Want to know the best Cary Grant movies? How about the worst Cary Grant movies? Curious about Cary Grant’s box office grosses or which Cary Grant movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Cary Grant movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place.
I would say my favorite three actors of all-time are Sir Michael Caine, Mr. Bruce Willis, and Archibald Leach….better known as Cary Grant (1904-1986). I discovered Cary Grant when I was in high school. During a sick day, I was stuck at home and bored out of my mind while watching television. As I flipped through the channels I came across a black and white movie. Back then I extremely disliked black and white movies. But I started to watch the movie that was on television. It took about 5 minutes before I realized I was enjoying the movie and another 45 minutes to realize I needed to see the beginning of the movie. That movie was called Bringing Up Baby and it opened the wonderful doors of Cary Grant movies.
Cary Grant made 73 full length movies from 1932-1966. When I wrote the page the first time I was able to find all the required information on 50 of the movies. Since then I have found box office information on the rest of the 23 movies. In the table below Ultimate Movie Rankings ranks 73 of his movies in 5 different sortable columns. Television roles, shorts and straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings.
I have seen 51 of the 73 movies listed in the following tables. So I figure I would add my personal Top Ten Cary Grant movies…..located at the bottom of the page
Cary Grant Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Cary Grant 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 Cary Grant movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Cary Grant movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Cary Grant movies by domestic yearly box office rank or trivia
- Sort Cary Grant movies 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 Cary Grant movie received.
- Sort Cary Grant 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.
- Use the sort and search buttons to make this a very interactive table.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Cary Grant Table
1. 41 of Cary Grant’s movies crossed the magical $100 million mark. That is a percentage of 64.06% of his movies listed. His top box office hit was Operation Petticoat (1959).
2. An average Cary Grant movie grosses $147.10 million in adjusted box office gross.
3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 49 of Cary Grant’s movies are rated as good movies…or 77.77% of his movies. His highest rated movie is 1959’s North by Northwest. His lowest rated movie is The Last Outpost (1935).
4. 28 of Cary Grant’s movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 44.44% of his movies.
5. 8 of Cary Grant’s movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 12.63% of his movies.
6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 48 of Cary Grant’s movies scored higher that average….or 76.19% of his movies. The Philadelphia Story (1940) got the highest UMR Score. Born To Be Bad (1934) got the lowest UMR Score.
7. Cary Grant starred in 6 movies that were nominated for a Best Picture Oscar® nomination. She Done Him Wrong (1933), The Awful Truth (1937), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Suspicion (1941), The Talk Of The Town (1942), and The Bishop’s Wife (1947).
Cary Grant Box Office Grosses – Adjusted World Wide
Cary Grant made many great movies….so picking a personal Top Ten for him is very very tough…but here goes my list in alphabetical order.
1. The Awful Truth (1937)….Cary Grant and Irene Dunne made a great screen couple, this was their first of three movies together. Grant is hilarious in the movie. Movie was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar® and won the director, Leo McCarey an Oscar® for Best Director.
2. Charade (1963)…..Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn team up in this almost Hitchcock like movie. Is Grant the good guy or the bad guy? A great supporting cast in James Coburn, George Kennedy and Walter Matthau.
3. Gunga Din (1939)…Gunga Din was one of my father’s favorite Cary Grant movies….so this story of soldiers in 19th century India makes my list….great action, great fun and a terrific ending.
4. Father Goose (1964)…Father Goose is a movie can I watch again and again. Grant is stuck on an island with a school teacher(Leslie Caron) and her 7 students(all girls) during World War II. Great lines throughout this movie.
5. His Girl Friday (1940)….one of the few times that Cary Grant got to be instigator of the comedy mayhem….versus being the one that had to react to all the craziness. A fast pace, fast talking comedy classic.
6. My Favorite Wife (1940)….his second movie with Irene Dunne and another classic. Dunne is assumed to have perished in a boat sinking seven years ago, she is rescued and returns home just as Grant remarries….and then the fun begins.
7. North by Northwest (1959) ….Grant’s fourth and final film with Alfred Hitchcock…. great scenes throughout the movie like the crop dusting plane, the auction scene and of course the Mount Rushmore finale.
8. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)….one of his lesser known classics from the great movie year of 1939…Howard Hawks directed this story about pilots that risk their lives flying in South America…a great supporting cast of Rita Hayworth, Jean Arthur and Thomas Mitchell.
9. The Philadelphia Story (1940)….Grant and Katharine Hepburn made 4 movies together…this by far is their best movie together….and yet James Stewart is the one that won the Oscar® for this movie…..this movie gets better every year.
10. To Catch A Thief (1955)…Grant thought his movie career was over….and then Hitchcock talked him out of semi-retirement to play a cat burglar nicknamed “The Cat”. This movie gives you a Cary Grant and Grace Kelly falling in love on screen and off screen…direction by the great Alfred Hitchcock….with the French Riviera as a backdrop…what more could you want?
Other great movies that just missed my Top Ten cut….Notorious, Operation Petticoat, Arsenic and Old Lace, An Affair To Remember and Bringing Up Baby.
Our brand new Cary Grant You Tube Video.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Want more Cary Grant information? Then I highly recommend http://www.carygrant.net/articles/i%20cary.htm
My Cary Grant letterbox.com reviews. Highly recommend Letterboxd.com. It is free and great way to keep track of the movies you have watched.
Our massive comment seen on Steve’s You Tube channel.
“Archie gets a update….since he is one of my favorite actors….this pleases me greatly. #52 Kiss Them For Me….deserves to be this lowly ranked. #51 Dream Wife – horrible movie sent him to an early pre-mature retirement #50 Born To Be Bad…not too bad #48 Night and Day….listed in our bad blockbuster page #47 Sylvia Scarlett….actually got him movie going in right direction #46 Grass is Greener….my least favorite of his 1960s movies #45 Wings in the Dark…decent movie #44 Once Upon A Honeymoon….seen it…not one of my favorites #43 None But The Lonely Heart…Oscar nom….but I find movie slow #42 Pride and Passion….dull epic #41 Toast of New York… seen barely remember it #40 Touch of Mink…two legends in an average movie
#39 Crisis….should have been better…director’s follow up to All About Eve #38 Wedding Present…seen it once…fading from memory #37 Walk Don’t Run….his curtain call…has some nice moments #36 Indiscreet…the Bergman reunion….ok…but Notorious is so much better #35 Mr. Lucky…movie does not get much attention #34 In Name Only…he and Lombard are good together #33 I Was A Male War Bride…I find the humor lacking #32 Room For One More…..sappy #31 Destination Tokyo…the movie that got Tony Curtis to join the Navy #30 Father Goose…one of my favorite Grant movies.
#28 Blonde Venus…Deitrich and Grant….fun to see them together #27 Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer – silly fun #26 Bishop’s Wife…one of our highest rated movies at UMR…only seen it once #25 She Done Him Wrong – the West movies first got him noticed #24 Mr. Blandings….recently re-watched this one…his character is not too smart #23 People Will Talk…strange twist in this one #22 Penny Serenade…the final Dunne/Grant movie #21 Houseboat….Grant and Loren look awesome together….one of my mom’s favorite Grant movies.
The Top 20….#20 My Favorite Wife….one of my favorite Grant movies #19 Monkey Business….it is a classic…but I do not really like it #18 Topper…his first leading man hit #17 I’m No Angel…West shines #16 Operation Petticoat…fun movie…rewatch regulary #15 To Catch A Thief….3rd favorite Grant/Hitch movie #14 Talk of the Town…better on second viewing #13 An Affair To Remember….what an ending #12 Holiday….gets better with each new viewing #11 Suspicion…I want to see Hitch’s original ending….Grant is a killer
#10 Arsenic and Old Lace…classic comedy…supporting roles are awesome #9 The Awful Truth…fun movie…his first comedy masterpiece #8 Gunga Din…one of my dad’s favorite movies #7 Charade….in my Top 5 Grant movies #6 Only Angels Have Wings….the first movie watched in my current house…I was putting up DVDs as I watched this one #5 His Girl Friday….one of the few times that Grant got to lead the comedy action….versus reacting to the situations #4 Notorious…he and Bergman are amazing together #3 Bringing Up Baby…the movie that turned me into a Grant fan….never even considered watching classic movies until stumbling across this one #2 The Philadelphia Story…over time this has become one of my favorite Grant movies…did not like it the first time I saw it. #1 North By Northwest…never seen it….actually never even heard of it….lol. So that is 50 Grant movies seen. Only missing 2 from this list.
