Tickets Sold -Career

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Put this together very quickly….and it is far from complete….but it is still interesting to look at….so here you go.

(1) A few directors got through the filter….so instead of deleting them I just left them in.

(2) Yes….you will see a few people in the table that do NOT have UMR pages….well….one day they well.

ticket-sells

Top Selling Actors/Actress Movie Ticket Sellers of All-Time

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort by the actors or actresses in the table
  • Sort by actual career ticket sells
  • Sort by average ticket sells by movie
  • Sort by the amount of movies a performer has in our UMR movie date
(Visited 588 times)

36 thoughts on “Tickets Sold -Career

  1. Wow! A highly interesting chart! Strange that some people considered the biggest stars of the classic era like Monroe, Garbo and both Hepburns are relatively low on this list. I also think, as I said on your Donna Reed Page, that it makes a difference wether an actor is carrying a film or is “just” a leading Lady or…what is the male equivalent to that term? Furthermore, many actors have films listed in which they just appeared in a few scenes- in some cases, this works in favor for the final tally, in some cases it works against it. (Bette Davis made a lot of “stinkers” before she hit it big time, and films like Wicked Stepmother hurt her tally a lot to give just one example).
    Comparing some of the tallys, it amazes me that Myrna Loy, whom I like a lot, tops the females, but then she has 70 movies to her credit, while Betty Grable has a higher average with only 32 movies taken into account in this List. Based on average tickets sold per movie, it seems Miss Streisand tops them all, including the likes of Garbo and Streep, and even Hitchcock and John Wayne! Good Girl 🙂
    I know there are no pages on Wyman and Anne Baxter yet, but you include 10 of their movies here…can I take it those are the figures you’ve got from doing other UMR pages so far…since both actresses had long careers with more than just 2 handsful of films in their catalogue.
    Great to see Lillian Gish included, and Jennifer Jones ending up with quite a nice average p.film- as did my favorite lass from Ireland! Thanks for another interesting hour spent @UMR.com!

    1. Reread my post and felt I wasn’t precise on the BS. tally- she tops all the others I mentioned, still, if I didn’t miss anything, she’s No 3 among the Ladies.

      1. Hey Lupino…got it. Your comment as me itching to update the page….but only 33 more pages to update….only 33 more pages to update….ok….back on track…lol.

    2. Hey Lupino….glad you enjoyed this list…it was a fun one to put together. My wife and I have argued for years about including tickets sold in our pages….she wants them in…while I think the adjusted box office is the way to go. To me knowing a movie in 1943 sold 3.3 million tickets does not tell me enough information…..and because of making our website “mobile friendly” we are limited in the columns we can use in the massive tables.

      This page is perfect to list ticket sells because it compares the sells to other people’s ticket sells. Without a doubt…a long career gives you a great spot on this table. After I finally finish updating all of my actors and actresses’ pages I will return to this page and update it. I know the recently completed Ray Milland page will send him flying up these charts.

      You are right about Davis and Loy. As for Grable..this time really makes her jump out….what a successful career….and yet she rarely gets mentioned amongst the greats. Babs was a beast at the box office….with a few exceptions…most of her movies have not only been hits…but massive hits….the girl is loved…and her following is amazing. One day Wyman and Baxter will have a place at the table…lol. Great comment….glad you enjoyed this page so much.

    1. I would guess, since it lists 11 movies that is the 11 movies Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau made together. Walter Lemmon or Jack Matthau?

        1. Yep, In the shadows is correct…it was for my Matthau page….and was used to compare how they did as a team and alone. I will fix it on the table.

  2. Have you updated this page Bruce? I see John Williams at the top now, not John Wayne. Spielberg is at no.2. Would be better if we can separate each category, so we can see who the top 20 actors are or the top 10 directors etc without searching them out

    Interesting to compare people with similar talents, for instance Bing Crosby has sold more tickets than Frank Sinatra. Astaire beats Kelly. John Ford tops Hitchcock. Hope trumps Lewis.

    1. Okay I just noticed clicking on the role button separates them into groups, that’s cool.

      Myrna Loy is the biggest ticket selling actress, whaaat? Who could have predicted that? More than Liz Taylor, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullocks, Scarlett Johanssonsson…

      1. Glad you found the sort button….I find this to be a very fun page to ok at. Loy is going to actually move up even more when I finally get around to updating her page. Thanks for the feedback.

    2. Hey Steve….I put Williams and Soielberg back in the table….so it was a small update. If you sort by category it does a good job of showing those comparisons. Thanks for the return visit.

  3. hello Bruce
    super work
    do you think is it possible for the worldwide box office to give this informations for all these performers?
    anyway i am surprised by the level of Mary Pickford because she started in the beginning of 1910 and she do a lot of films.
    but maybe you have not the base of the box office in that years.
    It is always a great pleasure to find your news pages.
    may i aske you about Darnell pages,?
    thanks
    pierre

    1. Hey pierre….thanks for the kind words. Currently my worldwide gross totals is pretty weak….but it is growing every day. That makes it hard to give an accurate comparison. Somebody like Clark Gable has lots of information on worldwide grosses…while somebody like Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (damn you Paramount) has next to nothing on domestic grosses and nothing on worldwide grosses.

      Pickford made 100s of shorts…I did not include any of those….but pretty sure I got most of her full length movies. Her total is pretty respectable. Darnell is on the list….not sure when I will get to her…..but I will see if I can get her moved up the list.

      Greatly appreciated your comment and your visit.

  4. Cogerson

    Just one quibble which I am a bit reluctant to mention given all the work you did,

    but I would make a separate directors list,

    with the actors list only for actors.

    Hard to believe very many bought tickets to Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz because they were Victor Fleming fans.

    A directors list would be interesting, but I would keep it separate.

    *just an aside, I remember years ago reading that Robert Stevenson, who directed so many Disney films, had directed movies which sold more tickets than any other Hollywood director. Undoubtedly no longer true, but supposedly was until the 1970’s or so.

    1. I want to add I didn’t my own post above. It came out wrong.

      What I meant is that as some people are actors and directors and sometimes producers during their careers,

      it might be a bit misleading to throw it together in one basket. Clint Eastwood, John Huston, Gene Kelly, Dick Powell, etc. were actors only sometimes and directors only in different films.
      Somebody like Huston acted in some films, directed others, and wrote several others.

      I guess it is justifiable to lump them all together as tickets for films he was involved with.

      Anyway, thanks for all the work and the great list.

      1. Hey John….I agree it is somewhat misleading that somebody like Clint has totals for all of his acting movies…plus the ones he just directed….but in my mind Sully was a Clint Eastwood movie….and should be included. The same could be said for Woody Allen too….so I guess I should put in a mention that the totals include starring and directing movies.

        As for Huston….though he made some movies….including an all-time classic (Chinatown) and even got nominated (The Cardinal) for an Oscar….he will always be a director in my book….so I listed him as a director.

        Glad you like the table….I found also enjoyed reading it and studying it….I think it is pretty interesting. 🙂

    2. Hey John….I went back and added in a column that lists the people by category. That should make sorting a lot easier. I read the same think about Robert Stevenson….pretty sure Spielberg has passed him by now. Good point about Victor Fleming…heck I bet few even knew he directed those classic movies.

      1. Cogerson

        “sorting a lot easier”

        That is what I meant to say but didn’t get to the point in two posts.

        Thank you.

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