Want to know the best Charles Bickford movies? How about the worst Charles Bickford movies? Curious about Charles Bickford box office grosses or which Charles Bickford movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Charles Bickford 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.
Charles Bickford (1891-1967) was a three-time Oscar nominated American actor. He was best known for his many stellar supporting roles. His IMDb page shows 113 acting credits from 1929 to 1968. This page will rank Charles Bickford movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in North American and a handful of his movies that we could not find box office on, were not included in the rankings. Sadly we were unable to find box office grosses on way too many of his movies.
Charles Bickford Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Charles Bickford 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 Charles Bickford movies by his co-stars
Sort Charles Bickford movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
Sort Charles Bickford movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
Sort Charles Bickford 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 Charles Bickford movie received.
Sort Charles Bickford 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.
The Best of IMDb Trivia on Charles Bickford
1. Every time Charles Bickford was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor, one of his co-stars won the Oscar for Best Actress (Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette (1943), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947) and Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda (1948)).
2. While rehearsing a scene for Universal’s East of Java (1935), Charles Bickford was mauled by a 400-pound lion on his neck and shoulders, very close to his jugular vein. it required nearly a year for him to recover from the injuries. He returned to acting but the extensive scarring of his neck and his increasing age caused him to lose his leading man status.
3. Charles Bickford served during WWI as a lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers.
4. Charles Bickford was married to Beatrice Loring from 1916 to his death in 1967. They had two children.
Check out Charles Bickford’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.
Charles Bickford has never been on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list but he does have an interesting resume. These are the actors on the current list he has worked with
30 ANTHONY QUINN Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
30 ANTHONY QUINN The Plainsman (1936)
36 ROD STEIGER The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
44 JAMES MASON A Star Is Born (1954)
48 JOHN CARRADINE Fallen Angel (1945)
48 JOHN CARRADINE This Day and Age (1933)
53 JOHN SAXON A Star Is Born (1954)
53 JOHN SAXON The Unforgiven (1960)
57 ORSON WELLES Duel in the Sun (1946)
78 JASON ROBARDS A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
92 CHARLTON HESTON The Big Country (1958)
105 ROBERT MITCHUM Not as a Stranger (1955)
127 BURT LANCASTER Brute Force (1947)
127 BURT LANCASTER Jim Thorpe — All-American (1951)
127 BURT LANCASTER The Unforgiven (1960)
137 SHELLEY WINTERS The Raging Tide (1951)
142 MARC LAWRENCE White Woman (1933)
182 BURGESS MEREDITH A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
182 BURGESS MEREDITH Of Mice and Men (1939)
228 JOSE FERRER Whirlpool (1949)
230 JEFF COREY Brute Force (1947)
241 AKIM TAMIROFF High, Wide, and Handsome (1937)
241 AKIM TAMIROFF Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
269 JOHN WAYNE Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
297 HENRY FONDA A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
297 HENRY FONDA The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
299 RICHARD BURTON Prince of Players (1955)
302 GREGORY PECK Duel in the Sun (1946)
302 GREGORY PECK The Big Country (1958)
305 JOSEPH COTTEN Duel in the Sun (1946)
305 JOSEPH COTTEN The Farmer’s Daughter (1947)
309 ROBERT TAYLOR A Wicked Woman (1934)
309 ROBERT TAYLOR Stand Up and Fight (1939)
452 JOHN HUSTON Hell’s Heroes (1930)
461 DIANE BAKER Della (1964)
467 PAUL FIX Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
469 VINCENT PRICE The Song of Bernadette (1943)
471 PETER GRAVES The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
474 TONY CURTIS Mister Cory (1957)
487 MARCEL DALIO The Song of Bernadette (1943)
501 RAY MILLAND Passion Flower (1930)
501 RAY MILLAND Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
502 JACK LEMMON Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
502 JACK LEMMON You Can’t Run Away from It (1956)