I recently saw Once Upon A Time…which stars Grant and a dancing caterpillar…..it was better than I thought it was going to be…..but did not crack your Top 52…..voted up and shared.”
Excellent detailed comment on Cary Grant’s video, you’re definitely a fan Bruce. You even managed to beat Flora’s tally of 45 with your 50, nice work. I managed a paltry 27 in comparison. Lots of favorites here, especially the Hitchcock movies. Correct about Suspicion, Cary Grant was trying to kill her in the original version but the studio felt the public wouldn’t accept their hero as a cold blooded killer. Thanks again for the comment, vote and share, much appreciated.
Now…I can talk some Cary Grant….lol. The ending of Suspicion is just dumb…..Grant had to be the killer…..it would be an all-time great if he had been…and I think his career would have been just fine. Since Grant was a free agent back then….it makes you wonder why the studio would not be ok with him being the bad guy….it is not like it was going to mess up a 10 year deal….Grant would have just made another movie at another studio.
Bruce, while it would have been cool to see Cary Grant play a killer I would have hated to see Joan Fontaine killed by him. She really loved him even when she suspected he might be a murderer. In the original story she drinks the poisoned cocktail he prepares for her knowing it would kill her.
Hey Steve….that sounds like a great way to end that movie……her drinking it…even though she knows would be a really powerful way to end the movie. As much as I for this “make Cary a killer” discussion….I will admit….I did not enjoy when Harrison Ford went that route in What Lies Beneath….still it would have been fun to see Hitch make Cary a ruthless greedy killer.
1 MO I mentioned in Part One that Grant, especially the younger one, never became one of my Top idols like Charley Bill and Sir Maurice Micklewhite. Nevertheless I always ADMIRED Archie technically as a performer and felt that he was vastly underrated as an actor and cruelly neglected by Oscar though of course AFI in its 50 Legends lists recognises his career as one of, indeed the 2nd, greatest of all time.
2 And ironically my best friend of years ago who detested movie stars generally told me once that if a herd of them were socializing next door the only two that he would want to go in and look at out of curiosity were Mr Mumbles and CARY GRANT. I’ve mentioned that friend before. He was the guy who suggested that if actual gunplay occurred in real life The Duke would find some place to hide until it was safe to come out again.
3 BEST POSTERS 1-25- She Done Him Wrong, People Will Talk, Penny Serenade, I’m No Angel, To Catch a Thief [2 excellent foreign language ones] Suspicion, The Awful Truth, Only Angels Have Wings, His Girl Friday, Bringing up Baby, Philadelphia Story foreign language one, North by Northwest [a real corker] and indeed most of the remainder. Grant insisted upon top billing in Philly but donated his large salary for that one to the war effort.
4 BEST STILLS I thought were (1) vintage one of Grant with Mae [in later life he became most annoyed when an interviewer confronted him with her claims that not only had SHE made Cary a star but that the very young Grant was also her “toy boy”] the lobby card for Penny Serenade,Cary with Sophia Loren [who later said that Grant’s experience was invaluable in getting her over the hurdle of playing comedy in Houseboat] being arm-wrestled to the ground by MM, with princess Grace [who certainly didn’t need to join an English thespian set to acquire a prestigious title!] with Katie H in Holiday, Cary being kicked in the a** [who was the female?] the Gunga Din quartet and the Notorious movie trio. I could go on but “cut”!
