Top Movie Stars of the 1960s

Who were the Top Movie Stars of the 1960s 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 1960s. So far we have box office grosses on 1,644 movies made between 1960 and 1969.  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 (the Top Star might surprise you).  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 1960 – 1969

    1. 1st John Wayne $3,182,500,000
  1.  2nd Julie Andrews $2,973,600,000
  2. 3rd Paul Newman $2,788,000,00
  3. 4th Sean Connery $2,665,000,000
  4. 5th Richard Burton $2,656,000,000
  5. 6th Omar Sharif  $2,441,600,000
  6. 7th Roddy McDowall $2,222,000,000
  7. 8th Dean Martin $2,212,800,000
  8. 9th Tony Curtis $2,071,000,000
  9. 10th Jack Lemmon $2,044,900,000
  10. 11th Rod Steiger $1,994,300,000
  11. 12th Henry Fonda $1,992,600,000
  12. 13th George Kennedy $1,980,300,000
  13. 14th Rod Taylor $1,920,600,000
  14. 15th Alec Guinness $1,902,000,000

Top 15 Average Critic/Audience Rating Leaders 1960 – 1969 (minimum 8 movies)

    1. Laurence Olivier  75.6 % critic and audience voting
      Burt Lancaster  75.1 % critic and audience voting
      Steve McQueen  74.9 % critic and audience voting
      Peter O’Toole  74.3 % critic and audience voting
      Jean Simmons 74.7% critic and audience voting
      Sean Connery  73.2 % critic and audience voting
      Lee Marvin  72.6 % critic and audience voting
      Julie Christie 72.6% critic and audience voting
      Jack Lemmon  71.3 % critic and audience voting
      Alec Guinness  71.3 % critic and audience voting
      Gregory Peck  70.9 % critic and audience voting
      Michael Caine  70.3 % critic and audience voting
      Anthony Quinn  69.9 % critic and audience voting
      Henry Fonda 69.6% critic and audience voting
      Audrey Hepburn 79.9% critic and audience voting

Top 15 Average UMR Score (Box Office, Reviews, Awards) Per Movie 1960-1969 (minimum 8 movies)

    1. Peter O’Toole
      Audrey Hepburn
      Jack Lemmon
  1.  John Wayne
  2.  Lee Marvin
  3. Natalie Wood
  4. Sean Connery
  5. Omar Sharif
  6. Steve McQueen
  7. Gregory Peck
  8. Richard Harris
  9. Paul Newman
  10. Hayley Mills
  11. Burt Lancaster
  12. Sidney Poitier

