative scarcity of her films in this country, I’m not sure, but it is a situation that deserves to be rectified”. The previous two paragraphs come from the Myrna Loy forum at Empire.com by Rick 7.

Her IMDb page shows 138 acting credits from 1925-1982. This page will rank Myrna Loy movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies and many of her early silent movies were not included in the rankings.

Myrna Loy and William Powell....and do not forget Asta the dog.... in one the best movie series ever...The Thin Man movies...Loy and Powell appeared in 14 movies together
Myrna Loy and William Powell….and do not forget Asta the dog…. in one the best movie series ever…The Thin Man movies…Loy and Powell appeared in 14 movies together

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

Myrna Loy 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 Myrna Loy movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Myrna Loy movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Myrna Loy movies by domestic yearly box office rank
  • Sort Myrna Loy 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 Myrna Loy movie received.
  • Sort Myrna Loy 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.
  • Use the sort and search button to make this a very interactive page.  For example type in William Powell to see 13 Powell/Loy movies….or type Clark Gable in the search box to bring up all of the Gable/Loy movies….or type in….I think you get the idea.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Myrna LoyTable

  1. Twenty-nine Myrna Loy movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 41.42% of her movies listed. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) was her biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Myrna Loy movie grosses $118.70 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  52 of Myrna Loy’s movies are rated as good movies…or 74.28% of her movies.  After The Thin Man (1936) was her highest rated movie while Parnell (1937) was her lowest rated movie.
  4. Fifteen Myrna Loy movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 21.42% of her movies.
  5. Five Myrna Loy movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 7.14% of her movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 49 Myrna Loy movies scored higher than that average….or 70.00% of her movies.  The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) got the the highest UMR Score while Just Tell Me What You Want (1980) got the lowest UMR Score.
Cary Grant and Myrna Loy in 1935's Wings in the Dark...one of three Grant/Loy movies
Cary Grant and Myrna Loy in 1935’s Wings in the Dark…one of three Grant/Loy movies

Possibly Interesting Facts About Myrna Loy

1. Loy had 80 screen credits before finally becoming a star with the release of the low budget surprise hit….1934’s The Thin Man. This UMR page looks at her career from 1933-1980, with a few of her pre-1933 releases.

2. During her early years…..Loy appeared in the first ever European/American co-production…1925’s Ben-Hur…..she appeared in the first movie to use a movie score…..1926’s Don Juan…..she appeared in the first talkie….1927’s The Jazz Singer……and she appeared in the first ever filmed operetta….1929’s The Desert Song.

3. Myrna Loy appeared in over 120 movies, but never received an Oscar® nomination or a Golden Globe® nomination for any of her acting roles. She did receive an honorary Oscar® for career achievement in 1991.

4. In 1921, Loy posed for Harry Winebrenner’s statue titled “Spiritual,” which remained in front of Venice High School throughout the 20th century and can be seen in the opening scenes of the 1978 film Grease.

5. Gangster John Dillinger was shot to death after leaving a screening of the 1934 film Manhattan Melodrama which starred Loy, Clark Gable and William Powell.

6. Loy and William Powell appeared in 14 movies together. 6 times they appeared as Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man movie series (1934-1947). When looking at the table above….8 of their movies finished in Loy’s Top Ten according to critics and audiences.

7. Check out the list of co-stars for Loy…..Clark Gable (7 movies), Cary Grant (3 movies), Warner Baxter (3 movies), Spencer Tracy (2 films), and with one film….James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Paul Newman, Frederich March, Will Rogers, Charlton Heston, Tyrone Power, and of course Burt Reynolds.

8. The first part of her career was in silent movies…she was typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent…..her first film her character was called Vamp…..these roles kind of solidified her exotic non-America image…..which is strange as she was born and raised in Montana.

9. Loy’s big break? Loy attended a Hollywood party with director W.S. Dyke. At the party Dyke detected a wit and sense of humor that Loy’s films had not revealed. He then chose Loy for the Nora Charles role in The Thin Man. The success of The Thin Man changed how Hollywood viewed her, and her roles got bigger and better.

10. With the outbreak of World War II, she abandoned her acting career to focus on the war effort and worked closely with the Red Cross. She helped run a Naval Auxiliary Canteen and toured frequently to raise funds.

