Want to know the best Doris Day movies? How about the worst Doris Day movies? Curious about Doris Day’s box office grosses or which Doris Day movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Doris Day movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place ….. because we have all of that information.
Every April 3rd, my wife and Doris Day (1922-2019) share birthdays (with Marlon Brando and Eddie Murphy as well). Doris Day will turned 91 this year and she is still going strong…..as is my wife. Doris Day began her career as a big band singer in 1939. Her popularity began to rise after her first hit recording, Sentimental Journey in 1945. Four years later, Day started her movie career with the movie Romance on the High Seas. She would become one of the biggest movies stars of all time.
Her IMDb page shows 41 acting credits from 1948-1973. This page will rank 39 Doris Day movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances were not were not included in the rankings.
Doris Day Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Doris Day Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In The Following Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Column one – the link will take you to that movie’s trailer
- Sort by Doris Day’s co-stars of her movies.
- Sort Doris Day movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Doris Day movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Doris Day 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 Doris Day movie received.
- Sort Doris Day 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.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Doris Day Table
- Twenty-three Doris Day movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 58.97% of her movies listed. Pillow Talk (1959) was her biggest hit.
- An average Doris Day movie grossed $117.40 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 28 of Doris Day’s movies are rated as good movies…or 71.79% of her movies. Pillow Talk (1959) was her highest rated movie while Caprice (1967) was her lowest rated movie.
- Thirteen Doris Day movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 33.33% of her movies.
- Four Doris Day movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.25% of her movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 30 Doris Day movies scored higher that average…. or 76.92% of her movies. Pillow Talk (1959) got the the highest UMR Score while Where Were You When The Lights Went Out (1968) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Doris Day
1. Doris Day (1924-) was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2. At the suggestion of orchestra leader, Barney Rapp, she adopted the stage surname Day. He got Day from the fact that he admired her rendition of the song “Day After Day”.
3. During the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), when she saw how camels, goats and other “animal extras” in a marketplace scene were being treated. From that day she began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.
4. Doris Day was nominated for one acting Oscar® nomination…1959’s Pillow Talk.
5. Doris Day was nominated for five acting Golden Globe® nominations…1958’s The Tunnel of Love, 1959’s Pillow Talk, 1960’s Midnight Lace, 1962’s Billy Rose’s Jumbo and 1963’s Move Over Darling.
6. During the peak of her movie career (1959-1964), she was named the number one movie star…. four times.
7. Doris Day has often said Calamity Jane (1953) as her personal favorite of the 39 films she appeared in.
8. Doris Day briefly dated Ronald Reagan.
9. Doris Day was the first choice to play Mrs. Robinson in 1967’s The Graduate.
10 Doris Day She has two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One for music career and one for movie career.
For one of the best Doris Day pages out there….check out The Magic of Doris Day.
Steve Lensman’s Doris Day You Tube Video
Our Doris Day Box Office Only Page.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
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1 When you mentioned your were preparing a Doris Day video I eagerly awaited its emergence and I have not been disappointed as it well captures the flavour of one of the most light hearted careers of the Classic era.
2 COMMENTS (1) you were right to consign Caprice to the bottom of the pile (2) Bruce and you are in sync about 3 of the top 5 positions but I was surprised at his giving for critic/audience just 15th place*** to Doris’ second teaming with the great Cagney in Love Me or Leave Me which you rank as 4th (3) regarding posters you have surpassed yourself with I think Teacher’s Pet and The Man Who Knew Too Much (4) although you and Bruce have both included the latter film in your top 5 I always thought it was one of the weaker Hitch offerings despite the Stewart/Day teaming and have always sought to avoid its repeat viewings (5) although Doris was popular throughout her career her greatest success in the box office polls of Top 10 stars was in the 60s when she appeared in Quigley’s Top 3 for 6 consecutive years which was astonishing for a female artist in those days with the likes of the King and the Duke traditionally hogging the Classic Era popularity polls. I was therefore curious to see the split of your selections between the 50s and 60s and note that it was 17/12 in favour of the 1950s.
3 NOTES: Over her Young Man with a Horn was renamed Young Man of Music as it was thought that the original title was too suggestive especially for our Doris Day audiences !; and Romance on the High Seas was called It’s Magic after the hit song of that name which Doris sang in the film and is in fact my personal Day fave number – a simply gorgeous song performed with such lyrical clarity by Miss D that I though of dubbing her the female Brando.
***Pointless challenging him about it though as he would like Pharaoh in Chuck’s 10C simply fold his arms and say “I have spoken!” or wave his arms dismissively like the King in Amadeus and scold us us with “Well there it is!”
