Cornel Wilde (1912-1989) was an Oscar®–nominated Hungarian-American actor and film director. Wilde’s career started with small roles in the early 1940s….but quickly progressed to leading man roles by the end of the 1940s. He would continue to act, produce and direct for another 4 decades. His IMDb page shows 69 acting credits from 1936 to 1987. This page ranks 44 Cornel Wilde movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, cameos and his movies not released in North America theaters are not included in the rankings.
Cornel Wilde Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Cornel Wilde 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 Cornel Wilde movies by movie title and movie trailers.
- Sort Cornel Wilde movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Cornel Wilde movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Cornel Wilde movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Cornel Wilde 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 Cornel Wilde movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Cornel Wilde movie won.
- Sort Cornel Wilde 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 Cornel Wilde
1. Kornél Lajos Weisz was born in Privigye, Kingdom of Hungary (now Prievidza, Slovakia) in 1912.
2. Cornel Wilde and his family came to the United States in 1920. They Americanized their names and Kornel took the name Cornelius Louis Wilde.
3. Cornel Wilde qualified for the United States fencing team for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. Wilde did not go to the Olympics, instead he took an acting role in a play.
4. Cornel Wilde’s big break was befriending Sir Laurence Olivier. Wilde taught Olivier fencing and was later cast in Olivier’s stage version of Romeo and Juliet (1940). Wilde’s small part lead him to a movie contract with Warner Brothers.
5. Cornel Wilde’s 44 movies grossed over $3.60 billion in adjusted box office gross. Those movies earned 19 Oscar® nominations…winning 3 Oscars®.
6. Cornel Wilde was married two times and had two children. He was married to actress and co-star Patricia Knight from 1937 to 1951. He was also married to actress and co-star Jean Wallace from 1951 to 1981.
7. One of Cornel Wilde’s most famous roles was playing high-wire artist, The Great Sebastian. This was a huge challenge to Wilde because he was afraid of heights. Despite Burt Lancaster’s background as a real-life circus acrobat, he was bypassed by Wilde for the role of The Great Sebastian, a fact Cecil B. DeMille regretted when he learned that Cornel was afraid of heights.
8. Check out Cornel Wilde‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Check out Steve’s Conrel Wilde You Tube Video.
Which film was it where Cornel Wilde ran across the Australian Outback through the whole film? It was a terrific film, but I can’t remember the title .
It sounds like The Naked Prey…..but that movie takes place in South Africa. Could that be the movie?
I have admired CW since I was 14. He also wrote, translated, spoke several languages, directed & produced. I have met his son, daughter, niece & nephew. I have been to lunch with his son, daughter & step-son. I have kept in touch with his nephew.
Hey Edythe. That is awesome that you were in touch with his family. I agree he’s a very talented person. Glad you found our page on him. Thanks for sharing your connection to him. That is awesome. Thanks for stopping by.
Added Steve’s Cornel Wilde video to the page. Our comments on his channel.
“I like the new music at the beginning. I have not seen many of his movies….4! But they are pretty highly ranked….as all four are the Top 6. #6 Woman’s World…a really good movie, #5 Greatest Show On Earth ..a fun movie…not sure it is a great example of a Oscar Best Picture movie though #2 High Sierra…small part..but in a good movie. #1 Leave Her To Heaven. Love the Tierney role in that one. Voted up…and shared on our Cornel Wilde page.”
Hi Bruce, Flora has seen 10, you 4 and I can only remember seeing 3 – The Greatest Show on Earth, Leave Her to Heaven and High Sierra. I probably saw more of his films as a kid but don’t know for sure. Thanks for the vote, share and comment.