British Actors Smörgåsbord

British Actor 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 British Actor movies by his co-stars
  • Sort British Actor movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort British Actor movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort British Actor 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 British Actor movie received.
  • Sort British Actor movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Steve Lensman’s John Gielgud You Tube Video

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203 thoughts on “British Actors Smörgåsbord”

  1. STEVE Wikipedia states that Patrick McGoohan was of “Irish and American citizenship” – so why are you claiming him? My own fave McGoohan performances on the big screen are (1) as the vicious bully to Sir Stanley Baker’s hero in 1957’s Hell Drivers and (2) in Alan Ladd Junior’s 1995 Braveheart where as you have indicated Patrick played Edward Longshanks [King Edward 1st of England and nicknamed “The Hammer of the Scots”]. On television I liked Patrick best in 4 episodes of the Columbo series 3 of which he also directed.

    The POSTERS that please me most are (1) The Phantom (2) Baby (3) Zarak – a quite raunchy one with Anita Ekberg well showcased (4) both for The Gypsy and the Gentleman (5) 1st one for Passage Home (6) foreign language one for Man in the Iron Mask (7) Scanners (8) the entire set for Dr Syn (9) foreign language one for Silver Streak (9) Hell Drivers and (10) both raunchy ones for Nor the Moon by Night. Diana Dors called Michael Craig, the male lead in the latter film “The sexiest man in England!”

    STILLS that I enjoyed most are (1) lobby card for Whiskey War (2) All Night long (3) The Quare Fellow (4) Scanners (5) Dr Syn (6) Silver Streak (7) the double for Hell Drivers in one of which a young, pre Bond Sir Sean is also featured (8) Patrick as Edward Longshanks (9) closing solo showing how handsome and debonaire-looking Patrick was in his prime and (10) the entire stills/lobby card set for Ice Station Zebra. The latter was apparently another film, like The Duke’s The Conqueror, that Howard Hughes watched over and over again.

    Your video is a fine tribute to an important thespian Yank and Irishman! and is well worth a 97.5% rating in my book. For an actor with such a long and prolific career Patrick’s net worth at his death in 2009 was relatively modest -$8 million.

    Reply

    1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, trivia and quote, it is appreciated.

      Okay Patrick McGoohan was born in the US to Irish parents but he was raised in Sheffield, went to an English school and had a lovely English accent. I’ll wager that very few Brits who liked watching Patrick on TV and film knew he had an Irish background, Scottish maybe. 😉

      I knew him best from the cult TV series The Prisoner, he was a producer on that show and directed a few episodes too. The last photo on the video is from that series.

      There are no 10 scores on McGoohan’s filmography but there is a 9 – Braveheart.
      Six more scored 8 out of 10 including Escape from Alcatraz, Hell Drivers and Silver Streak.

      Patrick was a bit of a recluse and rarely gave interviews. According to IMDB he was the only Columbo guest star to have won two Emmy Awards. In the early 60’s he was offered the role of James Bond but turned it down, his Hell Drivers co-star took the role and the rest is history!

      Reply

      1. HI STEVE

        Thanks for the feedback, update on the Patrick/007 story and other background information

        I note also your explanation for making Patrick “British”. Brando spoke with a lovely English accent in some of his movies, visited London on occasions and in fact was invited into the Royal Box for theatre performance that the Royals were attending. You’re not going to claim him as a Brit next are you?

        The adversity between Patrick’s murderers and Columbo was a joy to watch as they played cat and mouse and Columbo eventually painted the evil Patrick into a corner. It always started off with Patrick underestimating Columbo and being patronising and condescending to him until the alarm bells began to ring that a smart cookie was after him. Great stuff.

        Reply

        1. Thanks Bob, did you know Brando had Irish blood? [Bob punches air]

          More importantly did you know McGoohan was Irish before today?

          A question – do all the special guest stars on Columbo turn out to be the main culprits? For instance when McGoohan turns up you know immediately he was responsible, where’s the suspense, the mystery? I know a good part of the enjoyment is watching Columbo piece it together but does the denouement ever take you by surprise?

          Reply

          1. HI STEVE I always knew of McGoohan’s Irish connection and that he worked in both England and the States but I hadn’t realised until recently that he was actually born in America. I never connected him in any way with Scotland.

            Right from the start of a Columbo episode [including the 4 Patrick ones] the audience almost invariably knew who the murderer was and the fun was in (1) watching him/her plan the supposed perfect crime and construct a seemingly iron-clad alibi (2) observing the Great Detective cotton on to the murderer’s identity and then stealthily and persistently pursue the killer until the latter is ultimately cornered and exposed.

            I liked that format for a bit of a change and it was perfect for the cat and mouse structure of the plots. The latter wouldn’t have worked nearly as well in my view within the “who dunnit” format.

            Off the top of my head I can recall just one Columbo episode that was a ”who dunnit” right until the end when your normally traditional denouement kicked in – “Last Salute to the Commodore” (1976).

            The audience was even thrown one very famous guest star as a complete red herring for a while until he too was murdered and you realised that the murderer was still at large. Ironically – and perhaps tellingly – that episode is given one of the lowest ratings that the series got from IMDB -65% whereas most episodes were awarded ratings in the 70s and even 80s % ranges.

            Have a good weekend and take care.

