Who were the Top Movie Stars of the 1930s statistically? This page will attempt to answer that question. Our main source of information was our Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) pages that covered movie stars that made movies in the 1930s. So far we have box office grosses on 1,297 movies made between 1930 and 1939. Granted this is far from all the movies made during that time frame….but it does cover most of the major movie releases in that decade.
We have included four lists of information. List one looks at the Top 15 stars by adjusted domestic box office. List two looks at the Top 15 stars by highest average rating per movie according to critics and audiences. List three looks at the Top 15 Stars by highest average UMR score per movie. List four shows our entire table of all the stars we looked at while complying these lists.
Top 15 Adjusted Domestic Box Office Leaders 1930 – 1939
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- 1st – Clark Gable $7,151,600,000
- 2nd – Myrna Loy $5,400,000,000
- 3rd – Hattie McDaniel $4,595,000,000
- 4th – Lionel Barrymore $4,262,400,000
- 5th – Robert Young $4,027,200,000
- 6th – Thomas Mitchell $3,926,400,000
- 7th – Loretta Young $3,816,000,000
- 8th – Olivia de Havilland $3,803,400,000
- 9th – Gary Cooper $3,753,600,000
- 10th – Donald Crisp $3,713,500,000
- 11th – Wallace Beery $3,612,000,000
- 12th – Mickey Rooney $3,478,800,000
- 13th – Robert Montgomery $3,420,000,000
- 14th – William Powell $3,328,000,000
- 15th – Maureen O’Sullivan $3,315,200,000
Top 15 Average Critic/Audience Rating Leaders 1930 – 1939 (mininum 8 movies)
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- 1st – Marx Brothers 80.40%
- 2nd – Fred Astaire 76.00%
- 3rd – Thomas Mitchell 75.50%
- 4th – Marlene Dietrich 74.30%
- 5th – Robert Donat 72.80%
- 6th – Greta Garbo 72.60%
- 7th – Hattie McDaniel 72.10%
- 8th – Leslie Howard 72.10%
- 9th – Charles Laughton 72.00%
- 10th – James Stewart 71.00%
- 11th – Laurel & Hardy 70.70%
- 12th – W.C. Fields 70.60%
- 13th – Jean Arthur 70.50%
- 14th – Olivia de Havilland 70.00%
- 15th – Jean Harlow 69.70%
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Top 15 Average UMR (combining box office, reviews and awards) Score Per Movie 1930-1939 (minimum 8 movies)
1st – Fred Astaire
2nd – Marx Brothers
3rd – Tyrone Power
4th – Norma Shearer
5th – Judy Garland
6th – Greta Garbo
7th – James Stewart
8th – David Niven
9th – Charles Laughton
10th – Errol Flynn
11th – Shirley Temple
12th – Clark Gable
13th – Jean Arthur
14th – Marlene Dietrich
15th – Ginger Rogers
Top Movie Stars 1930-1939 Main Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
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- Sort by actor or actress
- Sort by movies made between 1930 and 1939
- Sort by total adjusted domestic box office from 1930 to 1939
- Sort by total adjusted worldwide box office from 1930 to 1939
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each performers’ movies earned
- Sort by average UMR Score
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Default setting is total adjusted domestic box office.
