Want to know the best Ronald Colman movies? How about the worst Ronald Colman movies? Curious about Ronald Colman’s box office grosses or which Ronald Colman movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Ronald Colman 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.
Ronald Colman (1891-1958) was an English Oscar® winning actor who was a major star from the 1920s to the 1940s. Colman was one of the few top silent actors to become an even bigger “talkie” star. His IMDb page shows 62 acting credits from 1917-1957. This page ranks 36 Ronald Colman movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, and some of his silent movies were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: This Colman page was a fairly new request from Laurent. So how did it get to the top of the requests? Well….part of our movie research involves going to not so close libraries. Our last trip to the College of William and Mary’s library ended up with us borrowing 13 movie books. Well we are heading back there in a couple of weeks….so those books will be going back. Since we are about to lose those books…those book subjects need their UMR (Ultimate Movie Rankings) movie pages to be finished. So that meant we had to research and publish this Ronald Colman page. It also means Søren and Flora‘s request for Joan Fontaine will be coming soon.
Ronald Colman 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 Ronald Colman movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Ronald Colman movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Ronald Colman movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Ronald Colman movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Ronald Colman movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Ronald Colman movie won.
- Sort Ronald Colman 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 Ronald Colmanl Table
- Nineteen Ronald Colman movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 52.78% of his movies listed. Random Harvest (1942) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Ronald Colman movie grossed $111.20 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 29 Ronald Colman movies are rated as good movies…or 80.55% of his movies. Random Harvest (1942) is his highest rated movie while The Story of Mankind (1957) is his lowest rated movie.
- Thirteen Ronald Colman movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 36.11% of his movies.
- Two Ronald Colman movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 5.55% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 39.86. 29 Ronald Colman movies scored higher that average….or 80.55 of his movies. Random Harvest (1942) got the the highest UMR Score while The Story of Mankind (1957) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Ronald Colman
1. Ronald Charles Colman was born in Richmond, Surrey, England in 1891.
2. Ronald Colman joined the London Scottish Regiment and was seriously wounded while serving at the Western Front during World War I. The injury to his ankle resulted in a life long limp that Colman tried hide throughout the rest of his acting career. Other actors that saw service with the London Scottish Regiment during World War 1 included: Claude Rains, Herbert Marshall, Cedric Hardwicke and Basil Rathbone.
3. Ronald Colman’s path to stardom: 1. Made professional stage in 1914. 2. Appeared in a few English silent films from 1917 to 1919. 3. Headed to America in 1920. 4. Appeared in a few Hollywood silent films in 1920 and 1923. 5. Lillian Gish requested Colman for her 1923 movie The White Sister. 6. Colman became of the biggest silent movie stars from 1923 to 1928. 7. Talkies arrived…and Coleman’s voice helped him become an even bigger star in the 1930s and 1940s.
4. Ronald Colman was nominated for 4 Academy Awards®: 1929’s Bulldog Drummond, 1929’s Condemned, 1942’s Random Harvest and 1947’s A Double Life. He won the Best Actor Oscar® for A Double Life
5. Ronald Colman got nominated and won 1 Golden Globe® award: 1947’s A Double Life.
6. Ronald Colman was married 2 times. His first marriage was Thelma Raye from 1920 to 1934. His second marriage was to Benita Hume from 1938 until his death in 1958. They had one daughter, Juliet Benita Colman.
7. Ronald Colman appeared in dual roles many times throughout his career. The most famous: If I Were King (1938), Random Harvest (1942), A Double Life (1947) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).
8. Check out Ronald Colman‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Want more stats? Well here are adjusted worldwide box office grosses on 8 Ronald Colman Movies
- Bulldog Drummond (1929) $120.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Kismet (1944) $334.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Lucky Partners (1940) $119.70 million adjusted worldwide gross
- My Life With Caroline (1941) $81.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Random Harvest (1942) $678.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- The Story of Mankind (1957) $17.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- A Tale Of Two Cities, A (1935) $230.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- The Talk of the Town, The (1942) $126.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
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For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Ronald Colman appeared in 3 color movies. His first color movie was Kismet in 1944.
His other two were his last two, a cameo in Around the World in Eighty Days, and as the “Spirit of Man” in the legendary turkey, The Story of Mankind.
Hey John….from silent films to sound films to color films…Mr. Colman saw lots of changes in the movie business. His small tally of 3 color movies is probably one of the fewest totals out there….3 color movies and 33 black and white movies or 8.34% to 91.66%. His only color movie I have seen was his cameo in Around The World In 80 Days.
I first saw Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities when it was shown in Jr. High, but I first realized his stardom in If I Were King in my mid thirties. From there on I watched everything I could find. I wish he could have been around a little longer, he’s one that I wish I could have met.