Top Movie Stars 1960-1969 Main Table

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

  • Sort by actor or actress
  • Sort by movies made between 1960 and 1969
  • Sort by total adjusted domestic box office from 1960 to 1969
  • Sort by total adjusted worldwide box office from 1960 to 1969
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each performers’ movies earned
  • Sort by highest average UMR Score (best combo of box office, reviews & awards)
Box Office RankThespianMoviesAdj. Domestic B.O.Adj Worldwide B.O.AVG Review %Oscar Noms / WinsAVG UMR Score
John Wayne19$3,182,500,000$4,533,600,00067.1 %025 / 0774.30
Julie Andrews7$2,973,600,000$4,874,900,00074.5 %046 / 1187.37
Paul Newman20$2,788,000,000$3,090,300,00067.3 %042 / 1271.15
Sean Connery13$2,665,000,000$5,787,100,00073.2 %006 / 0369.98
Richard Burton20$2,656,000,000$3,110,200,00063.0 %059 / 1668.65
Omar Sharif14$2,441,600,000$3,363,400,00068.3 %029 / 1365.44
Roddy McDowall20$2,222,000,000$2,770,600,00060.5 %025 / 0660.32
Dean Martin24$2,212,800,000$2,610,700,00056.9 %006 / 0061.24
Tony Curtis19$2,071,000,000$2,071,000,00068.9 %015 / 0567.02
Jack Lemmon13$2,044,900,000$2,072,100,00071.3 %029 / 0977.07
Rod Steiger11$1,994,300,000$2,906,300,00068.7 %024 / 1268.75
Henry Fonda18$1,992,600,000$2,616,900,00069.6 %015 / 0566.64
George Kennedy23$1,980,300,000$1,980,200,00069.5 %023 / 0265.05
Rod Taylor18$1,920,600,000$2,423,000,00065.7 %005 / 0260.91
Alec Guinness10$1,902,000,000$2,813,600,00071.3 %023 / 1265.56
Doris Day14$1,892,800,000$2,016,900,00064.2 %006 / 0069.40
Natalie Wood12$1,888,800,000$1,939,700,00068.6 %033 / 1273.83
Peter O'Toole14$1,839,600,000$2,006,200,00070.3 %034 / 1172.05
Karl Malden19$1,833,500,000$2,660,000,00066.8 %018 / 0364.84
Katharine Ross8$1,829,600,000$2,652,100,00067.8 %016 / 0569.45
Elvis Presley27$1,814,400,000$1,814,600,00055.9 %000 / 0056.71
Sidney Poitier16$1,784,000,000$1,859,200,00069.5 %036 / 0969.24
Walter Matthau16$1,782,400,000$1,796,900,00069.5 %015 / 0569.18
Frank Sinatra18$1,780,200,000$2,061,600,00062.0 %008 / 0064.27
Dick Van Dyke11$1,771,000,000$2,679,500,00063.1 %019 / 0567.85
Gregory Peck12$1,758,000,000$2,365,300,00070.9 %029 / 0871.44
Richard Harris12$1,744,800,000$1,744,500,00069.3 %029 / 0468.81
Steve McQueen14$1,703,800,000$2,081,200,00074.9 %021 / 0271.84
Elizabeth Taylor11$1,691,800,000$2,266,300,00053.8 %028 / 1265.25
Anthony Quinn20$1,676,000,000$1,754,300,00069.9 %029 / 1162.61
Eleanor Parker8$1,676,000,000$2,842,000,00060.8 %012 / 0560.62
Rex Harrison10$1,675,000,000$2,137,700,00061.5 %036 / 1467.60
Peter Lawford14$1,643,600,000$1,727,200,00059.3 %017 / 0363.40
Ralph Richardson13$1,639,300,000$2,554,800,00072.2 %015 / 0661.78
Robert Ryan14$1,632,400,000$1,632,600,00068.8 %015 / 0366.38
Robert Mitchum21$1,608,600,000$1,781,700,00063.5 %014 / 0260.33
Telly Savalas19$1,601,700,000$2,091,700,00066.0 %015 / 0162.59
David Niven15$1,593,000,000$1,916,800,00059.2 %011 / 0162.12
Spencer Tracy6$1,588,200,000$2,224,600,00075.2 %039 / 0885.46
Lee Marvin12$1,575,600,000$1,773,400,00072.6 %022 / 0473.89
James Garner19$1,569,400,000$1,587,900,00069.0 %011 / 0365.37
Eli Wallach18$1,564,200,000$2,680,700,00066.4 %011 / 0362.42
Charlton Heston13$1,539,200,000$1,614,000,00068.8 %019 / 0067.22
Christopher Plummer10$1,537,000,000$2,638,500,00064.3 %014 / 0557.82
George Peppard15$1,521,000,000$2,212,500,00066.1 %014 / 0563.08
Martin Balsam15$1,482,000,000$1,719,200,00074.9 %015 / 0366.64
Debbie Reynolds12$1,477,200,000$2,142,200,00066.1 %023 / 0368.70
John Gavin10$1,437,000,000$1,674,100,00072.7 %019 / 0568.54
