Want to know the best Virigina Mayo movies? How about the worst Virginia Mayo movies? Curious about Virginia Mayo box office grosses or which Virginia Mayo movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Virginia Mayo movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Virginia Mayo (1920-2005) was an American actress and dancer. In the late 1940’s she was one of one of the most popular thespians working. From 1944 to 1954 she appeared in 16 movies that crossed the $100 million (adjusted gross) mark at the box office. Her IMDb page shows 69 acting credits from 1939-1997. This page will rank 45 Virginia Mayo movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances, shorts and uncredited roles were not included in the rankings. This page comes from a request by Søren.
Virginia Mayo 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 Virginia Mayo movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Virginia Mayo movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Virginia Mayo movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Virginia Mayo movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Virginia Mayo movie received.
- Sort Virginia Mayo 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.
- Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Virginia Mayo Table
- Sixteen Virginia Mayo movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 35.56% of her movies listed. The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Virginia Mayo movie grossed $94.70 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 16 Virginia Mayo movies are rated as good movies…or 35.56% of her movies. White Heat (1949) is her highest rated movie while The Silver Chalice (1954) is her lowest rated movie.
- Nine Virginia Mayo movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 20.00% of her movies.
- Two Virginia Mayo movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 4.44% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 16 Virginia Mayo movies scored higher that average….or 35.56% of her movies. The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) got the the highest UMR Score while Castle of Evil (1966) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Virginia Mayo
1. Virginia Clara Jones was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1920.
2. After high school, Virginia Mayo, started dancing at the St. Louis Municipal Orchestra. Shortly after that Samuel Goldwyn (he was a movie mogul) signed her to an acting contract with his company. He cast her in her first hit….1943’s Jack London.
3. Virginia Mayo appeared in 5 Danny Kaye movies. That represents almost a third of all Kaye movies. Those 5 movies grossed over 1 Billion in adjusted domestic box office.
4. After the Sultan of Morocco saw Virginia Mayo in person he said it was….”tangible proof of the existence of God.”
5. Virginia Mayo’s favorite leading men were: Alan Ladd (Bob smiles) and Gregory Peck (Flora smiles).
6. Virginia Mayo was slightly cross-eyed and had to be carefully photographed.
7. Virginia Maya was Paul Newman‘s first on screen leading lady. That would have been in 1954’s The Silver Chalice…which is her lowest rated movie according to critics and audiences.
8. Virginia Mayo was married once. She was married to actor Michael O’Shea from 1947 until his death in 1973….they had one daughter.
9. Virginia Mayo’s career domestic adjusted box office total is $4.14 BILLION…..that currently ranks her as the 23rd most successful box office actress in my database.
10. Check out Virginia Mayo‘s career compared to current and classic actors and fact #9 at Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Due to space issues on the previous table….have to list these worldwide adjusted box office grosses here
- Along the Great Divide (1951) $94.50 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Big Land (1957) $132.30 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1950) $234.40 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Colorado Territory (1949) $146.70 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Flame and the Arrow (1950) $282.30 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Flaxy Martin (1949) $42.00 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Fort Dobbs (1958) $68.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Iron Mistress (1952) $166.50 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Kid From Brooklyn (1946) $356.80 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Painting The Clouds With Sunshine (1951) $229.90 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) $335.40 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- She’s Back On Broadway (1953) $81.40 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952) $131.20 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Silver Chalice (1954) $233.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- A Song Is Born (1948) $176.60 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- South Sea Woman (1953) $100.90 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Starlift (1951) $111.70 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The Story of Mankind (1957) $17.50 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- The West Point Story (1950) $144.70 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Westbound (1959) $57.30 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- White Heat (1949) $190.20 million in adjusted worldwide box office
- Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) $16.90 million in adjusted worldwide b.o.
- Wonder Man (1945) $339.20 million in adjusted worldwide box office
Hey Joan Crawford Admirer…recently there has been lots of Loy talk on this website…not to mention lots of talk on Joan…..thanks for the visit.
Bruce:
I have seen 11 of Mayo’s movies. My favourite is The Best Years of Our Lives and the two she made with Gregory Peck are indeed favourites of mine.
BRUCE Where does Flora get the 2nd Greg movie from as it is not in your Ginny or Greg charts and though I’ve racked my brains I can’t remember my Greg being in another movie with Ginny? Was one of the in an uncredited role in the other’s movie? BOB
Hey Bob…pretty sure there is only one Peck/Mayo movie. I think she was saying her two favorite Mayo movies were Best Years of Our Lives and Captain Horatio.
Bruce:
Yes, that was what I was saying. Despite Greg being in Horatio, I prefer Best Years of Our Lives. Steve may have won the title, but he still has not seen BYOOL.
Hey Flora…thanks for the clarification. Pretty sure Steve has BYOOL just sitting on his dvd shelf just waiting to be watched…one day he will get motivated to see it. Thanks for the visit.
And when I do finally see it will I be impressed? Or will I shake my head and wonder what all the fuss was about? 😉
“Tally Ho!” I’ve seen more Mayo than Flora, a bit shocked, I thought my tally was quite low considering there are 45 films on the list.
Veteran movie buffs Bob and John have probably seen more than us but they don’t like to ‘tally’.