512 KEYE LUKE Burma Convoy (1941)
613 BRODERICK CRAWFORD Not as a Stranger (1955)
613 BRODERICK CRAWFORD The Last Posse (1953)
656 CAMERON MITCHELL Command Decision (1948)
661 ANN DORAN Riding High (1950)
661 ANN DORAN The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
672 WALTER PIDGEON Command Decision (1948)
687 FRANK SINATRA Not as a Stranger (1955)
691 DUB TAYLOR A Star Is Born (1954)
691 DUB TAYLOR Riding High (1950)
691 DUB TAYLOR You Can’t Run Away from It (1956)
708 JOHN DEHNER Captain Eddie (1945)
717 ROBERT RYAN The Woman on the Beach (1947)
760 LEE MARVIN Not as a Stranger (1955)
785 JAMES BROWN A STAR IS BORN (1954)
805 CHARLES LANE A Wicked Woman (1934)
805 CHARLES LANE Riding High (1950)
805 CHARLES LANE Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942)
805 CHARLES LANE The Farmer’s Daughter (1947)
808 RICHARD JAECKEL Wing and a Prayer (1944)
815 DANA ANDREWS Fallen Angel (1945)
815 DANA ANDREWS Wing and a Prayer (1944)
840 KEVIN MCCARTHY A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
877 LLOYD NOLAN Captain Eddie (1945)
904 JACK ALBERTSON DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962)
904 JACK ALBERTSON YOU CAN’T RUN AWAY FROM IT (1956)
907 STROTHER MARTIN A Star Is Born (1954)
966 JIM BACKUS You Can’t Run Away from It (1956)
970 YVONNE DE CARLO Brute Force (1947)
HM (863) EDMOND O’BRIEN Brute Force (1947)
Outside of John Saxon and Diane Baker they have all passed on. Charles appeared with 46 Oscar winners and no all star studio epics to help!
ANTHONY QUINN Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
ANTHONY QUINN The Plainsman (1936)
AUDREY HEPBURN The Unforgiven (1960)
BING CROSBY Riding High (1950)
BRODERICK CRAWFORD Not as a Stranger (1955)
BRODERICK CRAWFORD The Last Posse (1953)
BURL IVES The Big Country (1958)
BURT LANCASTER Brute Force (1947)
BURT LANCASTER Jim Thorpe — All-American (1951)
BURT LANCASTER The Unforgiven (1960)
CHARLES LAUGHTON White Woman (1933)
CHARLTON HESTON The Big Country (1958)
CLAIRE TREVOR The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
CLAIRE TREVOR Valley of the Giants (1938)
CLARK GABLE Command Decision (1948)
DON AMECHE Wing and a Prayer (1944)
DONALD CRISP VALLEY OF THE GIANTS (1938)
EDMOND O’BRIEN Brute Force (1947)
ETHEL BARRYMORE The Farmer’s Daughter (1947)
FRANK SINATRA Not as a Stranger (1955)
GARY COOPER The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
GARY COOPER The Plainsman (1936)
GLORIA GRAHAME Not as a Stranger (1955)
GREGORY PECK Duel in the Sun (1946)
GREGORY PECK The Big Country (1958)
HENRY FONDA A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
HENRY FONDA The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
HUMPHREY BOGART A Star Is Born (1954)
JACK ALBERTSON DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1962)
JACK LEMMON Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
JACK LEMMON You Can’t Run Away from It (1956)
JANE WYMAN Johnny Belinda (1948)
JANET GAYNOR The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
JASON ROBARDS A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
JENNIFER JONES Duel in the Sun (1946)
JENNIFER JONES The Song of Bernadette (1943)
JOAN CRAWFORD Della (1964)
JOANNE WOODWARD A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
JOHN WAYNE Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
JOSE FERRER Whirlpool (1949)
LEE MARVIN Not as a Stranger (1955)
LIONEL BARRYMORE Duel in the Sun (1946)
LORETTA YOUNG The Farmer’s Daughter (1947)
MARIE DRESSLER Anna Christie (1930)
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND Not as a Stranger (1955)
PAUL LUKAS Thunder Below (1932)
RAY MILLAND Passion Flower (1930)
RAY MILLAND Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
ROD STEIGER The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
SHELLEY WINTERS The Raging Tide (1951)
SUSAN HAYWARD Our Leading Citizen (1939)
THOMAS MITCHELL CAPTAIN EDDIE (1945)
VICTOR MCLAGLEN Under Pressure (1935)
WALLACE BEERY Stand Up and Fight (1939)
WALTER BRENNAN Scandal for Sale (1932)
WALTER HUSTON Duel in the Sun (1946)
WARNER BAXTER The Squaw Man (1931)
Hey Dan. Awesome lists as always. Let’s see…..46 Oscar winners is a very good total…one of the higher ones….just not in the Caine league. So John Saxon and Diane Baker are the last of his living connections to the Oracle….interesting. Not surprised he is not on the current list….but I imagine if the Oracle had been around in the late 1950s…he would have a spot on the list. Looks like Charles Lane was his most frequent Oracle co-star. You are right…he got these impressive totals without the help of a massive studio epic. Good stuff!