5 You and Bruce agree 4 of the Top 5 best reviewed. He has Holiday in his 5 whereas you have His Girl Friday which surprisingly [as it is regarded as a classic Howard Hawks film] WH has as low as 17th. The film was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry, it was remade as a “single sex” vehicle The Front Page in 1974 with Lemmon/Matthau in the Grant/Russell roles and as Switching Channels in 1988 with Burt Reynolds/Kathleen Turner. Tarantino says it is one of his all-time favourite films. Overall rating in my book is as predicted a high 98% despite the two flawed stills that I highlighted in Part One. Look forward to next week’s offerings from you my Prince PS The [presumably]spammers are now refusing to let me initially submit some posts unless I confirm I’m human!
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, trivia and comment, much appreciated.
Glad you liked the posters and stills.
Video trivia – A record breaking 23 stills were included in this video. Plus 3 lobby cards and 68 posters.
That was Priscilla Lane in the still from Arsenic and Old Lace, kicking Cary Grant. I was surprised to find she has only 22 movie credits at IMDB – they include Saboteur and The Roaring Twenties.
14 Cary Grant movies scored 10 out of 10 from my sources, whoa! They are –
North By Northwest
Philadelphia Story ,The
Bringing Up Baby
Notorious
His Girl Friday
Only Angels Have Wings
Charade
Gunga Din
Awful Truth ,The
Arsenic and Old Lace
Holiday
Talk of the Town
Monkey Business (1952)
She Done Him Wrong
8 more had a score total of 9 including Suspicion, I’m No Angel and Topper.
North by Northwest tops all the charts with Philadelphia Story in 2nd place at IMDB and UMR, and Notorious in 2nd place at Rotten Tomatoes.
A trio of iconic swashbucklers are heading to my video channel this week.
HI STEVE
1 Thanks for the double feedback on my 2 Grant posts.
2 I realised that we were getting more stills than before but never did an actual count. However now that you have quoted a figure for the Grant video I wish to dispute it as my notes show that you had 21 stills + half a still + two thirds of a still. Nevertheless please keep em coming.
3 I would never have got Priscilla Lane and indeed I can remember her from only one film, The Roaring Twenties, possibly my own fave gangster movie after Godpop. Indeed although surprisingly Priscilla got above the title equal billing to Cagney in that movie I thought the meatier female role went to Gladys George who got that great one liner at the end of the film when she cradles in her arms a dead Cagney and a cop asks who the dead man is and Gladys replies “He used to be a big shot.”
4 Actually Cagney’s character was based on a real-life gangster called Larry Fay who was a gangly 6ft 3 inches tall and would have dwarfed the “dirty rat”who was just over 5ft 6. However what was half a foot back then when today old men can get away with playing macho action heroes! Any thanks for clarifying Miss Lane for me and I look forward to your swashbucklers – provided none of them is over 70!
1 I liked few of Cary Grant’s early films and the persona of the younger Grant never appealed to me so that he never became one of my top idols the way in which The Duke, Peck and Chuck did. However I was more comfortable with the older Grant of the 1955-1966 period and enjoyed some of his movies from those years such as To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, Charade and That Touch of Mink with my Doris. It would seem that wider audiences may have agreed with me about at least the latter aspect because Cary had by far his most popular period in Quigley polls between 1959 and 1966, his year of retirement. He was my Doris’ 2nd fave actor after the “dirty rat”
2 SELECTIONS 52-26 Best POSTERS for me were Kiss them for Me, the “saucy two” Dream Wife and Born to be Bad, Pride and the Passion, Indiscreet, The Eagle and The Hawk, The Bishop’s Wife, Blonde Venus, Night and Day, Wedding Present, Sylvia Scarlett [showcasing a young iconic Katie Hep] Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer [aka Bachelor Knight] and I Was a Male War Bride. That latter title was considered a bit risqué over here in the less tolerant climate when the film was released and its aka in the United Kingdom was You Can’t Sleep Here.
3 Fine STILLS deserving FULL MARKS in my opinion were Grant with my drunken Doris in That Touch of Mink, the lobby cards for Once Upon a Honeymoon and Destination Tokyo, Wedding Present and Cary with dog.