  2. Steve’s Peter Ustinov You Tube Video has been added to the page. My thoughts on Steve’s video and Peter’s career.

    “2 time Oscar winner Peter Ustinov. Seen #31 Ashanti….a horrible movie filled with Oscar winners…Caine, Harrison, Holden and Ustinov….just recently re-watched it. #21 The Comedians….not a single funny thing in movie….dull and depressing. #15 Evil Under the Sun…so so mystery #14 Logan’s Run…small part for him…but fun part #10 Robin Hood good movie…new Robin Hood crashed and burned …sorry off topic….#9 We’re No Angels…did not like this one on first viewing…liked it more second time around. #7 Death on the Nile….his best Agatha movie #6 Topkapi …it was ok #5 The Sundowners….love this movie…underrated gem #2 Billy Budd….looks awesome…Ryan steals the movie and #1 Spartacus…classic! So that is 11. Voted up and shared…eventually…lol.”

    Reply

    1. Hi Bruce, a shame about the new ‘upgraded’ Robin Hood, reviews have mostly been negative. Last year Guy Ritchie’s re-imagining of King Arthur flopped, this year it’s Robin Hood. Next year?

      Ustinov was multi talented, he was directing films at 26, and was writing plays and novels too. Thanks for the comment, vote and share, always appreciated.

      Reply

  3. Steve: I hope you are planning to do a video on Richard Attenborough of The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, Gandhi, and Miracle on 34th Street fame.

    Reply

    1. Hi Flora, I haven’t forgotten Sir Richard Attenborough, his video should be up on friday. Probably a top 40.

      I’m thinking of doing a Xmas video, the highest rated Christmas movies, maybe a top 50, has Bruce done a Xmas page yet? Chief? [Bruce growls]

      Reply

        1. Bruce, it’s not too late to update and have the definitive Christmas movie stats page ready for this Xmas!

          There are plenty of Xmas movie lists on the net for ideas, just make sure Die Hard’s on there despite what the other Bruce might say. 😉

          Reply

  4. Glad to hear you’ll give Manchester’s Donat a run in the “mop up”. Not only do you as a Mancunian owe it to him but I feel that I have a personal stake in the matter because (1) I have close relatives in neighbouring Burnley and have stayed there, and –

    (2) I’ve never told you that in the 2 years that I spent at Royal Air Force station Innsworth in Gloucester my closest workmate and a very good friend, Roy Higgins, was a Mancunian. He was obsessed with Man U Football Club and would often write letters to its Chairman telling him how wonderful the Club and Team were.

    Roy got drunk every Friday/Saturday night and come into my room, wake me up and sit for half an hour telling ME how wonderful I was. It irritated me back then but I miss being told that and of course on this site the accolade is reserved for truly wonderful people like Hirsch, Myrna, MISTER Gimme More, Sir Maurice and Archie!

    Say Wonderful things to me
    I think I’m wonderful too!”
    [Ronnie Carroll Belfast singer – UK entry in 1963 The Eurovision Contest- finished 4th]

    Dan sure has been hard at work on the story I’ve just told because not only half a century later am I regularly in touch with another Mancunian but like our own WH, Roy Higgins was a workaholic when he wasn’t in his cups and in fact nicknamed HIMSELF The Work Horse [in the way world champion Belfast snooker player ALEX Higgins and friend of Ollie Reed self-styled himself The People’s Champion].

    Accordingly when I came across Bruce 6 years ago he reminded me of Roy Higgins and that Work Horse nickname. Also, again completely like Bruce, Roy Higgins was not just a 100% effort guy but was also enormously efficient at everything he did – again when he wasn’t drunk, which was thankfully never during the working week!.

    Reply

  5. HI GUYS The Work Horse has a nice neat little miniature of the great Robert Donat at the top of this page. but to the best of my personal recollection, apart from George Raft Robert is the only really major Classic era actor of probably worldwide fame for whom I have not seen a Cogerson page and/or or a Lensman video.

    Although associated primarily with the British cinema, Donat was a globally accepted prestige actor who appeared alongside big Hollywood female stars such as Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman and Rosalind Russell and has been in quite a few classics and for Goodbye Mr Chips he won an Oscar, beating Gable’s Rhett that year.

    Allso Robert was listed in the Top 10 most popular British stars 6 times in the 7 years from 1940 until 1946 inclusive and.In 1940 he was voted the 11th most popular WORLDWIDE star just below King Gable in 10th place and beating other Hollywood males such as Laurel and hardy and great Hollywood divas such as Judy Garland and [would you believe it?] Myrna Loy!.

    Also if Steve in particular has not indeed compiled a Donat video that is all the more surprising to me as Robert was not just any ole Brit but one born in Manchester! “A prophet is without honour in his own home town!”

    To me Donat would be in the front rank of performers who have 100% entitlement to Cogerson/Lensman treatment assuming availability of material but don’t take just my word for it – let the Oracle speak!

    “Some stars make 100 films and leave virtually no imprint. Robert Donat made only 18 and yet achieved respect and popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. Donat’s wonderful voice and graceful acting style brought class to a brilliant Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps.” [The Master]

    Reply

    1. Hi Bob, I had considered Donat for this run of British actors but decided he had appeared in too few movies and crossed him off [Bob glares angrily]. Next year when I mop up the remaining Brits I left out of this run I’ll make sure Donat is among them. 5 more British actors to go and than it’s time for some ladies to take over, a couple of them are Brits.

      Another Brit I had seriously considered and crossed off was Sir Cedric Hardwicke, good actor. I think his most famous roles were as the old Pharaoh in The Ten Commandments and as King Arthur in A Connecticut Yankee with Bing Crosby. The problem I had with Hardwicke was that he was primarily a supporting actor, like Donald Crisp, except Crisp’s face did turn up on movie posters while Hardwicke’s rarely did. I might add them both to my 2019 list, let’s see how it goes.

      Reply

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