Want to know the best David Niven movies? How about the worst David Niven movies? Curious about David Niven’s box office grosses or which David Niven movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which David Niven movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information.
This David Niven (1910-1983) movie page comes from a request from Steve Lensman & Søren & Flora. It seems that David Nivens screen persona can best be described by the following words: impeccable, unflappable, urbane, and sophisticated. Nivens’ movie career lasted over 60 years…. which means he has lots and lots of movies to research and rank.
His IMDb page shows 113 acting credits 1932-1983. This page will rank David Niven movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, cameos and movies not released in North America were not included in the rankings.
David Niven Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
David Niven 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 David Niven movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort David Niven movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort David Niven movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort David Niven movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each David Niven movie received and how many Oscar® wins each David Niven movie won.
- Sort David Niven 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 search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
David Niven Box Office Grosses – Adjusted World Wide
Ten Possibly Interesting Facts About David Niven
1. James David Graham Niven was born in Belgrave Mansions, London in 1910.
2. David Niven was named after the Saint’s Day on which he was born, St. David, patron Saint of Wales.
3. After Great Britain declared war in 1939, David Niven was one of the first actors to go back and join the army. Although Niven had a reputation for telling good old stories over and over again, he was totally silent about his war experience.
4. On David Niven’s return to Hollywood after the war he was made a Legionnaire of the Order of Merit. This was presented to Lt. Col. David Niven by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
5. Ian Fleming recommended him for the role of James Bond for Dr. No (1962), but producer Albert R. Broccoli thought that Niven was too old. 5 years later Niven would play James Bond in 1967’s Casino Royale.
6. David Niven was only nominated for an acting Oscar® one time. But once was enough as he won the Best Actor Oscar® for 1958’s Separate Tables.
7. David Niven was only nominated for 3 Golden Globes®. He won two Golden Globes®: 1953’s The Moon is Blue and 1958’s Separate Tables. His third nomination was for 1957’s My Man Godfrey.
8. David Niven was married two times. His first marriage was to Primula Rollo from 1940 to until her death in 1946. She died tragically while attending a dinner at Tyrone Power ‘s house. After dinner, while playing hide and seek, she opened what she thought was a closet door but instead tumbled down the basement stairs and onto the concrete floor. She died shortly after. They had two children. His second marriage was to Hjordis Genberg lasted from 1948 to Niven’s death in 1983. They had two children as well.
9. David Niven and Raymond Massey (his co-star two times) both passed away on the same day….July 29th, 1983.
10. Check out David Niven’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Thank you Bruce for doing a page on David Niven. I always liked Niven in comedy or drama. Mr. Niven seem to add a touch of class to every film he did. Thanks again.
Glad you like my Niven page. I think there are a few missing movies but not thinking I missed any really good movies…..and I think they would all be very low rated as they did almost nothing at the box office.
Hi, Bruce.
I am really behind I can see after all my choir singing and rehearsing. And you are so prolific. Thanks for doing this David Niven page. He is a favourite of mine where even if I do not like the overall film I always enjoy him. I was able to increase my Niven total through TCM’s recent Star of the Month tribute to him. There are still a few I am missing.
Steve: He won his Oscar for Separate Tables, the movie that resurrected his career which had recently had him taking smaller roles so that he could pay his bills. The Moon is Blue broke the production code when it was released without the approval of the code office and did good box office anyway. As for trivia, his first wife died after falling from a flight of stairs during a game of hide and seek at Tyrone Power’s house.
Back to the rankings:
The highest ranking film I have seen is Number 1, The Guns of Navarone, my favourite Gregory peck film. They have a great chemistry, something I told Peck as part of an online fan club birthday book we made him and sent him for his 85th birthday. Niven has a lot of the best lines.
The highest ranking film I have not seen is Number 14, Charge of the light Brigade.
The lowest ranking film I have seen is Number 53, The Sea Wolves, also with peck.
I have seen all of his top 10
I have seen 17 of his top 20
I have seen 22 his top 30
I have seen 27 of his top 40
I have seen 35 of his movies overall of the ones you have listed.
There are a lot of movies which have low rankings which are better than some of the movies listed above them.. That is to say that most of his films are worth seeing, but some of them from when he had smaller roles seem not like his films.
For recommendations beyond the top 20-really Steve you need to see the ones you are missing-low ranked films worth seeing include Raffles, the remake of My Man Godrey, Lady L, and Where The Spies Are.
Movies not worth seeing are Casino Royale and Eye of the Devil (I was horribly dissappointed as I thought he and Kerr would be great. It is horrible! I have since learned that anything with David Hemmings is weird and I don’t watch him.) Others which didn’t work for me are The Toast of New Orleans and Happy Anniversary.
