Want to know the best Ethel Barrymore movies? How about the worst Ethel Barrymore movies? Curious about Ethel Barrymore box office grosses or which Ethel Barrymore movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Ethel Barrymore movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959) was an Oscar®-winning American actress. She was a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was regarded as “The First Lady of the American Theatre” whose career spanned six decades. Her IMDb page shows over 44 acting credits since from 1914 to 1957. This page will rank 22 Ethel Barrymore movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television roles, shorts and her silent movies made in the 1910s were not included in the rankings.
Ethel Barrymore Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1946
The Spiral Staircase (1946)
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
1947
The Farmer's Daughter (1947)
1954
Young at Heart (1954)
1949
Pinky (1949)
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
1947
The Paradine Case (1947)
1944
None but the Lonely Heart (1944)
AA Best Supp Actress Win
1952
Just For You (1952)
1949
The Great Sinner (1949)
1948
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
1949
That Midnight Kiss (1949)
1932
Rasputin and the Empress (1932)
1948
Moonrise (1948)
1947
Moss Rose (1947)
1951
The Secret of Convict Lake (1951)
1949
The Red Danube (1949)
1947
Night Song (1947)
1952
Deadline - USA (1952)
1951
Kind Lady (1951)
1953
The Story of Three Loves (1953)
1953
Main Street to Broadway (1953)
1957
Johnny Trouble (1957)
1951
It's a Big Country (1951)
Ethel Barrymore 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 Ethel Barrymore movies by co-stars of her movies.
Sort Ethel Barrymore movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
Sort Ethel Barrymore movies by domestic yearly box office rank
Sort Ethel Barrymore 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 Ethel Barrymore movie received.
Sort Ethel Barrymore 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.
Use the sort and search buttons to make this a very interactive table.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | The Spiral Staircase (1946) AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
Elsa Lanchester & Dorothy McGuire |
7.40 | 265.4 | 265.40 | 45 | 84 | 01 / 00 | 98.1 | |
| 2 | The Farmer's Daughter (1947) | Loretta Young & Joseph Cotten |
8.90 | 301.3 | 301.30 | 21 | 74 | 02 / 01 | 96.5 | |
| 4 | Young at Heart (1954) | Doris Day & Frank Sinatra |
7.10 | 194.1 | 194.10 | 42 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 95.8 | |
| 3 | Pinky (1949) AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
Jeanne Crain & Ethel Waters & Elia |
10.60 | 306.8 | 306.80 | 6 | 70 | 03 / 00 | 95.4 | |
| 5 | The Paradine Case (1947) | Charles Laughton & Gregory Peck |
5.90 | 200.9 | 200.90 | 54 | 62 | 01 / 00 | 92.1 | |
| 6 | None but the Lonely Heart (1944) AA Best Supp Actress Win |
Cary Grant | 4.30 | 168.3 | 248.50 | 78 | 62 | 04 / 01 | 89.8 | |
| 8 | Just For You (1952) | Bing Crosby & Jane Wyman |
8.30 | 189.4 | 189.40 | 17 | 55 | 01 / 00 | 88.4 | |
| 9 | The Great Sinner (1949) | Gregory Peck & Ava Gardner |
5.60 | 161.5 | 161.50 | 44 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 87.3 | |
| 7 | Portrait of Jennie (1948) | Jennifer Jones & Joseph Cotten |
2.60 | 80.7 | 80.70 | 119 | 81 | 02 / 01 | 86.2 | |
| 11 | That Midnight Kiss (1949) | Mario Lanza & Kathryn Grayson |
4.80 | 139.5 | 256.50 | 60 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 83.9 | |
| 12 | Rasputin and the Empress (1932) | Lionel Barrymore & John Barrymore |
1.90 | 109.9 | 223.90 | 40 | 64 | 01 / 00 | 81.9 | |
| 10 | Moonrise (1948) | Gail Russell | 2.10 | 67.0 | 67.00 | 136 | 77 | 01 / 00 | 81.4 | |
