77 thoughts on “Top Movie Stars of the 1960s”

1. In the last 25 years since I saw film 8000 my totals for the 60’s start showing the dropoff from my oldest film lists (anything not seen theatrically). I only saw 914 1960’s films in the last 25 years and not one actor is top billed in 10 or more. Last year I saw 47 Edgar Wallace mysteries, U.K. B movies from the 60’s but there are no name stars (Michael Caine had a small part in one. By the 80’s the majority of films from that decade are seen when they are current and not logged on a list, though since 1998 I have kept a file of all current ones seen in cinemas and on DVD. I do remember the earliest film I saw in a theater was a puppet version of Hansel and Gretal that my first grade class was taken too. I saw others in the 60’s as a kid, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Help, The Love Bug, Planet of the Apes, The Detective with Frank Sinatra, Throughly Modern Millie (3 Julie Andrews), The Singing Nun, and some others. I also saw some 60’s films in camp like all the Three Stooges 60’s features, Safe at Home With Mickey Mante and Roger Maris and the Defector with Montgomery Clift (I don’t know why they thought that was for kids). When I was about 8 the nuns at my school sent notices to all the parents that they wanted us to watch The Children’s Hour with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn on TV. They never checked out the plot line and my mother was shocked (we watched it) that the nuns would recommend a film where Shirley takes her life.

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   1. Hey Dan. Very interesting memories from movies made in the 1960s. I laughed out loud when I read the nuns suggested Children’s Hour.

      Love the feedback.

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2. Hey Bruce, so here it is! Yes, I think the 60s were interesting despite the fact that Hollywood and box office returns were declining, because there were some exciting new stars together with legends from the 50s, 40s and even some from the 30s still around and making some great movies. It’s also the era of great epics, admittedly overblown but still impressive and memorable.

   When one takes out supporting roles and actors with very few films, I think the rankings make a lot of sense. My initial comment was not supposed to be a prediction but reflects who I think were some of the most successful or accomplished stars of the decade – I knew the numbers would show a slightly different story. Still, I didn’t expect Newman to be so low on the UMR score. He made some real classics during that decade (The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy), but one forgets he did a number of mediocre films as well. And I didn’t see O’Toole coming with his Arabian camel shooting him towards the top of the pack!

   The one prediction I made though, about Lancaster doing well on on the critical scale bore out, but that was easy to see. I note that Lancaster has appeared 5 times within the top 15, once in the 40s, twice in the 50s and twice in the 60s, a feat equaled perhaps only by Cary Grant (30s, 40s, and 50s). Thanks for confirming my vision that Burt is the Best 😉

   I see that Julie still ended up paying a heavy price after all for having made only 7 films! Maybe, you were too harsh on the cut there.

   I like Roddie…but more as an ape 😉 Seriously, it may be better to have the supporting/character actors in a separate category, though we’ve discussed this before and I understand the difficulty. What would you do with a James Coburn or a Lee Marvin who became major stars in the middle of the decade? Maybe include them both in the category of supporting/character actors for the films before they became stars, and in the category of stars for their starring roles.

   On George Peppard, I think you may have underestimated his box office total. Perhaps you didn’t count How the West Was Won given it’s an all star cast? But he really had the longest role in that film, so I think it should count for him, as for Debbie Reynolds. His other huge hit was The Carpetbaggers, which I would be interested to know the adjusted box office of as I think it does not appear in your database.

   Anyway, thanks for another fascinating page! I reserve the right to come back at some point and provide my less scientific ranking of the top stars of the 60s.

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   1. OK, just saw The Carpetbaggers on the Alan Ladd page ($325 million), thanks.

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      1. Somehow I had 2 How The West Was Won movies in the database….I put the one with no stats in Peppard’s column….adding in Peppard’s biggest hit did in fact move him up the list.

         George Peppard’s 1960s Box Office Totals
         How the West Was Won (1963) $442.00 million in adjusted domestic gross
         The Carpetbaggers (1964) $325.40
         The Blue Max (1966) $139.40
         Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) $136.70
         Home from the Hill (1960) $114.30
         Operation Crossbow (1965) $82.60
         The Victors (1963) $65.80
         Tobruk (1967) $34.80
         Rough Night in Jericho (1967) $30.50
         P.J. (1968) $18.40
         What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968) $14.70
         The Subterraneans (1960) $11.90
         House of Cards (1968) $11.50
         The Third Day (1965) $7.30

         I will respond to your other part of your comment tomorrow…..as I am headed to bed.

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   2. Hey Phil…..Burt was one of the great ones for sure. He should be decent on the 1970s page too. Plus be respectable in the 1980s page.

      Yes the averages hurt people with lots of movies but it helps them in the box office totals.

      Thanks for the heads up on my Peppard error.

      I thought about lowering the minimum to include Andrews….but it would have brought a lot of other people with just 7 movies…..and in the end that did not seem fair to people like Wayne and Lancaster that worked the whole decade.