Jack Albertson15$1,432,500,000$1,460,700,00065.6 %009 / 0264.49
Peter Sellers24$1,428,000,000$1,570,600,00066.8 %008 / 0060.45
Audrey Hepburn9$1,422,000,000$1,421,600,00079.9 %025 / 1078.40
Hayley Mills12$1,419,600,000$1,419,300,00071.8 %003 / 0068.42
Kirk Douglas19$1,417,400,000$1,598,000,00068.1 %012 / 0461.89
Brian Keith18$1,414,800,000$1,414,100,00059.9 %011 / 0059.29
James Stewart13$1,404,000,000$2,262,000,00064.4 %013 / 0365.36
Julie Christie9$1,384,200,000$2,296,700,00072.6 %016 / 0863.61
William Demarest6$1,369,800,000$1,428,100,00069.4 %013 / 0178.09
Rock Hudson15$1,368,000,000$1,367,700,00064.5 %006 / 0062.68
Shirley MacLaine15$1,363,500,000$1,478,900,00062.2 %031 / 0664.91
George Sanders11$1,362,900,000$1,430,100,00063.6 %002 / 0061.25
Edmond O'Brien15$1,345,500,000$1,503,600,00071.6 %020 / 0466.29
Charles Bronson17$1,343,000,000$1,887,400,00065.6 %007 / 0260.71
Fred MacMurray7$1,337,700,000$1,377,500,00066.3 %017 / 0576.49
Lee J. Cobb8$1,337,600,000$2,031,300,00068.2 %012 / 0472.57
Arthur Kennedy17$1,336,200,000$1,467,800,00065.1 %022 / 1261.19
James Coburn18$1,312,200,000$1,689,100,00069.5 %005 / 0063.42
Laurence Harvey21$1,262,100,000$1,683,200,00061.5 %021 / 0657.61
Jerry Lewis17$1,252,900,000$1,252,500,00061.0 %001 / 0060.18
Dustin Hoffman5$1,244,000,000$1,921,600,00062.8 %014 / 0468.29
Robert Duvall8$1,237,600,000$1,237,300,00074.8 %015 / 0573.93
Elsa Lanchester8$1,235,200,000$2,038,500,00061.2 %013 / 0562.13
Carroll Baker11$1,234,200,000$2,048,100,00061.5 %014 / 0361.46
Richard Widmark13$1,231,100,000$2,270,100,00065.4 %027 / 0663.09
Burt Lancaster16$1,230,400,000$1,393,000,00075.1 %027 / 0569.17
Jane Fonda17$1,220,600,000$1,240,800,00064.1 %017 / 0262.05
Dean Jones9$1,210,500,000$1,210,100,00066.6 %000 / 0068.38
Peter Falk15$1,189,500,000$1,268,900,00060.5 %017 / 0258.43
Janet Leigh11$1,174,800,000$1,522,100,00068.6 %016 / 0065.24
Dennis Hopper11$1,159,400,000$1,176,700,00072.2 %008 / 0265.64
Sophia Loren16$1,123,200,000$1,123,000,00062.4 %008 / 0159.25
George Segal15$1,110,000,000$1,187,900,00064.8 %028 / 0961.63
Trevor Howard16$1,100,800,000$1,100,500,00065.8 %020 / 0260.53
Marlon Brando13$1,099,800,000$1,099,700,00065.2 %010 / 0062.59
Thelma Ritter10$1,096,000,000$1,747,400,00070.4 %014 / 0367.80
Robert Redford9$1,085,400,000$1,229,800,00067.8 %011 / 0463.54
José Ferrer7$1,075,900,000$1,150,900,00067.5 %023 / 0970.59
Red Buttons10$1,069,000,000$1,069,000,00064.5 %015 / 0364.12
Shelley Winters14$1,069,600,000$1,120,700,00066.8 %015 / 0164.54
Vera Miles13$1,058,200,000$1,415,800,00066.2 %006 / 0060.15
Bruce Dern15$1,051,500,000$1,138,500,00068.8 %016 / 0163.67
Jeffrey Hunter21$1,043,700,000$1,059,700,00058.9 %005 / 0253.46
Sal Mineo8$1,026,400,000$1,232,600,00058.8 %015 / 0363.73
Michael J. Pollard9$1,024,200,000$1,024,000,00067.9 %015 / 0266.99
Frankie Avalon22$996,600,000$1,296,900,00049.7 %007 / 0149.36
Eva Marie Saint7$994,000,000$994,300,00063.7 %011 / 0571.29
Deborah Kerr12$991,200,000$1,176,100,00063.0 %011 / 0163.25
Ann-Margret13$986,700,000$986,900,00061.0 %006 / 0060.19
Robert Wagner11$981,200,000$1,065,600,00061.4 %007 / 0260.78
Peter Ustinov11$979,000,000$979,200,00067.3 %014 / 0564.35
Gene Hackman11$979,000,000$979,100,00064.4 %021 / 0360.08
Don Knotts9$969,300,000$969,600,00067.4 %006 / 0163.70
Robert Morley23$961,400,000$1,011,400,00060.9 %003 / 0154.19
Edward G. Robinson12$937,200,000$1,179,100,00061.6 %010 / 0061.07
Anne Bancroft5$935,500,000$1,613,000,00078.0 %015 / 0373.28
Clint Eastwood7$935,200,000$935,400,00077.2 %001 / 0075.94
Dorothy McGuire5$932,500,000$1,007,200,00069.4 %006 / 0072.18