Hey Terry….thanks for stopping by and commenting. Always glad to see when a true fan of an actor finds our pages. Since writing this page I have been tracking down and enjoying more Colman movies. I will have to find If I Were King in the very near future. An enjoyable comment to read.
Kismet was retitled for television as “Oriental Dream” so not as to be confused with the 1955 musical version of Kismet with Howard Keel and Ann Blyth. TCM shows it some times (they own all those pre 1949 Warner Brothers films).
Hey Dan….thanks for the information. Seems strange that the first Kismet had to have the name changed versus the second one….then again…I have to admit I am not too aware of either film….so maybe the second one is one that all classic movie fans love. Thanks for stopping by and sharing that info.
Hi
It must have came as a big shock for all those silent superstars, the coming of sound. Within a couple of years, most of them were forgotten. I think part of the problem was many of the early talkie movies were so dire and it was hard to get the right vehicle or story. But there were a few who triumphed, Garbo, Laurel and Hardy and of course, Ronald Colman.
Colman’s greatest asset was undoubtedly his voice, of all the great matinee idols, his speaking voice was the best in my opinion. I’ve seen about a dozen of his films, my favourite without doubt is A Tale of Two Cities. I was surprised it didn’t do better at the box office, because of all the versions, it is the most definitive.
The Prisoner of Zenda, although in black and white is far superior to the Stewart Granger version. Lost Horizon was a terrific show, it’s a pity the shangri la scenes weren’t in colour but the budget was so high, it had to be kept in black and white.
Random Harvest, his biggest hit, he was actually 50 . I liked the first half but I think it dragged on a bit. Although Greer Garson and him had great chemistry.
Double Life, his Oscar winning movie, was very dark for him. It’s sad that few young people have even heard of him, cause he’s definitely a star worth looking up.
Hey Chris.
1. Yep it had to be a rude awakening for many of the silent stars. To be a big star and then with invention of one item to be forgotten completely.
2. Colman’s voice elevated to even greater stardom….but many of his at the time famous leading ladies fell by the wayside when sound was introduced.
3. I want to see A Tale of Two Cities….it was his 12th biggest hit….which is decent. It actually did a little better overseas than in North America.
4. I want to see his Zenda…just recently watched an enjoyed Granger’s Zenda.
5. Lost Horizon was a strange movie…but you gotta give Capra credit for shooting high….and even though he missed he still produced a memorable movie.
6. Congrats…your Colman tally count is the most of the people that shared that information. You at 12, Flora is at 11, Lyle is at 8, Steve is at 6 and me dead last at 4. Flora, Steve and myself have been doing these tally counts for years. Flora generally rules the classic movies….while I do better with the current movies….while Steve is usually 1st or 2nd in all categories.
7. I agree with you 100% that it is a shame that young people are unaware of Ronald Colman….I was pretty surprised when I did not see his name on the Top 10 stars even once.
Thanks for your thoughts on Mr. Colman.
Strange rankings. No surprise to see RANDOM HARVEST as No. 1 or STORY OF MANKIND as dead last. But in between are some curiosities: ARROWSMITH as No. 4, CONDEMNED and KISMET as No 8 and 9 respectively? DARK ANGEL (No. 17) is lost so why is it listed at all? (the $$$ is interesting.) THE MASQUERADER and CYNARA are much better than their lowly rankings here (No. 32 and 34 out of 36). Makes no sense to list TWO LOVERS since it’s not in circulation and is reputedly incomplete.
Hey Robert….first of all thanks for taking a look at my Colman page. The rankings could be called Ronald Colman’s Statistically Speaking Best Movies…..as it combines box office, awards and reviews. To do well in my equation a movie needs to do well in all categories. Kismet’s weaker reviews and Condemned’s just ok box office hurt their scores…but still ended up in the Top 10. The Dark Angel was one of his first successes…sadly like you say it is lost forever….the reviews come from sources back then (Varitey, Harrison’s Reports) and places like Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie books. As for The Masquerader and Cynara….both did terrible at the box office…and received pretty weak reviews. Cynara got the 4th worst reviews of his career. Two Lovers was finished and released but only stayed in theaters for a few weeks before disappearing forever…caught in the move from silent to talkies. Ultimately you can ignore my equation results and just sort the Colman movies anyway you want. Once again I appreciate the detailed look and comment.
You’ve magnificently crunched a lot of data to establish a matrix that is more objective than subjective. For that, thank you. My concern is on a more practical level. Imagine someone deciding to watch KISMET based on its No. 9 ranking. The term “disappointed” comes to mind.
I have not seen Kismet….but parts of it sound interesting. It did get 4 Oscar nominations…Best Score, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Plus Dietrich and Colman did not get along…and Dietrich only looks at Colman one time in the entire movie. My mom who loves Colman actually likes Kismet. If you sort the movies by critic and audience rating Kismet falls to 25th place. Thanks for the return comment….I have put comments on the page as well.