Check out Myrna Loy‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Not enough stats for you?….Then check out 37 Myrna Loy worldwide adjusted grosses

  • After the Thin Man (1936) $355.90 million in adjusted box office
  • Animal Kingdom (1932) $58.10 million in adjusted box office
  • Another Thin Man (1939) $267.40 million in adjusted box office
  • The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) $384.70 million in adjusted box office
  • The Bad Man (1930) $84.00 million in adjusted box office
  • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) $859.60 million in adjusted box office
  • Bride of the Regiment (1930) $69.70 million in adjusted box office
  • The Desert Song (1929) $232.20 million in adjusted box office
  • Double Wedding (1937) $264.40 million in adjusted box office
  • Evelyn Prentice (1934) $122.30 million in adjusted box office
  • The Great Ziegfeld (1936) $525.20 million in adjusted box office
  • I Love You Again (1940) $185.30 million in adjusted box office
  • Isle of Escape (1930) $37.10 million in adjusted box office
  • Libeled Lady (1936) $306.00 million in adjusted box office
  • Love Crazy (1941) $200.70 million in adjusted box office
  • Lucky Night (1939) $130.20 million in adjusted box office
  • Manhattan Melodrama (1934) $129.00 million in adjusted box office
  • Man-Proof (1938) $136.90 million in adjusted box office
  • The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) $68.30 million in adjusted box office
  • Men In White (1934) $152.20 million in adjusted box office
  • Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) $197.50 million in adjusted box office
  • New Morals For Old (1932) $36.60 Night Flight (1933) $112.30 million in adjusted box office
  • Noah’s Ark (1928) $191.00 million in adjusted box office
  • Parnell (1937) $204.70 million in adjusted box office
  • Pay As You Enter (1928) $11.30 million in adjusted box office
  • Petticoat Fever (1936) $121.90 million in adjusted box office
  • The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) $97.20 million in adjusted box office
  • Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) $224.10 million in adjusted box office
  • The Show of Shows (1929) $209.90 million in adjusted box office
  • Song of the Thin Man (1947) $142.40 million in adjusted box office
  • Test Pilot (1938) $487.60 million in adjusted box office
  • The Thin Man Goes Home (1945) $193.90 million in adjusted box office
  • The Thin Man, The (1934) $159.90 million in adjusted box office
  • Too Hot To Handle (1938) $299.20 million in adjusted box office
  • The Truth About Youth (1930) $37.00 million in adjusted box office
  • Under a Texas Moon (1930) $107.50 million in adjusted box office
  • Whipshaw (1935) $97.60 million in adjusted box office
  • Wife vs Secretary (1936) $232.70 million in adjusted box office

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229 thoughts on “Myrna Loy Movies”

  1. Cogerson

    Just a question on an issue I was wondering about. In a career like Loy’s, or let’s say that of Bogart or Anthony Quinn,

    how do you deal with their years as featured performers, before they were stars?

    Reply

    1. Hey John….sadly we do not have anything that discounts supporting roles….we have looked at some different formulas…but in the end….it always goes back to the same formula in a supporting or a leading role. Basically any movie that we can find box office information will make the page….so for Bogart we have lots of 1930s movies….thanks for the comment and the visit.

      Reply

  2. Cogerson

    I must say what really strikes me as odd is that After the Thin Man gets the top critical rating over The Best Years of Our Lives. The latter often makes top 100 lists. ATTM never that I know of. There is an online site called Films101 which claims to represent total critical standing of movies. The Best Years of Our Lives gets a top ***** (in orange) rating. After the Thin Man get **1/2. That seems harsh, as most folks, including myself, like After the Thin Man.

    But better than The Best Years of Our Lives? No Way. Besides the nuts and bolts movie stuff, one probes some of the big social issues of the day. The other–just a well-made murder story.

    Reply

    1. Hey John. I think when I originally did this page…Best Years of Our Lives was ahead of both Thin Man movies…..however it’s IMDb rating and it’s RottenTomato rating have gone done…which dropped the score under the Thin Man movies. All three have some of the best reviews in our database….looking at it….they all are in the Top 250…and that is out of 30,000 movies. Some of the sources I used…Leonard Maltin’s Classic Guide, Video Hound, Rating the Stars stay constant while the others change as people continue to voice their opinion. Maybe in the future it will make it back to the top…thanks for the question.

      Reply

  3. 1 In her films Myrna Loy usually seemed to be the subordinate partner of other great stars like King Gable, Cary Grant and William Powell so that I was always dubious about the extent of the credit she should get for the large grosses of her films as compared with the likes of Crawford, Davis, Doris Day, Liz Taylor, Betty Grable and Shirley Temple who struck me as having more stand-alone successes in their career than Myrna and who also did far better than she in even the Quigley Top 10 popularity polls.