James Mason20$932,000,000$931,100,00061.1 %007 / 0056.34
William Holden11$928,400,000$1,071,000,00059.8 %003 / 0060.79
Martin Landau4$923,200,000$1,451,900,00057.8 %014 / 0469.82
Ernest Borgnine12$920,400,000$920,400,00066.0 %012 / 0160.74
Jean Simmons9$904,500,000$904,700,00073.7 %014 / 0768.30
Cliff Robertson15$903,000,000$938,400,00064.4 %002 / 0160.49
Yvette Mimieux16$900,800,000$1,050,300,00059.0 %006 / 0256.56
Harry Morgan10$890,000,000$1,620,800,00062.4 %014 / 0360.81
Ray Walston9$882,000,000$882,400,00060.6 %012 / 0563.65
Shirley Jones9$872,100,000$930,200,00066.7 %020 / 0467.34
Agnes Moorehead8$865,600,000$1,472,700,00065.0 %016 / 0364.80
John Cassavetes10$865,000,000$864,700,00075.4 %009 / 0264.06
Maureen O'Hara7$863,800,000$864,000,00068.8 %002 / 0068.16
George Cukor5$859,500,000$859,500,00058.8 %013 / 0867.96
Tony Randall12$858,000,000$887,800,00063.0 %003 / 0058.54
Angie Dickinson16$856,000,000$899,800,00061.1 %003 / 0056.03
Cary Grant5$855,500,000$855,700,00076.5 %007 / 0181.14
Lee Grant9$846,900,000$847,000,00060.9 %013 / 0662.11
George C. Scott8$829,600,000$838,600,00075.6 %014 / 0270.08
Mickey Rooney12$826,800,000$831,900,00055.3 %011 / 0352.82
Carol Lynley13$819,000,000$818,700,00060.7 %008 / 0057.94
Charles Boyer10$815,000,000$1,173,500,00062.7 %009 / 0063.62
Annette Funicello13$804,700,000$805,300,00051.2 %002 / 0053.83
Jacqueline Bisset9$796,500,000$939,900,00061.7 %004 / 0158.93
Claude Rains4$789,200,000$864,000,00064.0 %017 / 0770.79
Peter Fonda8$779,200,000$778,800,00066.8 %002 / 0063.51
Robert Preston5$778,500,000$1,386,000,00068.6 %015 / 0469.30
Cloris Leachman2$763,800,000$908,600,00066.2 %007 / 0478.81
Burgess Meredith12$758,400,000$775,600,00062.5 %009 / 0059.46
Sandra Dee12$757,200,000$756,800,00063.3 %000 / 0059.07
Harry Dean Stanton8$746,400,000$1,383,900,00061.2 %012 / 0458.86
Walter Brennan5$734,500,000$1,341,900,00067.7 %008 / 0368.73
Faye Dunaway7$730,100,000$730,400,00059.5 %012 / 0360.11
Angela Lansbury12$720,000,000$795,000,00064.0 %009 / 0059.59
Warren Beatty8$716,800,000$752,400,00066.8 %013 / 0362.09
Orson Welles17$715,700,000$899,700,00062.1 %013 / 0756.25
Ava Gardner6$714,600,000$734,200,00065.1 %009 / 0167.00
Robert Shaw8$711,200,000$1,291,200,00070.8 %008 / 0665.66
Jack Benny3$708,000,000$708,000,00067.0 %006 / 0174.45
Robert Cummings6$704,400,000$809,800,00055.5 %003 / 0060.61
Susan Hayward8$703,200,000$703,000,00057.2 %003 / 0057.23
Jim Brown8$698,400,000$698,500,00061.4 %006 / 0159.37
Royal Dano11$691,900,000$816,600,00061.6 %003 / 0057.67
Richard Crenna7$686,700,000$690,300,00066.5 %019 / 0165.41
Ben Johnson10$681,000,000$812,300,00065.8 %004 / 0061.80
Yul Brynner19$680,200,000$1,057,500,00058.2 %006 / 0052.59
Kim Novak9$679,500,000$738,100,00059.5 %007 / 0060.12
Joanne Woodward10$680,000,000$734,600,00060.3 %008 / 0060.56
Gene Kelly6$667,800,000$802,600,00069.5 %015 / 0369.82
John Saxon10$666,000,000$666,100,00060.7 %006 / 0059.07
Lee Remick12$662,400,000$689,800,00067.7 %005 / 0160.77
Bob Hope11$660,000,000$659,800,00053.2 %005 / 0154.74
Richard Attenborough12$656,400,000$687,500,00069.4 %021 / 0260.06
Glenn Ford18$655,200,000$877,100,00063.1 %009 / 0055.55
Barbra Streisand2$642,800,000$642,700,00079.6 %015 / 0499.48
Laurence Olivier10$642,000,000$674,900,00075.6 %014 / 0463.88
Gig Young8$636,800,000$637,000,00064.2 %012 / 0161.91
Katharine Hepburn4$632,400,000$632,400,00072.7 %018 / 0580.27
Vincent Price18$628,200,000$628,600,00062.7 %000 / 0054.80
Rita Moreno6$624,600,000$624,500,00067.5 %011 / 1062.40
Anthony Perkins8$618,400,000$856,100,00074.5 %005 / 0062.86
Mel Ferrer9$618,300,000$624,800,00062.8 %006 / 0258.03