| 13 | Moss Rose (1947) | Vincent Price & Victor Mature |
3.10 | 105.0 | 105.00 | 110 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 80.7 | |
| 14 | The Secret of Convict Lake (1951) | Glenn Ford & Gene Tierney |
3.90 | 96.4 | 96.40 | 91 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 79.8 | |
| 15 | The Red Danube (1949) | Walter Pidgeon & Angela Lansbury |
3.30 | 95.0 | 150.10 | 110 | 63 | 01 / 00 | 78.7 | |
| 16 | Night Song (1947) | Dana Andrews & Merle Oberon |
3.20 | 109.1 | 143.40 | 107 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 78.2 | |
| 17 | Deadline - USA (1952) | Humphrey Bogart | 3.50 | 78.9 | 78.90 | 104 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 73.5 | |
| 18 | Kind Lady (1951) | Angela Lansbury & Directed by John Sturges |
1.00 | 25.8 | 35.70 | 204 | 66 | 01 / 00 | 58.3 | |
| 19 | The Story of Three Loves (1953) | Kirk Douglas & James Mason |
3.30 | 69.2 | 199.90 | 117 | 50 | 01 / 00 | 55.4 | |
| 20 | Main Street to Broadway (1953) | Lionel Barrymore | 1.30 | 26.3 | 28.00 | 197 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 47.3 | |
| 21 | Johnny Trouble (1957) | Max Picks | 0.80 | 17.7 | 25.10 | 172 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 35.5 | |
| 22 | It's a Big Country (1951) | William Powell & Gary Cooper |
1.50 | 37.6 | 46.80 | 171 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 24.7 |
Some Possibly Interesting Facts About Ethel Barrymore
- Ethel Barrymore made her debut as a stage actress during the New York City season of 1894.
- Ethel Barrymore’s older brother is Lionel Barrymore, her younger brother is John Barrymore and she is the great aunt of Drew Barrymore.
- Ethel and Lionel were the first Oscar®-winning brother and sister in the acting category.
- Ethel Barrymore down a marriage proposal from Winston Churchill because she thought he didn’t have much of a future.
- Ethel Barrymore’s character dies in three of her four movies that saw her Oscar®-nominated.
Check out Ethel Barrymore ‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Although she had many fine artistic achievements on screen/stage/radio/television Ethel as a movies star is often mentioned most by critics and historians for her role as Al Leach’s mother in 1944’s None but the Lonely Heart.
Certainly apart from winning a supporting actress Oscar it is fitting that she should be historically singled out for that role because she had the unusual distinction of being of a REALISTIC age for the role of Archie’s mother: in Lonely Heart she was in real-life 25 years older than Alec whereas it may be remembered that in North by Northwest Mother Leach [Jessie Royce Landis] had chronologically given birth to him when she was 8 years old according to their actual age difference – you couldn’t make it up!
I have all-told seen Ethel in just 3 movies – The Spiral Staircase/Deadline USA/and Young at Heart. 1954’s Young at Heart [a remake of John Garfield’s 1938 Four Daughters] is my own fave among the 3 because it stars my Doris and romantically teams her with her contemporary as one of Hollywood greatest thespian/songsters the heyday-Sinatra.
Following his triumphant comeback in From Here to Eternity Frankie in 1954 was embarking on a golden period at the box office: Bruce’s figures show that between 1954 and 1968 Frank made 20 films each of which crashed the Cogerson adjusted $100 million barrier and collectively earned almost $2.8 billion in adjusted domestic grosses which is an excellent average of $140 million per movies.
An Ethel Barrymore movie that I have never been able to catch but would like to see is The Great Sinner as I would be interested in watching the Great Ethel alongside its star and my own idol Royal Dano.