4 Also the quality that Grant single-handedly brought to the Wings in the Dark still earned a 5 out of 10 from me and the photogenic appeal of him and the then growing-up Shirley Temple in the Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer photo was worth a 6.6 out of 10 in my book [3.3 for Archie and 3.3 for Shirley]. I am sorry about the larger than usual ratings shortfall because of some negative factors in those two stills but that shortfall will probably prove to be a drop in the ocean when I calculate my overall rating for this excellent extended video in Part 2. Meanwhile I hope you’re having a good weekend Prince Mo.
Bob, that last paragraph made me laugh, cheers. Well, I did warn you. Three more Hollywood greats coming up and sadly I don’t think Myrna will make a guest appearance. [Bob punches the air]
Thanks for checking out the first half of my Cary Grant video, glad you liked some of the posters and stills.
HI BRUCE 1. It’s a great pity that you did not have a Rudolph Valentino page handy for today as many film historians seem to regard him as the Greatest Lover on the screen and he made just under 40 silent films and indeed in some of those movies he actually went under the name of Rudolph VALENTINE.
2 Apparently when Rudy died women threw themselves off balconies so acute was their grief. I never heard of anyone attempting suicide when Cary Grant died [though I can’t be certain that you didn’t try to jump but were restrained!]. Nevertheless Cary is a good 2nd choice for Valentine’s Day and his suave charm was part of a much larger talent than I think Rudy ever had, though I find it hard to judge the acting abilities of silent movie stars.
3 After her divorce from Tom Cruise Nicole Kidman paid tribute to Tom by saying that he had one of the “great screen careers” that she could never hope to emulate. So had Cary Grant, but in one way he may be unique among those massive legends who emerged in the early decades of the talkies. The likes of Cooper, Gable, Crosby, Hope and later Jimmy Stewart and The Duke almost owned the Top 10 spots in Quigley popularity polls for a long while once they got into them.
4 However pre 1959 despite considerable box office success Grant had just a few appearances in Quigley Top 10 [at a quick glance I can see him listed in only 1944, 1948-50 though he may well have been “bubbling under” the 10 in other years] but he certainly made up for the earlier situation from 1959 until his retirement in 1966 when he was in the Top 10 every year with his nearest competitor being I think my Doris then at the peak of her own powers. In that 1959-66 period alone Cary’s flicks have an adjusted overall Cogerson domestic gross of almost $1.6 billion [average just under $225 million for 7 films] Yes, As Nicole would say “one of the great screen careers” and Grant enjoyed a good part of it late in life when many of his fellow Greats had fallen or were falling by the wayside.
Hey Bob
1. Thanks for the thoughts on Cary Grant.
2. This morning…I was talking to the movie guy I work wiith…Me – “Picked one actor as the best person to represent Valentine’s Day on our daily post…you know a guy that specialized in romantic comedies”..GVD – “Spencer Tracy?” Me – “Way wrong answer”……lol.
3. I have looked into doing a Valentino page…but can only find box office on a few movies….unlike Mary Pickford who sees her box office stats survive….Rudy’s have been forgotten in time…..like a sand pebble in the desert.
4. Pretty sure Rudy’s fan base is smaller than Cary’s…though he was the King…back then.
5. Good thoughts from Nicole Kidman…..I just watched her in a strange movie called The Killing of a Scared Deer…..still not sure if I liked it or not.
6. Cary’s later years are truly impressive…not many can make that claim…he truly went out on top.
7. I agree with you about Quigley….but I have always had my concerns on the validity of their annual lists.
Good feedback.
4.
HI BRUCE
1 Thanks for the feedback. I cannot quarrel with any of your conclusions.
2 In a photo of Rudy in Wikipedia I thought he looked a bit like George Raft.
3 It’s possible that Rudy didn’t know his own limitations I think I’ve mentioned before that Rudy was apparently obsessed with the song Kashmiri Song [AKA Pale Hands I loved Beside the Shalimar] and made an awful record of it. It interested me because my favourite tenor, McCormack, made a famous recording of it.
Hey Bob….good to know we don’t disagree on everything…lol. Interesting about the Kashmiri Song. Good stuff.
Another favorite of mine. So in love with him.
Hey Peggy…..right there with you….he along with Michael Caine and Bruce Willis are my Top 3 Actors….glad you found our Cary Grant page.