Want to know the best Marilyn Monroe movies? How about the worst Marilyn Monroe movies? Curious about Marilyn Monroe’s box office grosses or which Marilyn Monroe movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Marilyn Monroe movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), started showing in movies in 1947. Most of her early films were either uncredited or very small parts. Her first major role was in the B feature Ladies of the Chorus in 1948. After Ladies of the Chorus performed weakly at the box office, she started appearing in supporting parts in bigger budget movies like The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve. In early 1952, she admitted to posing for nude photos. In an interview, she said she did the photos because she was unable to pay her rent, the resulting publicity made the public curious about the struggling actress.
The rest of 1952 was a coming out party for Marilyn Monroe. Three of her movies, Monkey Business, Clash By Night and Don’t Bother To Knock were successful at the box office. All the parts were supporting parts but they were marketed as Marilyn Monroe films. By the time 1953 came around, she was a much in demand actress. During the next seven years she made classic films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How To Marry A Millionaire, The Seven Year Itch and her best film Some Like It Hot. In 1962 she started working on Something’s Got to Give, she however only showed up for work 12 out of 35 days and was dismissed from the movie. Unfortunately in August of that year she was found dead at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 36.
Her IMDb page shows 33 acting credits from 1947-1962. Ther page will rank 24 Marilyn Monroe movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.
Marilyn Monroe Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Marilyn Monroe Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In Ther Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort by Marilyn Monroe’s co-stars of her movies.
- Sort Marilyn Monroe movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Marilyn Monroe movies by box office rank by year of release
- Sort Marilyn Monroe 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 Marilyn Monroe movie received.
- Sort Marilyn Monroe 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.
Possibly interesting facts about Marilyn Monroe.
1. She was never nominated for an Oscar® in her career.
2. She received 2 Golden Globe® nominations….winning for Some Like It Hot ….and receiving a nomination for Bus Stop.
3. The American Film Institute considers her one of the Top 10 movie stars of all time.
4. She was married to legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio and later married to legendary writer Arthur Miller.
5. She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson and baptized as Norma Jeane Baker.
6. Fox talent scout Ben Lyon has gotten the credit for the name Marilyn Monroe….Marilyn was from stage actress Marilyn Miller. The last name Monroe was Marilyn’s mother’s maiden name.
7. Her crypt is located at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.
8. Marilyn Monroes has two movies that I was unable to find any box office information….so it they were not included in th3e page….1952’s As Young as You Feel and 1951’s HomeTown Story.
9. And finally …her social security number was….563-32-0764
10. Check out Marilyn Monroe’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.
Cogerson’s Marilyn Monroe You Tube Video
Steve’s Marilyn Monroe You Tube Video
America Film Institutes’ Top 25 Screen Legend Actress and UMR’s Links That Rank All Of Their Movies.
As young as You Feel (1951) excluded from this page. Is mentioned on Jean Peters’ page and Thelma Ritter’s too.
Hmmm….I know that used to be on the page….not sure why that movie got dumped. December was a horrible month for UMR…lots of behind the scenes issues. Maybe some of our database got corrupted. It will be back in 20th place on the next update. Thanks for the heads up.
Another one from ye olde days of this site. Marilyn Monroe has never been on the Oracle of Bacon top 1000. These are the actors on the 2023 list she appeared with.
95 ROBERT MITCHUM River of No Return (1954)
104 ELI WALLACH The Misfits (1961)
149 ROBERT WAGNER Let’s Make It Legal (1951)
150 LAUREN BACALL How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
158 JACK WARDEN The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
202 MICKEY ROONEY The Fireball (1950)
204 MARC LAWRENCE The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
288 JEFF COREY The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
311 ANNE BANCROFT Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
354 JACK LEMMON Some Like It Hot (1959)
431 LAURENCE OLIVIER The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
518 TONY CURTIS Some Like It Hot (1959)
596 KATHLEEN FREEMAN Let’s Make It Legal (1951)
596 KATHLEEN FREEMAN Monkey Business (1952)
596 KATHLEEN FREEMAN O’Henry’s Full House (1952/I)
599 JOSEPH COTTEN Niagara (1953)
642 RICHARD WIDMARK Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
642 RICHARD WIDMARK O’Henry’s Full House (1952/I)
681 JOHN HUSTON The Misfits (1961)
735 JAMES WHITMORE The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
851 GEORGE SANDERS All About Eve (1950)
853 NEHEMIAH PERSOFF Some Like It Hot (1959)
894 MARCEL DALIO Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
930 WILFRID HYDE-WHITE Let’s Make Love (1960)
943 HARRY CAREY JR. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
943 HARRY CAREY JR. Monkey Business (1952)
943 HARRY CAREY JR. Niagara (1953)
969 ROBERT RYAN Clash by Night (1952)
Marilyn appeared with 21 Oscar winners.
ANNE BANCROFT Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
ANNE BAXTER A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
ANNE BAXTER All About Eve (1950)
ANNE REVERE THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM (1947)
BETTE DAVIS All About Eve (1950)
BING CROSBY Let’s Make Love (1960)
BURL IVES Green Grass of Wyoming (1948)
CELESTE HOLM All About Eve (1950)
CHARLES COBURN Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
CHARLES COBURN Green Grass of Wyoming (1948)
CHARLES COBURN Monkey Business (1952)
CHARLES LAUGHTON O’Henry’s Full House (1952/I)
CLARK GABLE The Misfits (1961)
CLAUDETTE COLBERT Let’s Make It Legal (1951)
DONALD CRISP HOME TOWN STORY (1951)
EILEEN HECKART BUS STOP (1956)
GEORGE SANDERS All About Eve (1950)
GINGER ROGERS Monkey Business (1952)
GINGER ROGERS We’re Not Married! (1952)
JACK LEMMON Some Like It Hot (1959)
JANE DARWELL We’re Not Married! (1952)
LAURENCE OLIVIER The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
LEE MARVIN We’re Not Married! (1952)
LIONEL BARRYMORE Right Cross (1950)
WALTER BRENNAN A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
WALTER BRENNAN Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948)
Monroe was nominated twice by BAFTA for Best Actress: The Seven Year Itch and The Prince and the Showgirl.
Possibly interesting facts about Marilyn Monroe. I think you got some stuff wrong about her awards; she won many Golden Globe Awards – Henrietta Awards: The Best Young Box Office Personality (1951), Golden Globe Award: Female World Film Favorite (1953), Golden Globe Award: Best Actress in a Comedy (1960), Golden Globe Award: Female World Film Favorite (1962).
Yes she never won nor got nominated for an Oscar but I think and many still do, she got robbed for Bus Stop (1956) & The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) cause she left Hollywood to start her own company (MMP) which later been called “instrumental” in the collapse of the studio system which they wanted her to fail or punish her by NOT giving her a Nomination in instead they nominated her co-star Don Murry.
She did won the David di Donatello Award (Italian equivalent of the Oscar) in 1958 for The Prince and the Showgirl: Best Actress & Crystral Star Award: Best Actress (French equivalent of the Oscar) in 1959 at least they give her the RECOGNITION in her career.
There’s another Fact: In 1946, she began using the stage name Marilyn Monroe, but did not legally change her name until February 23, 1956.