Rank Thespian Movies Adj. Domestic B.O. Adj. Worldwide B.O. AVG Review % Oscar Noms / Wins AVG UMR Score Clark Gable 38 $7,151,600,000 $11,430,200,000 68.7 % 040 / 17 73.13 Myrna Loy 54 $5,400,000,000 $7,305,100,000 63.9 % 031 / 06 64.56 Hattie McDaniel 25 $4,595,000,000 $6,764,700,000 72.1 % 021 / 08 71.01 Lionel Barrymore 36 $4,262,400,000 $6,368,600,000 68.0 % 023 / 05 69.82 Robert Young 48 $4,027,200,000 $4,912,600,000 59.0 % 003 / 01 60.48 Thomas Mitchell 16 $3,926,400,000 $5,756,000,000 75.5 % 043 / 13 77.46 Loretta Young 45 $3,816,000,000 $4,032,600,000 62.5 % 009 / 01 62.31 Olivia de Havilland 18 $3,803,400,000 $6,489,900,000 70.0 % 041 / 18 71.63 Gary Cooper 32 $3,753,600,000 $3,848,800,000 65.0 % 034 / 06 69.24 Donald Crisp 35 $3,713,500,000 $5,796,900,000 63.3 % 043 / 08 66.61 Wallace Beery 30 $3,612,000,000 $4,969,000,000 66.0 % 014 / 07 70.61 Mickey Rooney 26 $3,478,800,000 $4,848,600,000 66.1 % 017 / 06 70.37 Robert Montgomery 40 $3,420,000,000 $4,410,300,000 61.2 % 012 / 03 62.51 William Powell 32 $3,328,000,000 $4,738,500,000 67.5 % 022 / 05 67.57 Maureen O'Sullivan 32 $3,315,200,000 $5,112,500,000 65.1 % 008 / 00 66.74 Leslie Howard 20 $3,314,000,000 $5,268,000,000 72.1 % 028 / 10 68.27 Dick Powell 31 $3,307,700,000 $4,453,200,000 62.5 % 014 / 03 65.87 Fredric March 29 $3,306,000,000 $3,816,900,000 64.4 % 036 / 07 68.87 Tyrone Power 16 $3,289,600,000 $3,469,200,000 64.9 % 030 / 04 76.86 Edward Arnold 33 $3,280,200,000 $3,747,100,000 66.0 % 022 / 04 64.99 Joan Blondell 41 $3,206,200,000 $4,049,700,000 62.5 % 003 / 00 60.94 Ginger Rogers 30 $3,204,000,000 $4,833,500,000 68.7 % 026 / 02 68.92 Spencer Tracy 26 $3,127,800,000 $4,621,300,000 65.7 % 021 / 04 67.03 Joan Crawford 25 $3,095,000,000 $4,712,500,000 61.7 % 004 / 01 68.44 Shirley Temple 22 $3,049,200,000 $3,048,600,000 69.5 % 001 / 00 73.70 James Cagney 32 $2,963,200,000 $4,145,500,000 65.8 % 011 / 02 65.75 Carole Lombard 35 $2,943,500,000 $2,996,500,000 63.1 % 006 / 00 62.97 Pat O'Brien 39 $2,917,200,000 $3,883,800,000 61.0 % 008 / 00 60.38 Robert Taylor 24 $2,872,800,000 $4,455,000,000 61.4 % 008 / 01 67.26 Claudette Colbert 22 $2,864,400,000 $3,030,200,000 67.7 % 018 / 06 71.69 Melvyn Douglas 33 $2,864,400,000 $3,500,500,000 62.6 % 012 / 01 62.21 Jean Harlow 22 $2,860,000,000 $3,962,200,000 69.7 % 004 / 00 70.47 Cary Grant 28 $2,758,000,000 $3,235,300,000 69.7 % 014 / 01 66.41 James Stewart 20 $2,706,000,000 $3,565,900,000 70.9 % 024 / 03 72.94 Alice Faye 21 $2,685,900,000 $2,686,900,000 64.8 % 015 / 03 68.20 Jeanette MacDonald 19 $2,667,600,000 $4,520,200,000 66.4 % 015 / 03 69.74 George Brent 36 $2,649,600,000 $3,653,200,000 64.4 % 016 / 03 61.68 Don Ameche 18 $2,595,600,000 $2,595,000,000 61.7 % 013 / 03 68.69 Humphrey Bogart 30 $2,592,000,000 $3,550,500,000 63.9 % 011 / 00 63.78 John Barrymore 30 $2,589,000,000 $3,816,500,000 65.8 % 015 / 01 64.22 Barbara Stanwyck 32 $2,556,800,000 $2,829,500,000 63.1 % 005 / 00 62.06 George Raft 30 $2,532,000,000 $2,766,600,000 64.1 % 003 / 00 63.28 Bette Davis 36 $2,520,000,000 $3,567,800,000 63.7 % 017 / 03 62.08 Kay Francis 41 $2,488,700,000 $3,485,900,000 62.9 % 003 / 01 59.10 Claude Rains 20 $2,460,000,000 $3,391,100,000 69.3 % 025 / 08 70.25 Basil Rathbone 27 $2,421,900,000 $3,706,300,000 70.5 % 021 / 03 67.24 Ray Milland 31 $2,396,300,000 $2,436,500,000 62.8 % 007 / 00 61.80 Victor McLaglen 29 $2,354,800,000 $2,820,300,000 65.4 % 011 / 04 62.85 Joel McCrea 29 $2,349,000,000 $2,493,000,000 63.5 % 013 / 01 62.69 Jean Arthur 19 $2,350,300,000 $2,477,000,000 70.5 % 026 / 04 71.15 David Niven 16 $2,347,200,000 $3,022,300,000 68.1 % 024 / 03 75.28 Vivien Leigh 6 $2,238,600,000 $3,848,600,000 72.4 % 013 / 08 71.34 Boris Karloff 34 $2,199,800,000 $2,391,800,000 67.2 % 006 / 00 61.33 Charles Laughton 17 $2,125,000,000 $2,765,000,000 72.0 % 020 / 02 73.07 Henry Fonda 20 $2,096,000,000 $2,371,100,000 63.1 % 012 / 02 64.81 Irene Dunne 24 $2,035,200,000 $2,256,000,000 63.9 % 021 / 05 64.88 Douglas Fairbanks Jr. 26 $2,020,200,000 $2,620,200,000 67.0 % 009 / 02 62.63 Miriam Hopkins 23 $1,996,400,000 $2,105,400,000 65.5 % 009 / 01 64.54 Janet Gaynor 19 $1,995,000,000 $2,104,200,000 63.6 % 012 / 01 67.24 Rosalind Russell 20 $1,990,000,000 $2,837,800,000 63.7 % 006 / 00 65.47 Fay Wray 32 $1,980,800,000 $2,496,400,000 63.0 % 009 / 01 58.14 Lew Ayres 36 $1,936,800,000 $2,180,900,000 59.0 % 008 / 02 56.58 Constance Bennett 25 $1,922,500,000 $2,262,400,000 63.2 % 013 / 00 61.32 Mary Astor 28 $1,920,800,000 $2,251,100,000 65.3 % 012 / 01 61.42 Marie Dressler 14 $1,883,000,000 $2,432,800,000 64.7 % 005 / 01 72.35 Errol Flynn 13 $1,846,000,000 $3,173,200,000 69.7 % 017 / 04 73.65 Fred MacMurray 19 $1,810,700,000 $1,831,500,000 65.4 % 004 / 00 65.72 Lyle Talbot 31 $1,807,300,000 $2,104,800,000 59.1 % 008 / 02 57.00 Randolph Scott 15 $1,804,500,000 $2,041,900,000 64.2 % 003 / 00 67.79 Will Rogers 19 $1,795,500,000 $1,844,500,000 62.8 % 002 / 00 64.42 Edward G. Robinson 24 $1,795,200,000 $2,373,000,000 64.4 % 004 / 00 62.09 Norma Shearer 13 $1,794,000,000 $2,750,700,000 65.4 % 018 / 02 75.9 Walter Brennan 17 $1,785,000,000 $1,973,600,000 65.8 % 012 / 03 67.65 Fred Astaire 11 $1,756,700,000 $2,891,400,000 76.0 % 019 / 03 81.87 Joan Bennett 24 $1,756,800,000 $1,990,900,000 61.8 % 006 / 01 60.49 Walter Pidgeon 25 $1,740,000,000 $2,508,500,000 60.3 % 000 / 00 58.00 Ronald Colman 15 $1,734,000,000 $1,863,500,000 