1 I meant to say that I keep a record of the videos that I watch so that I don’t miss out any that are important to me and as I go along I also make brief notes of my impressions of each video and I see that I have now viewed 28 of your presentations and my notes tell me that the quality has been consistently high over the lot so superb stuff Steve.
2 In para 3 of my previous post “over her” should read “Over here” Apologies for any confusion.
Thanks Bob, much appreciated. I used Bruce’s page as an indicator on what films had to be included because I’m not that familiar with Day’s filmography and I didn’t want to upset the fans. But we still differ on the final scores on some of these, some are high up on mine and lower on Bruce’s. I think we should merge our sources for the sake of consistency. 😉
I thought Love Me or Leave Me was one of her more respected films and a sure bet for the top 5 but Bruce’s sources weren’t impressed.
On the other hand one of IMDB John’s favorites Young at Heart did badly on my chart and is at no.5 on Bruce’s critics chart.
It would get boring if we all had the same results.
Calamity Jane is my favorite of the few musicals I’ve seen from Day, it didn’t do that well on Bruce’s chart, it wasn’t even a box office smash. It hit no.2 on my video chart with no tweaking from me, but Pillow Talk was no.1 and couldn’t be knocked off it’s perch. All I remember of that film are the split screen sequences which were a novelty at the time.
Cheers,
Steve.
1 My own very favourite Doris films were Young at Heart, Lucky Me, Lover Come Back, Pillow Talk and Midnight Lace.
2 I thought that Send Me No Flowers was by far the weakest of the 3 Day/Hudson flicks though it was mildly amusing.
3 Interesting you should mention the split screen technique as one historian claimed that without first checking dates when he saw the split screen he could always tell the time in movie history from which a film was likely to come. Pillow Talk was 1959 and It was still in usein McQueen’s 1968 Thomas Crown Affair but I think that audiences ultimately found it too gimmicky.
Have a good day BOB
I just saw Send Me No Flowers…..and I agree the weakest Rock/Doris movie….it was like watching a bad sitcom…..only it lasted 3 times longer.
Hey Steve….variety is the spice of life. I like that our numbers are different….though they are generally in the same ballpark. My 70% rating for Love Me or Leave Me is still saying it is a very good movie….just a tick out of the Top 10. Good Doris Day video on your sight.
Hey Bob…..I have heard your concerns about Love Me Or Leave Me…..and I have verified the rating…it is actually tied for 12th….which gets it closer to the Top 10. I agree with you, that it is one of her better performances…..but huge Day fans rate it lower because it is one of the few movies that she does not play a perfect angel. My rankings include audience feedback as well as critic feedback…which is why it has a lower score….but my score was set in 2011….while Steve’s rating is an infant of 2016…..lol.
1 Thanks for the explanation and as Steve says different opinions add to the fun. For example as I do lot of people think White Christmas is the greatest Xmas movie ever made but one respected annual film guide journal over gave it just 2 out of 4 stars.
2 I think that as you indicate Doris’ problem when she tried to do straight dramatic stuff was that the fan base were not comfortable with it. In her top star days her 3 main efforts were probably in Julie, The Man who Knew Too Much and Love Me or leave Me. The latter 2 were good box office but she had Cag and Jimmy to help carry those 2 whereas in Julie there was no other big star and it was not a big box office winner. Indeed though Love Me or Leave Me was technically about Ruth Etting played by Doris I always thought that it you examined it closely it was really a Cagney gangster movie that he could well have done in his heyday during the gangster cycle Certainly Jimmy’s was the more ‘showy’ role.
3 Anyway am now absorbing your Paul Muni newie and I think that everybody of note whose name was dropped in Woody Allen’s Cafe Society now has a Cogerson page !.
PS Am going to do what you did on me with Julius Caesar and drag Love Me or Leave me down a bit – unless you have a second chart somewhere the film is actually tied for THIRTEENTH !!! in your critic/audience. As you say your marking is still good but Steve rates it 4th and would Spence have accepted that joint 13th billing was in the same ballpark as 4th?
DORIS DAY’s 21 REMARKABLY CONSISTENT YEARS AT THE BOX OFFICE
1 Some present box office sites have suggested that as a rule of thumb today’s movies marketplace regards a domestic gross of around $80 million as a respectable commercial hit for a normal film. This is a CHRONOLOGICAL list of Doris Day films grossing over 80 million in adjusted dollars based on Bruce’s latest updated figures
1948/$122.0
1949/$112.1 & 108.6
1950/$116.5 & 107.7 & 82.3
1951/$131.9 & 117.5 &101.3 & 81.7
1952/$117.1
1953/$106.4
1954/ $130.9 & 85.2 & 80.3
1955/$186.9
1956/$179.5
1957/$115.3
1958/$108.4
1959/$312.3
1960/$185.3 & 122.2
1961/$276.7
1962/$273.0 & 80.3
1963/$121.8 & 154.0
1964/$115.3
1965/$86.0
1966/$88.2
1967/ –
1968/$91.9
2 It should also be borne in mind that (a) such a run would have yielded even more profits in the Classic era than it would today because as Charlton Heston explained in a documentary, movies in those days were far cheaper to make in real terms (b) Doris also had in tandem with her great movie career a highly successful singing career as did Sinatra, Bing and Dino.