A top five only?
Alphabetically:
The Dawn Patrol
The Guns of Navarone
The Bishop’s Wife (coincidentally the Loretta Young movie where she doesn’t irritate me)
Raffles
Separate Tables
In my opinion, any film with Niven is worth seeing at least once except Eye of the Devil.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. Don’t worry….our website is open 24/7….so whenever you arrive we will provide the best customer service during your visit.
2. Tally count….Flora 35….Steve and me 37….with Steve having 24 of those 37…..congrats.
3. That is some good trivia…tragic but good stuff….”As for trivia, his first wife died after falling from a flight of stairs during a game of hide and seek at Tyrone Power’s house”
4. Wow The Guns of Navarone is your favorite Peck movie? I was thinking it was Mockingbird.
5. 85% of the Top 20….pretty impressive.
6. I have not seen any of the low rated ones you recommend…I will have to see if I can find them.
7. Casino Royale is one mess of a movie. How it did so well is for one simple reason….Bond, James Bond. He could sell ice to an eskimo in the 1960s
8. I have not seen…and just heard of Eye of the Devil…not thinking that made the highlight reels for either Kerr or Niven.
9. Raffles makes your Top 5 to….gotta check that one out
10. So any Niven movies that you looked for and did not find? I think there are about 20 more that could have been ranked….but can not find any box office numbers on them.
As always….thanks for the visit and the awesome comment….hope you are having fun this holiday season.
7.
Thanks for the recommendations Flora. I really need to catch up on some of these films. I’ve seen Raffles. Separate Tables was his Oscar win, I thought it was either 80 Days or The Moon is Blue. Cheers.
A nice tribute to one of the greats Bruce, well done amigo. I don’t think you need to add any more films, finding all that data on 54 movies is pretty impressive.
I was expecting to see Around the World in 80 Days topping the moviescore chart but was glad to see The Guns on Navarone at no.1 instead. 80 Days is basically a 3 hour travelogue but it does contain one of Niven’s most famous roles.
Let’s see… I’ve watched 24 of the 54 films you’ve listed. Favorites include – Navarone, Peking, 80 Days, Pink Panther, Zenda, Dawn Patrol and Murder By Death.
Some of the famous ones I’ve missed include Separate Tables, Dodsworth and The Moon is Blue. I can’t remember for which film he won the Best Actor Oscar. I don’t think it was for 80 Days. You haven’t completed a trivia section for this page. Voted Up!
Hey Steve….glad you liked your requested Niven page. I think there are still about 20 movies not on the page…but they all made very little and some barely got released in theaters. One of his movies…..I can not remember which….was only released in Wisconsin. Not thinking that one broke any box office records. It was pretty close between Guns and Around the World…..ultimately the difference was the better reviews Navarone received. So you are at 24….Flora is at 35….and I am at 13….so looks like a last place finish for me. I liked 4 of your favorites….but have yet to see his Prisoner of Zenda or Peking (I know…how can that be…it stars Heston). Separate Tables is the only movie Niven earned an Oscar nomination for….but he was like Heston….one nomination and one win. Around the World in 80 Days won the Best Picture….but not even a nomination for him. I also have not seen The Moon Is Blue….he won the Golden Globe for that one. Thanks for stopping by and talking Niven.
55 Days at Peking is worth a look if you get the chance Bruce. I’ve read one of Niven’s autobiographies, The Moon’s a Balloon, full of great anecdotes about Hollywood and very funny too. Thanks for the info.
Hey Steve….55 Days is on my list of movies to watch. As is The Moon is Blue….appreciate the headsup.
When I think about Mr. Niven I think two words debonair and suave. As close to Cary Grant as possible. Blink and you will miss him in Rose Marie. If you included that one where are Mutiny on the Bounty and Cleopatra?
Hey David Niven (cool name)….Debonair and suave are two words to describe. Although there will never be another Cary Grant…..I agree that Niven is probably as close to anybody that could match Grants’s coolness. In Rose Marie, Niven had some lines…his role had a character….so we included it. In Mutiny on the Bounty and Cleopatra….he was an extra that did not speak….and his character did not have a name…so it was not included. Thanks for stopping by.
54 movies, it’s already a lot of movies. I like very much your idea Bruce.
Hey Laurent…..let’s see…I went through my database….and had 43 of his movies already done….I did a second look and found 11 more that had easy to find box office numbers….did that in about 30 minutes. Normally I would spend days trying to find the missing movies….this time I just published what I had…..much much more quicker….and much less frustrating. Thanks for the comment.