66.4 % 020 / 02 70.53 Nelson Eddy 10 $1,706,000,000 $2,908,700,000 66.0 % 007 / 01 73.66 Bing Crosby 20 $1,686,000,000 $1,725,800,000 65.6 % 005 / 02 64.06 Herbert Marshall 26 $1,682,200,000 $1,897,000,000 65.2 % 008 / 01 60.35 Sylvia Sidney 20 $1,586,000,000 $1,713,300,000 67.1 % 006 / 00 64.04 Monty Woolley 15 $1,543,500,000 $1,880,000,000 66.8 % 001 / 00 67.11 Marlene Dietrich 13 $1,535,300,000 $1,535,900,000 75.3 % 009 / 01 72.61 Greta Garbo 13 $1,534,000,000 $3,428,000,000 72.6 % 013 / 01 75.31 Joe E. Brown 25 $1,532,500,000 $1,917,200,000 57.7 % 004 / 02 56.71 William Demarest 16 $1,507,200,000 $1,723,500,000 66.8 % 011 / 01 64.74 Charles Bickford 21 $1,493,100,000 $1,779,000,000 60.7 % 007 / 00 59.98 Ralph Bellamy 24 $1,478,400,000 $1,700,200,000 62.3 % 009 / 01 58.71 Ann Sheridan 21 $1,430,100,000 $1,846,900,000 56.9 % 004 / 00 56.90 Laurel and Hardy 15 $1,423,500,000 $1,595,600,000 70.7 % 003 / 00 67.71 Judy Garland 8 $1,421,600,000 $2,017,600,000 68.7 % 009 / 02 74.13 Paul Muni 13 $1,378,000,000 $2,409,400,000 68.3 % 024 / 08 70.96 Elisha Cook Jr. 14 $1,356,600,000 $1,428,500,000 63.5 % 001 / 00 63.68 Priscilla Lane 11 $1,345,300,000 $1,663,800,000 63.9 % 001 / 00 68.72 Dorothy Lamour 13 $1,337,700,000 $1,337,500,000 62.5 % 003 / 01 65.58 Bela Lugosi 24 $1,320,000,000 $1,627,100,000 63.5 % 004 / 00 58.46 Walter Huston 20 $1,312,000,000 $1,671,000,000 63.9 % 011 / 01 60.95 Paul Lukas 19 $1,311,000,000 $1,581,800,000 63.7 % 010 / 02 61.46 Madeleine Carroll 14 $1,265,600,000 $1,327,900,000 65.0 % 009 / 00 64.66 Luise Rainer 8 $1,252,000,000 $2,094,500,000 65.8 % 015 / 06 74.48 Mae West 8 $1,249,600,000 $1,249,200,000 66.6 % 002 / 00 72.58 Jane Wyman 17 $1,229,100,000 $1,452,000,000 58.5 % 001 / 00 58.61 Leo G. Carroll 16 $1,224,000,000 $1,745,300,000 67.8 % 019 / 02 64.13 Ruth Hussey 11 $1,196,800,000 $1,446,000,000 64.3 % 000 / 00 66.53 Deanna Durbin 6 $1,182,600,000 $1,182,800,000 70.5 % 017 / 01 81.65 Ethel Merman 9 $1,167,300,000 $1,167,000,000 61.9 % 007 / 01 64.49 W.C. Fields 17 $1,159,400,000 $1,307,200,000 70.6 % 001 / 01 64.05 Ronald Reagan 17 $1,157,700,000 $1,435,500,000 54.8 % 004 / 00 56.51 Eleanor Powell 6 $1,144,200,000 $1,638,800,000 62.0 % 005 / 01 76.30 Katharine Hepburn 15 $1,140,000,000 $1,622,100,000 67.8 % 012 / 02 65.07 Claire Trevor 12 $1,125,600,000 $1,348,900,000 64.4 % 011 / 02 65.96 George Burns 13 $1,114,100,000 $1,178,100,000 62.1 % 003 / 01 62.62 Sonja Henie 6 $1,099,200,000 $1,098,900,000 54.3 % 002 / 00 70.58 Marx Brothers 8 $1,094,400,000 $1,355,400,000 80.4 % 001 / 00 78.52 Fay Bainter 12 $1,082,400,000 $1,325,100,000 66.7 % 007 / 02 67.22 Colin Clive 17 $1,079,500,000 $1,249,800,000 65.8 % 001 / 00 59.56 Joan