      I was recently looking at a book that show box office leaders for a 5 year span. Their leaders were Joe Pesci at #1 and Daniel Stern at #3. To make that list the star had to be a lead actor in at least one movie. Using that criteria all of these performers would still make the page….but Donald Crisp in the 1930s and 1940s would be in danger of getting booted off the table.

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3. Phil’s predictions:

   “You may be right about Julie Andrews, but her performance in the rankings may depend on whether Cogerson sets a limit of more than 7 films as that seems to be all she did in the decade ?
   I think Newman, Lemmon and McQueen are the definite male stars of the 60s. McQueen is my favorite but he really hit his peak at the end of the decade with Bullitt and in the early 70s. Connery was great of course, but he couldn’t seem to get a hit outside of his James Bonds in the 60s (though The Hill is an excellent film). Sidney Poitier was another force of the 60s, though he really became a top star in 1967. Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Rock Hudson also had a lot of success, but mostly early in the decade. Burt Lancaster should perform well on the critical scale as he did some outstanding movies in the first half of the 60s. Charlton Heston is another big star of the 60s (bigger than in the 1950s in my view), while Dean Martin and James Garner enjoyed a lot of popularity. Peppard had some big hits, and notably held the longest role in How the West Was Won – too bad he fizzled out at the end of the decade. So along with the other ones you mentioned, there’s quite a competition, and we left out some important ones!”

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4. John’s predictions:

   I pick Julie Andrews to win as the star of the decade among the actresses. Natalie Wood I think will be in the hunt. Doris Day will be just slightly behind those two. Audrey Hepburn will be impressive in averages, perhaps at the top in average critic rating, but I don’t think she made enough big hit films to match Andrews. Faye Dunaway will be similar as she came late in the decade. Elizabeth Taylor had too many flops late in this decade to rate near the top, I think. It will be interesting to see how she does. Sophia Loren was more an international star and will not be among the leaders at the American box-office. Anne Bancroft wins the Teresa Wright surprise quality award.
   Among the men, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Sean Connery stand out among the young stars. Tough pick, but I figure McQueen will edge out the other two. Richard Burton is going to be right near the top. He will do better than Liz as he not only has the Liz and Dick movies, but quite a few quality films on his own. But all the late decade Liz and Dick flops will probably keep him from the top spot. Clint Eastwood was a comer, but I don’t think did enough in this decade to rate high. He came into his own in the 1970’s. I will go out on a limb though and pick John Wayne to end up the male star of the decade with a solid, steady performance throughout the whole decade. Cogerson will undoubtedly saw my limb off but the Duke’s my pick. The Joseph Cotton under the radar male star? George Peppard.
   As for the star of the decade, a tough pick, but I think Julie Andrews will edge Wayne mainly because of the impact of the Oscars.

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   1. Homeruns: Julie Andrews as the top actress….even though I excluded her in “average” lists since she only had 7 movies.

      Audrey Hepburn almost topped but “average lists”.

      McQueen, Newman and Connery near the top of all the rankings.

      John Wayne as the top actor of the decade.

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      1. Solid contact….. Pepperd had a solid decade….but not the most underrated.

         Bancroft has good averages but not enough movies to make a serious run.

         Outs: Jack Lemmon and Omar Sharif. Though I would not have included Omar either if I had not looked harder for people that do not have UMR Paige’s.

         Overall a very good job John

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5. I know I am biased….but this decade pages have turned out pretty damn impressive. I know I will hurt myself patting myself on the back!

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   1. Cogerson

      You do deserve a pat on the back. These decade charts I think really are a really excellent tool for outlining movie history. The problem with comparing let’s say the 1930’s to the 21st century is that one is comparing apples to grapefruits. Everything has changed so much. Restricted to decades, one can get a pretty fair picture of how different stars performed.

      As for my guesses, I didn’t embarrass myself this time like I did in the 1930’s. I think I was rather accurate in my comments on the women. With the men, I missed Omar Sharif and Jack Lemmon, and Steve McQueen performed less well than I expected. But John Wayne came through for me. Lemmon’s “victory” in your average critical rating is as clouded as the 1930’s outcome. Wayne’s top 13 movies in the 1960’s averaged 73.8 to Lemmon’s 13 averaging 72.3. As with Gable in the 1930’s, Wayne is pulled down merely for being prolific. So, for me, Wayne sticks as the male star of the decade.

      And Julie Andrews as the overall star of the decade certainly is backed up by your chart.

      I thought George Peppard would do a little better, but I was remembering his good movies of the first half of the decade. As Phil pointed out, he had some dogs in the last few years. Still, he was perhaps the major under the radar star, the guy who got Audrey off the Moon River, won the west, trashed everyone in the trash masterpiece, The Carpetbaggers, and my favorite, won the Iron Cross in The Blue Max.

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