Michael Caine13$613,600,000$613,700,00070.3 %008 / 0060.56
Vanessa Redgrave10$612,000,000$611,500,00071.9 %018 / 0964.69
Tuesday Weld12$609,600,000$609,900,00060.2 %001 / 0055.04
Louis Jourdan5$607,000,000$607,100,00058.9 %006 / 0265.15
Walter Pidgeon6$604,800,000$604,600,00069.7 %008 / 0164.53
Dean Jagger9$594,900,000$728,800,00063.0 %006 / 0360.70
Alain Delon25$592,500,000$1,584,100,00067.7 %003 / 0055.00
Albert Finney7$589,400,000$589,100,00070.3 %012 / 0463.56
Elisha Cook Jr.10$589,000,000$594,700,00060.0 %004 / 0254.99
Scatman Crothers8$584,000,000$616,700,00056.8 %007 / 0357.42
George Raft6$573,000,000$715,900,00051.9 %001 / 0059.33
Ethel Merman2$571,200,000$571,100,00071.5 %006 / 0177.46
Max Von Sydow5$567,000,000$661,500,00057.7 %014 / 0163.09
Warren Oates13$560,300,000$560,500,00065.9 %011 / 0558.56
The Beatles8$554,400,000$554,500,00072.1 %003 / 0164.94
Jason Robards13$551,200,000$568,600,00070.1 %007 / 0159.59
Sylvia Miles4$545,600,000$608,800,00071.1 %007 / 0369.54
Ed Begley10$543,000,000$563,000,00061.4 %012 / 0157.77
Jack Nicholson8$540,800,000$554,800,00064.7 %002 / 0058.19
Sandy Dennis7$530,600,000$530,600,00072.8 %015 / 0667.60
Charles Laughton3$525,900,000$525,800,00083.0 %006 / 0476.22
Bette Davis8$523,200,000$603,200,00070.3 %016 / 0165.31
Rip Torn6$520,200,000$520,300,00069.5 %005 / 0164.01
Ralph Bellamy3$517,800,000$517,900,00082.9 %009 / 0181.73
Peter Finch17$513,400,000$545,500,00061.6 %004 / 0053.31
Joe E. Brown2$503,200,000$503,100,00074.3 %006 / 0173.49
Leo G. Carroll5$501,000,000$500,900,00067.5 %002 / 0062.31
Pat Boone9$500,400,000$575,700,00057.4 %005 / 0055.54
Dana Andrews13$497,900,000$497,500,00057.9 %001 / 0052.98
Lucille Ball4$492,400,000$492,200,00060.5 %005 / 0167.12
Donald Sutherland6$492,000,000$491,800,00069.6 %004 / 0160.87
Alan Ladd6$489,600,000$489,600,00054.9 %000 / 0054.53
Kurt Russell7$489,300,000$489,600,00058.5 %000 / 0058.63
Alan Bates12$482,400,000$482,100,00074.0 %018 / 0462.43
Gene Wilder2$479,600,000$479,600,00087.7 %012 / 0387.61
Oliver Reed14$473,200,000$473,100,00066.4 %015 / 0655.73
Raquel Welch14$473,200,000$472,700,00055.4 %006 / 0251.72
Mia Farrow5$468,000,000$498,600,00068.4 %002 / 0162.41
Paul Lukas6$465,600,000$552,300,00060.0 %002 / 0060.36
Rosalind Russell7$460,600,000$472,800,00067.1 %004 / 0062.22
Patricia Neal5$447,000,000$447,000,00075.6 %015 / 0673.57
Gina Lollobrigida7$446,600,000$446,300,00061.1 %000 / 0057.82
Leslie Caron8$444,800,000$610,700,00066.5 %011 / 0160.92
Lee Van Cleef4$443,200,000$563,000,00086.3 %001 / 0075.93
Alan Arkin7$442,400,000$442,400,00068.2 %007 / 0062.43
Jean-Paul Belmondo30$435,000,000$1,703,000,00066.8 %005 / 0153.55
Lew Ayres2$421,200,000$421,100,00070.5 %000 / 0074.03
Woody Allen3$420,300,000$563,500,00057.3 %002 / 0068.15
Myrna Loy3$419,700,000$419,800,00062.8 %001 / 0071.36
Jean Seberg15$417,000,000$553,100,00059.9 %001 / 0051.77
Ingrid Bergman4$416,400,000$425,400,00069.3 %002 / 0168.83
Troy Donahue9$410,400,000$473,400,00059.3 %000 / 0054.91
Ruth Gordon4$405,600,000$405,700,00073.1 %005 / 0169.20
Dirk Bogarde18$401,400,000$420,600,00067.2 %008 / 0455.19
Jon Voight3$397,200,000$397,200,00074.7 %007 / 0368.86
Van Johnson5$393,000,000$405,200,00057.6 %002 / 0058.59
Greer Garson4$391,600,000$489,500,00063.8 %013 / 0067.55
Lana Turner7$389,200,000$389,000,00054.5 %000 / 0054.24
Bing Crosby4$387,600,000$466,400,00055.6 %003 / 0061.24
Don Rickles8$386,400,000$386,300,00053.5 %000 / 0052.47
Melvyn Douglas6$384,600,000$384,300,00068.8 %010 / 0364.83
Montgomery Clift5$379,000,000$423,000,00074.5 %013 / 0269.22