Wow a lot of comments already on Mr. Bickford’s page. Glad to see Charles Bickford get a page. Too bad you couldn’t find box office on all of his films.
I have seen 21 Charles Bickford movies included in this table. This includes 7 of his top 10 and 15 of his top 20. Therefore, while I do beat the individual totals of you, Bob, and Steve, I do not beat your combined totals.
Ironically today, TCM is airing Of Mice and Men which I have never seen before. I am recording it to watch at a later date. It is airing as part of the celebration of 100 years of United Artists.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is The Song of Bernadette.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Johnny Belinda.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is The Squaw Man.
Favourite Charles Bickford Movies:
The Big Country
A Star is Born
Not as a Stranger
A Big Hand For the Little Lady
Duel in the Sun
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
Brute Force
Fallen Angel
Anna Christie
Whirlpool
Other Charles Bickford Movies I Have Seen:
The Song of Bernadette
The Farmer’s Daughter
Days of Wine and Roses
Mr. Lucky
Command Decision
Reap the Wild Wind
High, Wide, and Handsome
Little Miss Marker
The Unforgiven
The Woman on the Beach
The Squaw Man
Hey Flora.
1. Thanks as always for stopping by, commenting and sharing your tally count.
2. Tally count….You 21, Bob 16 and Steve and myself sitting in last with 12..but combined we beat you….lol.
3. The quantity of movies that we do not have box office grosses on…was the main reason it took so long to get a Bickford page written….but figure this is a good sample of his career.
4. I imagine your tally count will be going up, thanks to TCM. I have always wanted to see Burgess Meredith’s Of Mice and Men. Let us know what you think of it if you see it when it airs.
5. Of your favorites…I have seen 5 of them….with The Big Country and Duel in the Sun being my favorites. Other 7 Bickford movies I have seen are in your “also watched list”….so every Bickford I have seen…has been seen by you.
Good stuff as always.
I recorded Of Mice and Meen and am planning to watch it on Sunday night. I will be happy to let you know what I thought of it.
Hey Flora….looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Of Mice and Men.
I’ll always remember Charles Bickford as the tough ranch owner in The Big Country, though Burl Ives had the more memorable role IMO.
Angry Burl Ives to his no-good son played by Chuck Connors in The Big Country, “One day boy I’ll have to kill you!” Well if Bob can quote Bickford I can quote ‘Big Daddy’ Ives. 🙂
I’ve seen 12 of the 53 films on the chart, more than I thought. Favorites include – The Big Country, Duel in the Sun, A Star is Born and Reap the Wild Wind.
Duel in the Sun was a huge hit in the 1940s but I didn’t expect Song of Bernadette to be so popular too. I watched it once a long time ago, not my cup of earl grey.
Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!
HI STEVE
I agree that Burl’s Big Country performance was a powerhouse one. I remember most though his one word when he forces his ‘worthless’ son to fight Greg with “gentleman’s weapons” – ie dueling pistols. He tells them to commence firing on his command and when the moment comes he asks them if they are ready and looking in disgust at his son sarcastically adds “Gentlemen!”
Burl was of course also a singer and in the 1950s and early sixties some catchy hit songs from him were going the rounds and two that I l especially liked back then were
BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAINS
All the birds and the bees
And the cigarette trees
The lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
FUNNY WAY OF LAUGHING
If you see me with a great big smile
At some party where the fun runs wild
If tears start to flow and I fall apart
Please don’t think you broke my heart
It’s just my funny way of laughin’
Yes, my funny way of laughin’
Your leavin’ didn’t bother me.
Hey Bob…thanks for sharing some of Burl’s big singing moments…one day Burl will have his own UMR page.