TOP 15 ENTRIES WITH BEST POSTERS IN STEVE’s VIDEO
1/1st one for Red Danube
2/1st one for Night Song
3/foreign language one for Secret of Convict lake
4/1st 2 for Paradine Case
5/Young at Heart
6/1st one for None but Lonely Heart
7/2 crackers for Story of 3 Loves
8/entire fine set for Deadline [aka Deadline USA]
9/first 2 for Pinky
10/1st one for Moonrise
11/1st 2 for Farmer’s Daughter
12/foreign language one for Jennie
13/excellent one for Spiral Staircase
14/two excellent ones for Rasputin
15/That Midnight Kiss–although it was just his 1st film Lanza reportedly threw tantrums because MGM would not meet his demand for top billing above the studio’s long- established operatic singing star Kathryn Grayson. She said later that he was a total pain in the *** but she still made Toast of New Orleans with him the following year
Steve’s video is as always a treat to watch and gave me 98% personal pleasure despite its brevity. More fine work Steve – congratulations!
BEST 13 STILLS/LOBBY CARD SETS [In fact most if not all that Steve provided!]
1/That Midnight Kiss
2/Moss Rose
3/Secret of Convict Lake – Charley Bill in his prime [that time round!]
4/Kind Lady
5/Ava and Royal
6/Paradine Case
7/Young at Heart – surprisingly in black and white – the movie was in color
8/Ma Mott and her boy!
9/Rasputin
10/Bogie in Deadline/Deadline USA
11/Portrait of Jennie
12/Spiral Staircase
13/Closing so of younger Ethel – a very striking lady back then
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing my Ethel Barrymore video, the generous rating and info are much appreciated. Happy you liked the picture gallery.
Ethel was primarily a stage actress, she appeared in a few obscure silent movies before making her ‘talkie’ debut with Rasputin and the Empress (1932) in which she played the empress of Russia, Alexandra. The film is noteworthy for including all three Barrymore siblings.
Oddly enough Rasputin was the only movie she appeared in during the 1930s, her next film appearance would be 12 years later as Ma Mott in None But the Lonely Heart (1944), for which she won her Oscar.
One film scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – The Spiral Staircase, two more score 9 out of 10 – Portrait of Jennie and The Farmer’s Daughter.
Portrait of Jennie tops the chart at IMDB and Spiral Staircase is no.1 at RT.
Ethel Barrymore on Hollywood – “The people are unreal. The flowers are unreal, they don’t smell. The fruit is unreal, it doesn’t taste of anything. The whole place is a glaring, gaudy nightmarish set, built up in the desert.”
“Half the people in Hollywood are dying to be discovered and the other half are afraid they will be.”
“We who play, who entertain for a few years, what can we leave that will last?”
HI STEVE:
Good feedback with plenty of additional information and interesting quotes all of which I much appreciate.
Sound take on Ethel’s preference for the stage. The great Vivien Leigh too preferred stage to screen which explains the long absences between her films. For example in the 12 year period between GWTW in 1939 and Streetcar in 1951 she made just 5 movies excluding those two. Overall she made only 19 films as opposed to 37 stage plays.
Keep safe.
Added Steve’s Ethel Barrymore YouTube Video To This Page. Our thoughts found on his channel and also located below.
Good video. Another member of the Barrymore acting family. I have not seen many of her movies….a grand total of 5 movies. They are all in the Top 10. None But The Lonely Heart (her Oscar winning performance), Pinky (very very dated), The Farmer’s Daughter (helped Loretta Young get her Oscar), The Spiral Staircase (my favorite Ethel movie) and Portrait of Jennie….an interesting movie. Voted up and shared
Hi Bruce, your 5 out of 22 tally beats my 2. I’ve seen The Paradine Case and Portrait of Jennie. Flora has seen 17 of these. I may have seen The Spiral Staircase but can’t remember for sure. I will watch out for it next time it’s on.
Thanks for the comment, vote and share, it is appreciated.