Want to know the best Richard Widmark movies? How about the worst Richard Widmark movies? Curious about Richard Widmark’s box office grosses or which Richard Widmark movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Richard Widmark 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.
This Richard Widmark page comes from a request from film historian Flora Robison. Richard Widmark (1914-2008) was an American actor who was born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota. His career spanned over 50 years and included work in film, radio, stage and television. Widmark made his debut as a radio actor in 1938 and his debut on Broadway in 1943’s Kiss and Tell. His work on the stage earned him a seven-year movie contract with United Artists.
His first movie role was playing a giggling sociopath, in the classic Kiss of Death (1947). His most notorious scene found Udo happily pushing a wheelchair-bound woman down a flight of stairs to her death. The role earned Widmark his only Oscar® nomination, and won him the Golden Globe® for most promising newcomer. After the success of Kiss of Death, he would work steadily until he retired at the age of 76 in 1992, primarily as a character lead. His stardom would peak around the time he played the U.S. prosecutor in 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg, but he would continue to act for another 30 years. His final role would be in the John Cusack movie…. True Colors.
His IMDb page shows 79 acting credits from 1947-1992. This page will rank Richard Widmark movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, some of his movies made outside of the Hollywood system and his straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings.
Richard Widmark Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Richard Widmark 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 Richard Widmark movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Richard Widmark movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Richard Widmark movies by yearly box office rank
- Sort Richard Widmark 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 Richard Widmark movie received.
- Sort Richard Widmark 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.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Richard WidmarkTable
- Fifteen Richard Widmark movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 24.59% of his movies listed. How the West Was Won (1963) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Richard Widmark movie grosses $74.60 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 40 Richard Widmark movies are rated as good movies…or 65.57% of his movies. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) is his highest rated movie while The Swarm (1978) is his lowest rated movie.
- Fifteen Richard Widmark movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 24.59% of his movies.
- Six Richard Widmark movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 9.83% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR)Score is 60.00. 28 Richard Widmark movies scored higher that average….or 45.90% of his movies. How the West Was Won (1963) got the the highest UMR Score while National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Richard Widmark
1. Richard Widmark’s daughter was married to baseball legend Sandy Koufax from 1969 to 1982.
2. Richard Widmark was married to playwright Jean Hazlewood from 1942 to her death in 1997. One of the few successful Hollywood marriages.
3. Widmark Airport is located in Green City, Missouri and was named in honor of Richard Widmark. Widmark contributed funds to the construction of the airport.
4. Richard Widmark and director Robert Totten had artistic differences during the filming of 1969’s Death of a Gunfighter. Totten was replaced by Don Siegel. When the film was completed, Siegel, saying that Totten directed more of the film than he did, refused to take screen credit for it, but Widmark didn’t want Totten’s name on it. A compromise was reached whereby the film was credited to the fictitious Alan Smithee, thereby setting a precedent for directors who, for one reason or another, did not want their name on a film they made. On IMDB, Alan Smithee has over 100 projects to his name….but the first was Death of a Gunfighter.
5. Richard Widmark made three movies with Sidney Poitier…..1950’s No Way Out, 1964’s The Long Ships and 1965’s The Bedford Incident.
6. Check out Richard Widmark‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Taking A Closer Look At Richard Widmark’s Top Five Movies
5. Kiss of Death (1947) What a start to a movie career. Victor Mature was the star of the movie, but Richard Widmark stole the show. His Tommy Udo, a fiend who delights in pushing crippled wheelchair using women down stairs, is the primary reason to see this movie. Widmark based his character on The Joker from the Batman comics. Widmark would receive an Oscar® nomination for Best Supporting Actor (his only nomination) and would win a Golden Globe® as most promising newcomer. One of my favorite quotes about Widmark in Kiss of Death….comes from writers Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton who wrote, “one will remember that nasty little creep with the wild eyes and high-pitched laugh, neurotic to the core”. Well that nasty little creep went on to make many classic movies over the next 50 years.
4. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Judgment at Nuremberg is a fictionalized film account of the post-World War II Nuremberg Trails. Widmark played prosecuting attorney Colonel Tad Lawson and is joined by another all-star cast….Spencer Tracy (nominated Best Actor), Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell (won Oscar® for Best Actor), Judy Garland (nominated Best Supporting Actress), Montgomery Clift (nominated Best Supporting Actor), William Shatner(yep Captain Kirk), and Marlene Dietrich. Movie was nominated for 11 Oscars®, including a Best Picture nomination and 2 Oscar® wins. According to critics and audiences this is Widmark’s best movie with a 86% score. – See more at: http://cogersonmoviescore.com/richard-widmark-movies-best-to-worst.html#sthash.HQW9Chp0.dpuf
3. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Murder on the Orient Express is based on the 1934 novel by Agatha Christie. Albert Finney stars as Hercule Poirot, who is asked by his friend Bianchi, a train company director, to investigate the murder of an American business tycoon, Mr. Ratchett aboard a train with an all-star cast of suspects. That all-star cast included Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Sir John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York and Anthony Hopkins. Widmark plays the very nasty Mr. Ratchett in one of my favorite Widmark roles. Movie earned 6 Oscar® nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Actress (Ingrid Bergman) and was Widmark’s 3rd biggest box office hit.