Peter Lorre8$376,800,000$377,100,00063.5 %000 / 0056.73
Van Heflin8$376,000,000$451,000,00056.6 %005 / 0053.69
Candice Bergen5$372,000,000$372,100,00064.9 %009 / 0059.99
Ron Howard4$364,800,000$364,600,00055.9 %006 / 0158.86
Mary Tyler Moore5$354,000,000$353,900,00056.4 %007 / 0155.46
Aldo Ray10$353,000,000$535,400,00054.5 %000 / 0051.64
Jack Palance5$350,000,000$366,900,00068.2 %003 / 0063.69
Wendy Hiller3$348,300,000$348,200,00069.8 %016 / 0774.94
Lillian Gish4$339,600,000$339,500,00060.4 %000 / 0061.53
Elliott Gould2$327,200,000$327,200,00063.5 %004 / 0073.02
Scott Wilson4$321,600,000$321,700,00070.3 %007 / 0568.17
Fred Astaire4$316,800,000$388,100,00061.6 %002 / 0062.07
Fredric March5$307,500,000$336,700,00078.9 %006 / 0067.29
Shirley Knight8$307,200,000$306,800,00069.1 %004 / 0159.18
Dyan Cannon3$306,300,000$306,400,00067.3 %005 / 0065.30
Herbert Marshall7$303,100,000$313,600,00057.1 %002 / 0053.15
Joseph Cotten7$294,700,000$314,200,00059.7 %009 / 0055.78
Geraldine Page8$294,400,000$333,900,00066.8 %007 / 0159.54
Brigitte Bardot13$292,500,000$484,000,00059.4 %001 / 0051.91
Maggie Smith8$289,600,000$289,400,00070.1 %009 / 0260.75
Charles Bickford4$288,400,000$333,800,00066.0 %005 / 0162.99
Boris Karloff9$288,000,000$288,200,00059.6 %000 / 0052.94
Jack Warden6$284,400,000$363,000,00063.3 %000 / 0057.13
Jane Russell4$282,000,000$281,900,00059.3 %001 / 0058.87
Joan Crawford6$281,400,000$336,100,00056.4 %006 / 0154.27
Mary Astor3$279,000,000$279,000,00065.7 %007 / 0066.22
John Gielgud9$278,100,000$278,100,00071.4 %014 / 0159.13
James Caan9$276,300,000$276,300,00056.3 %000 / 0051.30
Burl Ives7$273,700,000$287,700,00061.0 %000 / 0054.40
Terence Stamp8$272,000,000$304,800,00070.5 %005 / 0058.71
Edward Asner6$262,800,000$262,900,00061.0 %002 / 0055.23
Goldie Hawn2$262,000,000$261,900,00069.8 %001 / 0176.27
Donald Crisp4$258,000,000$258,100,00074.6 %000 / 0064.85
Marilyn Monroe2$254,000,000$297,900,00074.0 %001 / 0074.99
Lauren Bacall3$250,200,000$301,900,00068.0 %000 / 0064.89
Jane Wyman3$248,400,000$248,400,00061.0 %002 / 0061.77
Michael Redgrave10$246,000,000$245,500,00073.6 %002 / 0057.37
Jeff Chandler4$238,800,000$238,800,00062.8 %000 / 0058.73
Gena Rowlands6$237,000,000$237,000,00071.2 %003 / 0060.89
Art Carney2$233,800,000$243,000,00062.0 %000 / 0067.27
Audie Murphy8$232,000,000$231,900,00057.7 %000 / 0051.89
Tab Hunter5$231,500,000$231,600,00059.0 %000 / 0053.18
Joel Grey1$228,600,000$228,600,00074.5 %000 / 0086.00
Jayne Mansfield9$224,100,000$224,300,00052.6 %000 / 0048.57
Clark Gable2$223,800,000$267,700,00073.6 %001 / 0071.24
Joan Blondell7$222,600,000$222,500,00057.6 %000 / 0050.64
Paul Henreid5$222,000,000$333,600,00060.7 %000 / 0055.42
Judy Garland4$222,000,000$221,800,00076.8 %011 / 0268.13
Yvonne De Carlo6$220,800,000$221,000,00059.7 %000 / 0052.66
Christopher Lee17$221,000,000$220,900,00058.6 %000 / 0049.46
Claire Trevor4$219,200,000$271,200,00063.1 %001 / 0058.24
Cyd Charisse5$218,000,000$270,200,00058.1 %000 / 0054.06
Barbara Stanwyck3$217,500,000$217,600,00060.3 %001 / 0059.75
William Bendix6$215,400,000$215,600,00060.6 %000 / 0054.17
Dan Dailey2$214,200,000$272,400,00055.5 %007 / 0064.04
Red Skelton1$213,100,000$213,100,00057.0 %000 / 0077.8
Dorothy Lamour3$207,600,000$286,300,00051.6 %000 / 0053.76
Anne Baxter4$207,200,000$301,500,00057.6 %003 / 0054.40
Dorothy Malone3$204,900,000$242,700,00061.8 %001 / 0059.79
Anthony Hopkins2$204,400,000$204,300,00079.6 %007 / 0376.33
Ali MacGraw1$192,500,000$192,500,00067.5 %000 / 0081.54
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77 thoughts on “Top Movie Stars of the 1960s