Fontaine 9 $1,033,200,000 $1,564,800,000 65.8 % 007 / 01 67.23 Merle Oberon 13 $1,032,200,000 $1,032,700,000 66.5 % 018 / 05 65.42 Lucille Ball 9 $1,032,300,000 $1,487,400,000 65.2 % 006 / 00 68.33 Eve Arden 13 $1,032,200,000 $1,375,200,000 62.0 % 005 / 00 60.94 George Sanders 10 $1,029,000,000 $1,137,000,000 62.4 % 003 / 00 64.70 Charles Boyer 13 $1,027,000,000 $1,478,500,000 63.6 % 015 / 01 63.66 Paulette Goddard 5 $1,024,000,000 $1,110,400,000 78.9 % 003 / 00 82.51 Anthony Quinn 8 $911,200,000 $910,900,000 63.6 % 004 / 01 67.97 George Arliss 18 $907,200,000 $1,211,000,000 58.3 % 001 / 00 55.64 Ann Miller 8 $893,600,000 $1,062,000,000 66.5 % 011 / 02 67.42 Robert Cummings 11 $861,300,000 $861,400,000 63.7 % 004 / 00 62.36 Elsa Lanchester 7 $800,800,000 $1,056,600,000 73.6 % 005 / 02 73.66 Charles Chaplin 2 $796,200,000 $796,100,000 92.2 % 000 / 00 94.05 Margaret Sullavan 9 $772,200,000 $988,600,000 69.6 % 001 / 00 66.49 Lana Turner 9 $765,000,000 $893,400,000 63.4 % 000 / 00 62.57 Broderick Crawford 6 $749,400,000 $810,200,000 65.5 % 003 / 00 68.93 Jack Benny 10 $742,000,000 $874,600,000 59.6 % 004 / 01 59.45 Ida Lupino 12 $736,800,000 $815,100,000 60.8 % 002 / 00 58.73 Helen Hayes 9 $727,200,000 $931,800,000 63.4 % 009 / 03 64.49 Laurence Olivier 10 $727,000,000 $726,600,000 58.6 % 008 / 01 60.5 John Garfield 6 $715,200,000 $944,600,000 67.2 % 002 / 00 71.67 Robert Donat 9 $709,200,000 $1,129,000,000 72.8 % 013 / 02 69.28 Charles Farrell 7 $704,200,000 $704,500,000 58.5 % 000 / 00 63.51 Peter Lorre 14 $702,800,000 $717,600,000 65.6 % 000 / 00 58.58 Barry Fitzgerald 8 $680,000,000 $885,200,000 67.3 % 000 / 00 63.55 Bob Hope 7 $665,000,000 $664,800,000 64.5 % 001 / 01 65.18 John Wayne 15 $648,000,000 $842,400,000 58.9 % 007 / 02 54.53 Dennis Morgan 10 $629,000,000 $659,500,000 58.5 % 001 / 00 57.87 Marsha Hunt 10 $625,000,000 $727,300,000 59.1 % 000 / 00 57.67 Betty Grable 8 $605,600,000 $748,800,000 59.1 % 001 / 00 59.75 Ralph Richardson 14 $599,200,000 $817,600,000 64.9 % 005 / 00 57.80 Dean Jagger 9 $550,800,000 $550,500,000 57.1 % 000 / 00 56.38 Johnny Weissmuller 4 $535,600,000 $1,190,600,000 73.0 % 000 / 00 74.55 Buster Keaton 9 $520,200,000 $751,500,000 49.9 % 000 / 00 52.79 Robert Preston 4 $498,400,000 $498,200,000 71.8 % 003 / 00 72.35 Frances Farmer 8 $489,600,000 $518,300,000 64.4 % 002 / 01 59.78 Burgess Meredith 5 $457,000,000 $554,400,000 57.6 % 006 / 00 63.70 Tallulah Bankhead 7 $433,300,000 $433,600,000 61.4 % 000 / 00 58.97 Donald O'Connor 5 $429,000,000 $429,200,000 68.0 % 002 / 00 65.24 Hedy Lamarr 3 $411,000,000 $549,100,000 67.8 % 005 / 00 73.77 Maureen O'Hara 2 $408,600,000 $668,200,000 68.5 % 002 / 00 80.77 Rex Harrison 6 $355,800,000 $574,500,000 62.1 % 004 / 00 59.69 Gene Autry 20 $346,000,000 $346,900,000 58.2 % 001 / 00 50.09 Susan Hayward 4 $311,200,000 $323,900,000 68.0 % 002 / 00 62.08 Greer Garson 2 $297,400,000 $541,800,000 67.3 % 007 / 01 78.93 Edmond O'Brien 1 $244,400,000 $504,100,000 83.5 % 002 / 00 91.00 Paul Henreid 1 $224,700,000 $425,500,000 79.5 % 007 / 01 94.80 Robert Morley 1 $221,600,000 $401,100,000 76.5 % 004 / 00 94.60 Rita Hayworth 2 $212,800,000 $212,700,000 75.8 % 002 / 00 71.43 Linda Darnell 2 $212,200,000 $212,100,000 61.0 % 000 / 00 65.14 Gloria Swanson 6 $193,200,000 $192,900,000 58.6 % 000 / 00 53.47 
Joan Crawford sits in 10th place when looking at the top adjusted worldwide box office leaders of 1930-1939 *Our worldwide box office grosses are hugely dependent on the studio the star worked for. Those working at RKO, Warner Brothers and MGM have the most worldwide grosses in our database. Poor Gary Cooper, he spent many years at Paramount so we have very little when it comes to his worldwide grosses.
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(Visited 1,234 times)
oh i just needed to keep reading to get to world wide.. LOL
yea the “talkies”. buster Keaton at 87, chaplin at 81. I tried to figure out the comment on crawfords picture. i guess key is world wide is not on chart? great fun. YEA UMR, Yea Cogerson.
it is impressive that Tyrone Power hit 25 given that he worked for three years in the 1930s! He never worked a complete decade – in the ’40s he served in WWII, and then he died in 1958.
Hey Joan…..interesting…I did not realize that Tyrone Power never worked an entire decade. He did manage 16 movies in his 1930s career….and all of them were big hits. Thanks for checking out our 1930s Top Stars Page.
Hey Marty….Mae West might have been the biggest female star and the highest paid actress in 1935…..but it was based on her previous work on movies like She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel. I would say the biggest box office actress of 1935 would have been Ginger Rogers. By 1935, West’s movies were already beginning to lose their box office clout. Sounds like a fun trivia game….thanks for stopping by.
Played bar trivia last night. Top female 1935 box office was supposedly
Mae West. Really?
Yeah, it was said that she was #1 box office from 1933-38 and pretty much carried Paramount.
Hey Demetri B……I think her previous box office blockbusters disguised the fact that her later movies did not do very well. Without a doubt…..she was one of the biggest stars of the 1930s…even with only a handful of movies and only a couple of major hits. Those one liners of hers are still mentioned today….over 80 years later. Good feedback.