2. The Alamo (1960) By 1945 John Wayne had decided to make a movie about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. It took Wayne 15 years to get The Alamo to the big screen. The result was one of the biggest hits of 1961 and 7 Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Picture. Wayne originally intended that Widmark should play Davy Crockett, while Wayne himself would have taken the small role of Sam Houston so he could focus his energy on directing the picture. However, Wayne was only able to get financial backing if he played one of the main parts, so he decided to play Crockett and cast Widmark as Jim Bowie. Rumor has it that Widmark was not a happy camper about the change in his roles, as he did not really want to play Jim Bowie at all.
1. How The West Was Won (1963) Talk about a big movie….an all-star cast (Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach and narrated by Spencer Tracy).. 3 directors (John Ford, Henry Hathaway and George Marshall)….and 5 segments that span four generations from 1839 to 1889. This western was one of the biggest hits of the 1960s, it earned 8 Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Picture. It won three Oscars®. Widmark appears as ruthless railroad man, Mike King, who violates a treaty by building on Indian territory.
I thought I would mention this on your Widmark page since you are more likely to read it than within various pages where we keep going back and forth between stories about actors.
I know you did a recent review on Night and the City, my favourite Widmark movie – on letterboxd. I have done one too as you know . I did comment on your review. I made another comment today.
You and I have both ben very busy on letterboxd lately.
I will check out that comment on letterboxd. With the start of summer break….the kids are keeping my very busy….and it seems my time on Letterboxd has been quick reviews only. I am still 12 reviews behind…..I will probably never catch up…as even now I am watching David Lean’s Summertime…so far it is very pretty to look at….but the story is pretty weak so far.
Hey, Bruce. Thanks for the heads up that you had updated Widmark’s page. He is number 2 on my favourite actors list behind Gregory Peck.
Since my last comment on this page, looking at my total of films seen on the table, I’ve seen 51 of them. Some titles have not been available to me. Others like The Swarm have been and I just can’t bring myself to see that disaster film – for all that favourites of mine are in it.
Love the commentary on the top 5 films.
I will email you.
Flora
Hey Flora…you are welcome…I figured off all the people that I come to this website…you would be the most that would like the update the most. Your first comments on this page are from 2011…can you believe that…wow does time fly. The Swarm is not good at all….but it is still a fun movie to watch….the cast is awesome….Oscar winners at every turn….too bad the movie is so bad.
I’ve just discovered your site, delighted you’ve highlighted Richard Widmark, my most favourite actor. I idolised him when I was a teenager that’s many years ago !! My very first film was Prize of Gold( lovable rogue) with Mai Zetterling, then Frogmen and caught up with all the others since I’ve now 24 DVDs and about 12 recorded from the TV. It always amazes me that how he can be funny in Tunnel of Love with Doris Day and a spiteful gangster the next, then Time Limit with Dolores Michaels an Army Colonel a serious legal eagle. His versatility known no bounds. I think my favourite Western is Backlash with Donna Reed. I could go on n on. Regards Shirley and Thank you.England UK
Hey Shirley C. Glad you found our website. One of my loyal readers is a huge fan of Richard Widmark….I am sure she is going to love your comment. Sounds like you have a pretty impressive collection of Widmark movies. He was a very versatile actor. I have not seen Backlash….but I will have to check that one out. Thanks for the nice words and for taking the time to comment.
Hi, Shirley. I am Flora from Canada and I am the huge fan of Richard Widmark movies Cogerson mentioned. That sounds like a wonderful collection. I love Backlash. It does not air that often. He did indeed have great versatility.
🙂
Hello Flora,
Delighted you are so like minded re “our man” there’s no-one like him (to me) in the acting genre. I love the facial expressions, if you re-watch his movies and just study his every move, for example In Halls of Montezuma he set eyes on Johnson the Japanese interpreter for the first time leaning against a wall, Johnson emerges from behind him a very scruffy U.S. Marine with a cigarette holder, the RW face is a”Study”, as in Prize of Gold when he get his own way with the Major,that grin is priceless. Have a go at watching the expressions, there are so many I could go on.
Great to hear from yo, do keep in touch. All the Best, Shirley Carruthers, and give my love to Canada x
Thanks, Shirley.
I will keep in touch.
Richard did indeed have fabulous expressions. 🙂
Widmark fans unite. Good to see…..I need to update this page.
Hello Again, I also like your page on Richard Widmark. I hope when you transfer your Burt Lancaster page to your new website that you give the actual box office gross as well as the adjusted box office Gross. Thanks again.
Hey Lyle…glad you like my Widmark page. When I transfer the Lancaster page I will be sure to include the actual box office gross. I have noticed that 6 columns of information is the perfect fit when it comes to making the tables presentable. This is requiring me to go back and add more information in the pages……that is cool….but it takes a little time. Anyway the Burt flip will be coming soon….as thankfully I am starting to get near the end of this long but fun process of changing website providers.
You should do Deanna Durbin, Wheeler and Woolsey and series films like the Bowery Boys, Blondie, Charlie Chan and others but I doubt the series have their numbers available.
Hey Dan. I think only Durbin would be possible…as I have some stuff on her. The rest would be a huge challenge….but I will look into them….thanks for the suggestions and thanks for the visit. At the top of this page is a link called CogersonMovieScore…it has all my latest pages plus at the bottom it lists the pages I am working on.