  1. 4/I was also interested to see Don Knotts appearing in your 60s tables as he had done in the 50s. I am aware that you have done a page on him [rightly in my view] but I had forgotten about him until I started watching re-runs of Andy Griffith’s TV courtroom drama series Matlock [1986-1995] in which for some spells Don was special resident guest artist.

    5/Don was actually an irrelevance to the plot of Matlock and simply hung about in a funny cap and cracking to me at least unfunny jokes as Matlock’s eccentric neighbour and serving as merely a “prop” for Andy.

    6/However as your material on Notts’ page clearly illustrates the pair go back a long way with Don supporting Andy in the latter’s massive 1958 hit No Time for Sergeants and becoming a fixture back-up character in The Andy Griffith Show 1960-68.

    7/Both come across to me on screen as potentially real life nice guys and it’s actually great to see a long lasting professional friendship as theirs appears to have been and they can probably be regarded as one of entertainment’s great duos albeit across two different types of screen. The Celebrity Net Worth site says that at the time of their respective deaths Andy had a net worth of 65 million and Don 25 million in 2019 adjusted dollars.

    To think that it was way back 3 years ago that this page last attracted comments – wow! are the Cogerson surveys achieving their own immortality? Anyway as I indicated in Part One good update WH and “Voted Up!”

    1. Hey Bob….thanks for the kind words and breakdown on Don Knotts and Andy Griffith. I actually got to meet Mr. Griffith a few times….and sadly it was not a fun experience. I worked at grocery store for a food store franchise that he strongly disliked…..he would come into my store and light us up for stuff we had no control of. He actually did commericals (supposedly for almost no pay) for a mom and pop grocery store, in an effort to hurt the chain I worked for. This took place on Nags Head/Kitty Hawk (home of the Wright Brothers) island. Good stuff.

      1. HI BRUCE Sorry to hear that about Andy. The REAL-LIFE him sounds more like the character he played in Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd rather that the loveable Ben Matlock who comes across as a real nice guy underneath a sometimes volatile outer personality.

        It goes to show that professional images can be deceptive. But the good news for followers of this site may well be that Joel might be a nice person after all and maybe that the destructive author that we are accustomed to experiencing in print is just a “paper tiger” in reality and possibly even a wimp.

        Certainly that photo which you have of him on his Cogerson page suggests that he was the sort of guy that The Duke would have had to nurse if they had gone out on the trail together. Indeed one thinks of how in the1958 western ‘Cowboy’ Charlie Bill had to mollycoddle Jack Lemmon’s tenderfoot character Frank Harris.

        You must though have had some high times in that store of yours back then. It could well have been for you like what they say about Picadilly Circus in London “Sit about there long enough and sooner or later everybody who’s anybody in the world will turn up!” Apparently The Great Mumbler used to sit about cafes and hang around stores to observe human nature so that he could use what he saw in the formulation his stage and screen characterisations.

        Anyway I appreciate your sharing the Griffith story with me even though it did dissolusion me a bit. In his book The Fall philosophical writer Albert Camus describes human nature by making comparison with some onions. They can have many layers of skin and as you peel off one you can get another that might appear different. In music “The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion is the second album by the Scottish psychedelic folk group, The Incredible String Band (ISB), and was released in July 1967 on Elektra Records (see 1967 in music).” Anyway keep safe.

  2. Job well done WH. It will take a while to properly analyse the update but my initial thoughts are-

    1/The 60s were supposed to be a flop decade for Brando and it WAS compared with the 1950s and the 1970s when his average gross per movie was respectively $208 million [12th highest for the 50s decade] and $300 million [the 5th highest for the 70s decade].

    2/However Marlon’s average of $84.6 million per movie in the 60s is respectable when one considers that Charlie Bill Stuart for the fifties was almost identical at $85 million so that that decade could be regarded as a flop for Charlie Bill at least in terms of averages if we consider the 60s a flop one for Marlon. However the 50s were in effect Charlie Bill’s most successful decade and in 1958 he was designated the top box office draw in the US.

    3/Sir Maurice Micklewhite’s 60s average of $47.2 million per movie was almost half Brando’s that decade and yet the 60s are regarded rightly in my view as a star-making decade for Sir Maurice with the Zulu and Harry Palmer and Alfie movies. The GREAT M and SIR M both appeared in the same number of movies in the 1960s which was 13

    1. Hey Bob….yep 3 years since the last comment…not sure if that means immortal….or a slow page….lol. Actually it has slowly become one of her most popular pages….it finished in our Top 10 in 2019…..coming in 9th place…and so far in 2020…it is up to 5th place. I guess that means, it is time to update all of these decade pages. Good stats on the M & Ms…Michael and Marlon….good stuff as always.

      1. HI BRUCE: Thanks for the feedback and for the stats breakdown. Information sources such as your site and your book are often slow burners which can build up a following as movie and stats buff such as myself keep returning to them again and again in pursuit of material to feed their own particular hobby. “For the slow one now will later be fast.” – Bob Dylan.