3 I know I keep banging on about it but how on earth were Doris and those 3 males
excluded from the AFI Legends lists when included were the likes of Sophia Loren with her string of non-hits and James Dean with a CV of only 3 major films over a 2 year period? At least readers of this site have the consolation of knowing that Day was included in the Cogerson top 5 greatest actress from 1950 – 2010.
BOB
Hey Bob….thanks for the statistical breakdown of her movie career….seems that information would make a great graph (one thing WoC wants to see more of on UMR.com).
I agree that 4 some was and is awesome. If I had to guess…..maybe AFI downgraded them because of their singing careers…..and that no matter how well they did as an actor….they would always be known as a singer.
I agree about Sophia Loren for sure…..her Hollywood movie career was ok at best….her overseas career was better but had little impact in the states. James Dean….is such a legend…..I think an AFI birth was mandatory. Still Day and Crosby should have been on their list…Day has a great spot on my list….not sure if included Crosby.
Thanks again for the stats. I like seeing people using the numbers like that….good to know I am not the only one playing around with these numbers. 🙂
Hey Bob….12th or 13th….it is the same….lol. I thought Die Hard was the greatest Christmas movie ever. Good to know that the Cafe Society club is now complete. I will probably be watching that movie pretty soon….as it is now sitting at my local RedBox. Glad we see Day’s drama roles not being the type of movies her fans love the most. I personally think Love Me Or Leave Me is one of her Top 3 performances….but unlike Steve….I keep my opinion out of my formula….as you said in a previous comment….“Well there it is!”
Doris Day has never appeared on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe List. There are very few people on the current list who have worked with her although there is one very high person on the list who still was in movies released this year.
Calamity Jane (1953) – 912 Arthur Tovey
Caprice (1967) – 828 Michael J. Pollard
Do Not Disturb (1965) – 912 Arthur Tovey
It Happened to Jane (1959) – 828 Michael J. Pollard
Midnight Lace (1960) – 912 Arthur Tovey
The Ballad of Josie (1967) – 313 George Kennedy
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) – 364 Robert Vaughn
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) – 12 Morgan Freeman
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) – 725 Barbara Hershey
Imagine Morgan Freeman was in a Doris Day film. I remember him on the Electric Company on PBS with another Oscar winner Rita Moreno as a regular too.
People who were on the 2000 list who worked with Doris and have since fallen off are (2000 ranks shown);
April in Paris (1952) – 222 Bess Flowers, 420 Maurice Marsac, 832 Don Brodie
Billy Rose’s Jumbo (1962) – 744 Dean Jagger, 795 Stephen Boyd
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) – 959 Leon Ames, 965 Mary Wickes
Calamity Jane (1953) – 222 Bess Flowers
Caprice (1967) – 101 Richard Harris, 290 George Wallace, 299 Fritz Feld, 420 Maurice Marsac, 446 Ray Walston, 903 Jack Kruschen
Do Not Disturb (1965) – 327 Raquel Welch, 389 Leon Askin, 409 Rod Taylor, 477 Britt Ekland, 626 Billy Beck
I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951) – 532 Jim Backus, 965 Mary Wickes
It Happened to Jane (1959) – 58 Jack Lemmon, 310 Steve Forrest, 965 Mary Wickes
It’s a Great Feeling (1949) – 222 Bess Flowers, 483 Edward G. Robinson
Julie (1956) – 362 Barry Sullivan, 765 Louis Jourdan, 816 Carleton Young, 903 Jack Kruschen
Love Me or Leave Me (1955) – 75 Cameron Mitchell
Lover Come Back (1961) – 589 Rock Hudson, 895 Tony Randall, 903 Jack Kruschen, 961 Nicky Blair, 982 Billy Benedict
Lucky Me (1954) – 177 Marcel Dalio, 222 Bess Flowers, 332 Angie Dickinson, 459 Dabbs Greer, 682 Ray Teal, 746 Herb Vigran, 800 Martha Hyer
Lullaby of Braodway (1951) – 222 Bess Flowers
Midnight Lace (1960) – 25 Roddy McDowell
Move Over Darling (1963) – 153 James Garner, 222 Bess Flowers
My Dream is Yours (1949) – 783 James Flavin, 832 Don Brodie
On Moonlight Bay (1951) – 959 Leon Ames, 965 Mary Wickes, 994 Ellen Corby
Pillow Talk (1959) – 177 Marcel Dalio, 520 William Schallert, 589 Rock Hudson, 895 Tony Randall