Hey Steve…..I think when and if you watch the movie you will find it well done but not a movie begging for a re-watching. Maybe when you see it topping Fredric March (our next classic page) you will finally get motivated to see the movie.
So today my class is watching a Star Wars documentary on the first/original Star Wars movies…..finally getting paid while dealing with movies…. proud day. Though by the sixth viewing today I will be very tired of Star Wars.
Hey Flora…wow Steve gets a 4th Classic title in a row….not thinking that has happened before. Tally counts…..Steve 14, Flora11 and me at a lowly 4. Thanks for the visit, the comment and the tally count.
It’s not how many movies you see but the QUALITY of the movies and in that respect I would be prepared to do a tally of my Joan Crawford movies.
I’ve only seen a handful of Joan Crawford films Bob, ditto Bette Davis and De Havilland, high drama, screaming couples, and distraught phone calls just isn’t my thing. But I do like horror movies for some weird reason, especially the old classics.
Bruce, looking forward to your Fredric March page. The first actor to win an Oscar for a horror role, the only actor if you don’t count Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.
p.s. getting paid for watching Star Wars documentaries is a good thing in my book. 🙂
Hey Steve…half the classes had little interest in the documentary….so sad….but the half was into the documentary…I of course stopped the DVD to give my two cents worth…..including a mini history of Kurt Russell…lol. He popped up in the audition tapes.
1 I have long regarded Virginia as top of the B list in her time.In her heyday she was first billed in 9 movies the best of which were probably Devil’s Canyon, Backfire, Pearl of the South Pacific, Great Day in the Morning and most especially The Silver Chalice,*** She’s Working Her Way through College. However if there was another star of any importance in one of her movies she would never be top billed or have the lead. Leaving aside the 9 just mentioned her function was normally to play low-life adulteresses/seductresses or in contrast support the likes of Ladd, Lancaster, Douglas, McCrea and Scott and in some movies simply providing their love interest.
2 A first as in the Danny Kaye series that is highlighted in the co-star links column Ginny’s supporting parts were of very high quality but the latter gradually deteriorated so that by the time the sixties arrived she had inevitably joined A C Lyles stable of cut-price ‘graveyard’ actors/actresses by in her case supporting Rory Calhoun in Young Fury and John Ireland in Fort Utah, neither of which stars had ever been even a B list contender. Nevertheless albeit as one of the relatively more minor star performers her persona was one of those that played a crucial part in the Hollywood movie culture of the late forties and fifties and I therefore very much value this page with its domestic and worldwide stats.
POSTSCRIPTS
1***As Bruce suggests Silver Chalice was Newman’s first movie after several years on TV and although being a spectacle it was a big box office hit Paul was so ashamed of it that he did a ‘Sandra Bullock’ and took out newspaper advertisement apologising for it and in effect disassociating himself from it. His view of the movie is obviously shared by this site which for critic/audience give it just 30% and ranks it as Ginny’s lowest movie. After that her career declined sharply.
2 Hey Bruce I appreciate the comment about Ladd but Flora can’t have Greg all to herself – don’t forget he’s my 2nd fave actor of all time!
CORRECTION TO My VIRGINIA MAYO POST – She was in 10 top billed movies – apologies BOB
Hey Bob….got it….10 it is.
Hey Bob….thanks for your thoughts on Virginia Mayo. I think your assessment on her might be right. Two of the books I use to do the research on this page…do not even list her in the books.
Her movies once the 1960s got here were not impressive in any category….reviews and box office. Out of respect for Paul Newman I have never seen The Silver Chalice….and with a 30% critic audience rating….I do not think I am missing much.
True you are a Peck fan too….but you gotta share the toys…lol.
Hi
Virginia, I think, will always be remembered for 2 knock out performances in 2 knock out films. As the cheating wife in The Best Years of her Life. Why she didn’t get nominated, the mind boggles. In fact none of the female leads, Loy or Wright never got a mention either. Considering the quality of the movie, its incredible. And of course White Heat, Cagney’s girlfriend. She played a real mean cow to perfection.
Her movies with Danny Kay were such a contrast. She looked fantastic in colour. In fact colour movies of that period looked incredible anyway. Even in old age she looked fantastic.
Another great page, thanks.
Hey Chris.
1. As always thanks for taking the time to comment on our last page.
2. I would say the two movies you mention are my favorite Mayo movies too.
3. You are right…and I had never thought of it…the woman got ignored by the Oscar voters when it came to Best Years Of Our Lives…especially Loy and Mayo….I wonder why?
4. I need to see more of the Mayo/Kaye movies….I have currently only seen Secret Life Of Walter Mitty.
Good stuff as usual.
Excellent work again, Bruce.
Really like the films with Danny Kaye.
I originally suggested a page on Miss Mayo after seeing an old episode of Remington Steele where she played herself….
Hey Søren….glad you enjoyed your requested page. I have been knocking your requests off the list recently….3 of the last 5 pages have been your suggestions. I will have to check out that episode of Remington Steele…..I have not seen an episode of Remington Steele in years. Hey that is an idea for my wife for Christmas…some of the seasons on DVD….kill two birds with one stone.
Are you saying your wife isn’t awesome enough to get presents that she does not have to share?
Hey WoC….you are awesome enough to not have to share your presents…you are the most awesome wife of all-time! I am lucky to have you.
Loy certainly can’t complain about not getting a mention by some people nowadays!