Hey Steve. Thanks for checking out our Charles Bickford page. I agree about him in The Big Country. I need to re-watch that movie…seems we are always talking about that movie either here or on your video channel. Shocked that you did not work Chuck Heston into your comment…or maybe he is not in The Big Country….lol. Funny that you brought up Chuck Connors in your comment….a guy I work about was talking about Connors role in The Big Country yesterday. Tally count….Flora 21, Bob 16 and you and me sitting in last with 12. Song of Bernadette was huge at the box office….but like you…it was a one and done movie for me. I have seen and liked all of your favorites. I would say The Big Country is my favorite Bickford movie….with his role in A Star Is Born being my favorite Bickford performance. Good stuff.
“He was best known for his many stellar supporting roles.” HI STAR-MAKER That statement from you in your lead-in above I greet with (1) TOTAL AGREEMENT (2) relief: when I saw Charles’ page flagged up I thought “Just as The Work Horse tried to convince me that Joe Pesci is a greater star than DeNiro, I hope that that Pesky WH is not going to argue that Charles was more popular than my Greg when they made The Big Country together.
I needn’t have worried because you have correctly categorized Bickford as a supporting actor and, as such, I found him highly entertaining [and therefore “Vote Up” this new page]. However I saw him for the most part as a ‘limited trick pony’ and thought he was at his best as the stoic man of principle, albeit ruthless one, that he played in The Big Country.
Indeed anyone who has read a reasonable number of my posts [which maybe boils down to just Steve!] will know that, in The Big Country, Charles delivered one of my all-time favorite one-liners from the movies: when he thought Chuck and his own other ranch hands were going to desert him in battle he said he didn’t care because “I’ve been on my own before.”
Anyway congratulations on a highly comprehensive statistical resume of Charles’ career, and I have seen 16 of the movies in the tables above and my personal faves are: The Big Country of course, Laddie’s Branded, Days of Wine and Roses and Big Hand for the Little Lady [called Big Deal at Dodge City over here – I vividly and nostalgically recall seeing it way back in 1966 on a sunny holiday in the Channel Islands].
ADDITIONAL TRIVIA: (1) Charles and Jennifer Jones were great friends and as your table above shows they made Duel in the Sun and The Song of Myrnadette together. On the day that Charles died in 1967, Jennifer attempted to commit suicide and to this day movie historians are unsure about whether the two occurrences were linked. (2) Celebrity Net Worth quotes a net worth figure of $18 million for Chas which I am presuming is not the actual one at time of death but an inflation-adjusted one.
Hey Bob.
1. Thanks for the comment and tally count on Charles Bickford.
2. Tally count: Bob 16, me 12…..though I suspect that Flora will have a total that will beat our combined total.
3. Glad we agree on Bickford’s supporting status….not sure my argument on Pesci was that he was a leading man….just that he did very very well away from Bobby DeNiro.
4. As for “which maybe boils down to just Steve!” …..I suspect your comments are read by many many more….as most visitors just read the page…and only a handful take the time to comment….as long as they keep coming…it all works for me…lol.
5. I talked about your favorites in the Joel comment….I will mention that I did enjoy Song Of Bernadette…..which is one of the highest rated movies on UMR…so I feel that it is very deserving of it’s top ranking on this page. His role in A Star Is Born is among his best…surprisingly he did not get nominated.
6. I imagine he was not struggling at the end of his career if he had either 18 million in actual or 18 in adjusted dollars.
Good stuff as always.
HI BRUCE: Thanks for feedback. Here are some further thoughts.
1/It’s good to not be given the “have seen” wooden spoon for once. It’s because you and the other members of The Big Three can usually list far more movies that you’ve seen than I can, that I’m obliged to embellish my posts with the likes of quotes, poems, Brando/Duke trivia, JJs [ie Joel Jibes!]. Otherwise I would have little to say, and believe you me I have plenty to say and even more to say than I have said so far!!!
2/At times Celebrity Net Worth does adjust for inflation. For example here is their wealth take on Archie:
“Cary Grant net worth: Cary Grant was an English actor who had a net worth of $60 million at the time of his death in 1986. That’s equal to approximately $130 million after adjusting for inflation.”
Where Celeb NW doesn’t mention whether a sum is actual or inflation-adjusted I have to make an intelligent guess, just as you do when converting rental figures that are published into career grosses and Bickford’s case is a good example of applying logic.