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960) – 102 David Niven, 222 Bess Flowers, 824 Frank Wilcox
Romance on the High Seas (1948) – 222 Bess Flowers
Send Me No Flowers (1964) – 589 Rock Hudson, 746 Herb Vigran, 895 Tony Randall
Starlift (1951) – 379 Ann Doran
Storm Warning (1951) – 302 Richard Anderson, 459 Dabbs Greer
Tea for Two (1950) – 222 Bess Flowers
Teacher’s Pet (1958) – 222 Bess Flowers, 571 Charles Lane
The Ballad of Josie (1967) – 93 Harry Carey Jr., 353 Peter Graves, 542 Paul Fix
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) – 209 Dom Deluise, 409 Rod Taylor, 994 Ellen Corby
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – 222 Bess Flowers, 244 Walter Gotell, 344 James Stewart, 500 Daniel Gelin, 524 Richard Wattis, 544 Leo Gordon
The Thrill of it All (1963) – 153 James Garner, 222 Bess Flowers, 617 Paul Frees
The Tunnel of Love (1958) – 119 Richard Widmark
The West Point Story (1950) – 863 Alan Hale Jr., 963 Frank Ferguson
The Winning Team (1952) – 623 Russ Tamblyn, 963 Frank Ferguson
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) – 238 Patrick O’Neal, 472 Terry-Thomas, 532 Jim Backus, 690 Parley Baer
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) – 205 Brian Keith
Young at Heart (1954) – 270 Frank Sinatra, 863 Alan Hale Jr., 963 Frank Ferguson
Young Man With a Horn (1950) – 32 Kirk Douglas, 222 Bess Flowers, 278 Keye Luke, 321 Lauren Bacall
I count 16 Oscar winners for Doris but she didn’t really make many pictures and she starred in a number of comedies which the Academy usually shies away from awarding anything too (not too deep and meaningful you understand).
Billy Rose’s Jumbo (1962) – Dean Jagger
It Happened to Jane (1959) – Jack Lemmon
It’s a Great Feeling (1949) – Gary Cooper, Jane Wyman, Joan Crawford, Patricia Neal
Love Me or Leave Me (1955) – James Cagney
Midnight Lave (1960) – Rex Harrison
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960) – David Niven
Starlift (1951) _ Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Jane Wyman
Storm Warning (1951) – Ginger Rogers
Teacher’s Pet (1958) – Clark Gable
That Touch of Mink (1962) – Gig Young
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – James Stewart
The Tunnel of Love (1958) – Gig Young
The West Point Story (1950) – James Cagney
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) – Morgan Freeman
Young at Heart (1954) – Frank Sinatra, Dorothy Malone, Ethel Barrymore, Gig Young
I’m sorry for the loss in your family.
Hey Dan….this page has been the cause of lots of stress. Back in my HubPage days…they (the HubPage gods) kept saying it was a duplicate page and would not let it be seen….at one point after fighting with them for about a month…I almost quit doing this movie blog experience.
Then when some Day fan pages found it….the took me to task on the numbers….with some of their points being valued and others not so much. Anyway….it is amazing that when I see a Doris Day comment pop up…I think about those two incidents.
Ok…enough of that. List 1: Interesting about Freeman and Doris Day in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?…that sounds like a good idea for a tweet. I see Mr. Tovey is well represented on that list. I am amazed that Michael J. Pollard was on the list…let’s see…doing an IMDb look…20 credits in the last 20 years and almost all of them were tv appearances.
List 2: So many legends that were on the list that are on longer there….Garner, Hudson, Sinatra, Lemon and Douglas…just to name a few.
List 3: 16 seems low….but most of her movies were “Day” musical movies and probably did not pull in too many great actors…..I can’t see Montgomery Clift (I know he did not win an Oscar) appearing in a Doris Day musical.
As always…thanks for attaching these lists of movies. It is greatly appreciated….and thanks for the condolences…..it was a very very long weekend.
Awesome!
🙂
Que sera sera… a timely update Bruce, I’m working on a Doris Kappelhoff video right now. She has half as many movies as Stanwyck I’m happy to say. So it shouldn’t take as long. 🙂
My favorites are Calamity Jane and The Man Who Knew Too Much. Very rare worldwide grosses on display, nothing for Hitch’s film though.
Vote Up!
That is so awesome!
🙂