    2 Also the average gross of a Taylor, Temple and in particular Grable movie well exceeded Loy’s average gross so that all things considered I would have reservations about accepting without qualification Myrna as the greatest female box office star of all time. Anyway I am delighted that we now have a comprehensive table of Myrna Loy’s worldwide grosses. Super presentation Bruce. Guns up ! BOB

    Reply

    1. Bob & Cogerson

      “subordinate partner of other great stars”

      Good point, but also a debatable one. Isn’t part of being a star that you are teamed with other big stars? I am open to convincing, but I will stay an agnostic on this issue. Clearly a romantic comedy star was almost always teamed with another top star (Hepburn with Grant or Tracy)-(Colbert with Gable or Cooper)-(Arthur with Cooper or Stewart or Wayne). Chick flick stars like Davis, not nearly as often.

      In defense of Loy, she did win the 1938 poll as the top female star, more impressive for me than the often, in my judgment, dubious Quigley polls. There was also a Gallop poll of the public in 1941 of their favorite movie stars. The top female stars were Davis, Rogers, and Loy. I would conclude that Loy was underrated by the Quigley polls.

      Also, there are other factors than co-stars which add to huge box office gross figures. Take Betty Grable. Off my research, she made 16 three-strip Technicolor films through 1949. Technicolor in and of itself was a tremendous box-office draw back then. Loy, I think, did not appear in a three-strip Technicolor film until The Red Pony in 1949. I believe The Best Years of Our Lives is the all-time top box office black and white film adjusted for inflation.

      Cogerson probably has the data on that. It might be interesting to have a page one day on just the top black and white films adjusted for inflation, leaving color out of it, if he hasn’t done so already and I’ve missed it.

      Reply

      1. Hey John….I think on this debate I am more on your side than Bob’s….she was the lead actress in almost all of her big hits…..I am sure she had lots of fans that supported her in movie after movie. Somehow time has decided to diminish her. But I think these stats….she just how big she was.

        Currently our database does not separate black and white movies from color….does IMDb list which type of movie it was? Good information on Loy’s 16 Technicolor movies. I think you are correct about Best Years being the highest grossing black and white movie….though if they could ever decide on the rentals of Birth of a Nation…that might be the biggest hit.

        Reply

        1. Cogerson

          “does IMDB list which type of movie it was?”

          Yes. They do in the part in which they give running time.

          “Loy’s 16 Technicolor movies.”

          No. Grable’s. Good to see some else do a typo for a change. Makes me feel better.

          Loy had only one three-strip Technicolor film prior to the 1950’s. This is not unusual for a non-musical star. She did do a couple of films with color scenes & I think an odd ball full color B western in some obscure process back in the early 1930’s, but like most big stars of the 1930’s & 1940’s, was rarely in color movies.

          Reply

          1. Hey John….thanks for information. WoC had been trying to talk me into including the studios in the table. Maybe during our next software upgrade we will add in a column that lists black and white or color.

            I make many many mistakes/typos…..luckily I can go back abundant fix them….sorry we have never found a comment plug in that allows you to edit your comments.

            Good stuff on Mrs. Loy…this is the most activity on her page in awhile…..glad the cobwebs have been dusted off.

    2. Hey Bob….I think she was a bigger star than you are thinking. During the 1930s she was the Queen of Hollywood…yes she had some great co-stars…..but everybody did back then..,..with the studio system it was almost impossible not to have a movie loaded with studio stars.

      As far as the Quigley polls….pretty sure they got things wrong with Loy…as they barely named here….while the stars and her peers showed she was in hit after hit and that they thought she was “The Queen”.

      It would be interesting to compare Loy to Temple in their peak 1930s’ careers….as always…..thanks for the visit and the comment.

      Reply

  4. Very interesting. But, how are the movies ultimately ranked ? Is it a combination of all the data ?

    I do find in interesting that the “best” (subjective of course) tend to make it to the top. I am just curious as to how.

    Reply

    1. Hey GGGGerald….you can sort rank them which ever order you want…as the tables is sortable.

      If you sort by box office….her Top 5 are: 1 Best Years of Our Lives 2. The Great Ziegfeld 3. Airport 1975 4. Test Pilot 5. Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer.

      If you sort by critic and audience reviews….her Top 5 are…..1. After The Thin Man 2. The Thin Man 3. Best Years of Our Lives 4. Love Me Tonight and 5. I Love You Again

      If you sort by Oscar love….her Top 5 are…. 1 Best Years of Our Lives 2. The Great Ziegfeld 3. The Rains Came 4. Arrowsmith and 5. The Thin Man

      If you sort by our combined formula….her Top 5 are….1 Best Years of Our Lives 2. After The Thin Man 3. The Great Ziegfeld 4. Libeled Lady and 5. Test Pilot.

      Anyway it ranks them from 1st to 70th….I feel it is a fun table to play around with…..thanks for the feedback.

      Reply

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