        It will not surprise me if your 60s page retains popularity because that was a pivotal decade at the movies and in the wider world as well and in the United Kingdom the new cultural scene was tagged “The Swinging Sixties” Examples of all that are-

        1/Movie historians claim that the classic era of films ended and the modern one commenced in 1962.

        2/There was an explosion in culture generally examples of which were the emergence of The Beatles and the revolution in pop music; and hitherto clean cut musical performers with smart haircuts and nice conservative clothes were replaced overnight with long haired singers who morphed into bearded guys for whom performing under the influence of drugs and booze became a way of life. And of course we had Flower Power and associated songs such as San Francisco.

        3/The movies also underwent a sexual revolution with more daring and sexually overt flicks like the Carpetbaggers and with the raunchy on-screen and the then “scandalous” real life exploits of The Burtons.

        1. Cogerson has been historically lucky in the timing of its own birth in that side by side it can (1) reflect the wealth of the long history that has built up to illustrate how different movies and movie stars used to be (2) provide as well information about modern films generally and mirror the advances in contemporary moviemaking such as the rise of the great franchises which only the latest technology have probably made possible.

          For example the 10 Astaire/Rogers films have an overall adjusted Cogerson worldwide gross of just under $2.7 billion averaging out at $270 million per movie. Among today’s franchises Avengers for example has one movie [Avengers Endgame] that ALONE you credit with an adjusted gross worldwide of $2.8 billion.

          That’s truly astonishing as years ago only the classic epics like GWTW and The Ten Commandments could have hoped to generate individually such mega grosses. Now they are becoming almost par for the course. 11 Star Wars films shown in your charts have an adjusted worldwide gross of over 16 billion dollars averaging out at around $1.5 billion per movie by my maths – amazing!

          Of course on top of lucky timing if a marvellous site like this one is to materialise at all it takes people like you and your family to have the skills and dedication to take advantage of the wider information and sources available today in respect of movie stats and other matters via the internet etc. So once again “Well done!” to both you and your extended family.

          MICHAEL DOUGLAS to CHARLIE SHEEN pointing in 1987’s Wall Street in turn to one down and out person and then to another obviously very affluent Individual “Are you going to tell me the difference between this man and that one is luck?”

  3. Hello Bruce,
    This is the DECADE of my first film
    It was “SNow White “from Disney, in french of course…and I was so afraid with the trees and the Queen and after that I saw “West side Story “in french but songs were in English
    I Never Forget that, the songs were amazing with the dance.
    This is the decade with my first V O picture, an américan film , it was
    “Up the down staircase “with Sandy Dennis, I did not pick one Word, i just try to read the subtiles , I was 13 and I was folowing my mother but I Never Forget that film because I wanted to understand what happened on the screen. So much noise between the students and the teachers, and I Never Forget Sandy Dennis too.
    The next american film will be “M A S H “at the beginning of the 70 where I spoke better english….I remember a nurse Whose surname was “Hot LIps”
    But you hnow tHis is the decade of my first Hungarie film too” Ha ça ira ” always a film with students and I think it was just before the évents of 1968 in France. But I Never see one more Hungarie film.
    I remember Julie Andrews was at top even she missed My Fair lady and she was falling down with the film “STAR “which was a box office poison. But she is Number one of the decade on your page and I think it is right.
    I remenber the royal couple Liz and Richard and the film Cleopatre….
    I remenber the émotion for Monroe and after a year everybody was speaking of Carrol Baker but that was at the beginning of the decade.
    In France,Everybody was speaking of B B / Brigitte Bardot she was everywhere during all 60.
    I think my love for american movie start in that years, and of course When I met Dietrich and Cooper that was…. The Road to classical Hollywood!!!!!!!
    By the way it was the DECADE of my first girl friend too but not like in American Graffiti
    I am Sorry…
    Good day
    Pierre

    1. Hey great comment and memories that you have of movies made in the 1960s. Sorry that I did not include Sandy Dennis on this page…but I think she deserves to be on here. I think lots of small children got scared while watching Snow White.

      Julie Andrews had one awesome 1960s….I imagine she was feeling very down when she did not get the My Fair Lady role…..but I think it actually made her career better by missing that role.

      Brigitte Bardot…..another one that should be on the page….though I do not think she did too well at North American box offices.

      Fun comment to read.

  4. Hi

    I think by the 60’s if you were looking for iconic names, you would be looking to music rather than the movies. Groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones symbolize the 60’s more than any movie star did. But if I had to name two I would go for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The celebrity couple of the decade.

    1. Hey Chris. Good point about music being the top influence of the 1960s. I actually think the 1960s is a pretty weak decade…when looking at all the movies….of course there are many classics…..but compared to other decades they few and far between.

      Taylor and Burton were indeed the biggest celebrities of the decade. I can only imagine the coverage they would get today if they in their peaks. Probably substantially more than Pitt and Jolie. 🙂

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