3/Celeb NW quotes a net worth of $18 million for Charles and if that was an actual figure at time of death in 1967 it would be worth $140 million today. Therefore it seems logical to assume that a supporting actor [especially back in the days when Hollywood controlled earnings more tightly and didn’t throw money at people who were simply “famous for being famous”] wouldn’t have accumulated more wealth than the Great Al Leach – hence the Bickford figure must be at today’s dollars.
Charles Bickford had a powerful commanding presence that could suggest brute force or tenderness, and a total mastery of comedy and drama. One of the glaring injustices of Hollywood history is the Academy’s failure to vote him an Oscar.
Our 4 star Charles Bickford movie performances
1930’s Anna Christie
1936’s The Plainsman
1937’s Hide, Wide and Handsome
1939’s Of Mice and Men
1943’s The Song of Bernadette
1945’s Fallen Angel
1947’s The Farmer’s Daughter
1947’s Duel In The Sun
1947’s The Woman On The Beach
1947’s Brute Force
1948’s Johnny Belinda
1951’s Branded
1954’s A Star is Born
1955’s Not As A Stranger
1958’s The Big Country
1962’s Days of Wine and Roses
*All information from 1983’s Rating The Movie Stars by Joel Hirschhorn
HI HIRSCH:
I am pleased to see that you have included 3 of my own fave films as 4-star performance ones for Chas [Big Country, Ladd’s Branded, Days of Wine and Roses] and that the other favourite that I have named [Big Hand/Little Lady] has attracted a 3 star rating from you for Bickford’s acting. Not as a Stranger where you also gave Chas 4 stars would be my 5th Bickford fave.
It’s good to see such gushing praise from you for favourites of my own and I am reminded of Dino’s once saying to Sinatra “Are you not feeling well Frankie: you haven’t hit anybody recently?”
You will see also from my post that whilst I regard Chas as a brilliant and entertaining actor I don’t think that he had the range that your own profile might suggest. Certainly he didn’t when one compares him with the great Brando who played for example a brute in Streetcar, Zapata, a Wild One, a waterfront labourer, Shakespeare’s Antony, Napoleon, a song-and dance man in a Gene Kelly type role, an Oriental interpreter, a German officer, a Mafia don and a madman in Apocalypse Now.
No doubt you could retort “So what! Who COULD equal that massive diverse spread of performances?” Also that Follower of yours will no doubt tell me that once more I’ve got it wrong. Well to paraphrase Chas in The Big Country “I don’t care if I am wrong: I’ve been wrong before!”
Hey Bob….does my heart good to see you and Joel agreeing on something. I have only seen 2 of your Top 5 Charles Bickford movies. The Big Country is one of my favorites of all-time. Days of Win and Roses is a good movie but not one I re-watch. I will have to track down Branded and Big Hand For The Little Lady. As for Not As A Stranger…never seen it….but for some reason it fascinates me. Despite a stellar cast…and despite it being a big box office hit….the movie has pretty much been forgotten by time. I really want to see it.
FYI. One of my new students goes by the nickname of “Dino”….I of course now associate him with Mr. Martin. Good stuff as always.
HI WH. Thanks for the feedback. My further comments are:
1/I was pleased when Hirsch listed Charles’ performance in Laddie’s 1951 ‘Brandoed’ as a four star one as it goes back to my nostalgic boyhood days when Ladd and The Duke strutted Hollywood as Kings. [“You never had a boyhood: Errol Flynn and Clark Gable stole it from you.” [satirical novelist – I can’t remember the name.]
2/ Days of Wine and Roses sure wasn’t feel-good but it did demonstrate Jack’s versatility tackling such a strong dramatic part after a run of frothy comedies-The Wackiest Ship in the Army, Operation Mad Ball etc]. You give ’Brandoed’ a slightly better than good 61% on Alan’s page.
3/Not as a Stranger is probably my own fave Mitchum film along with 1949’s Holiday Affair. Although Olivia de Havilland [still dining out in 1955 on GWTW] was top billed, Big Bob had the central role and dominated the film. Strong supporting performances from, as well as Bickford, Sinatra [who disappears half-way through the film] Brodie Crawford and Gloria Graham doing her ‘bad girl thing’ as the married Mitch’s mistress
Always good to get Joel’s wisdom on the website.