Helen Hayes (1900-1993) was a 2 time Oscar®-winning American actress. Hayes was known as “The First lady of the American Theater”. Her career on stage, films and television spanned over eighty years. Her IMDb page shows 59 acting credits from 1917 to 1977. This page will rank 17 Helen Hayes movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television roles, cameo roles, short films and her first silent movie not included in the rankings.
Helen Hayes Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (0 to 5 stars) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1932
A Farewell To Arms (1932)
AA Best Picture Nom
1956
Anastasia (1956)
1931
Arrowsmith (1931)
AA Best Picture Nom
1970
Airport (1970)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Supp Actress Win
1974
Herbie Rides Again (1974)
1943
Stage Door Canteen (1943)
1977
Candleshoe (1977)
1931
The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)
AA Best Actress Win
1933
The White Sister (1933)
1933
Night Flight (1933)
1975
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975)
1934
What Every Woman Knows (1934)
1932
The Son-Daughter (1932)
1935
Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935)
1933
Another Language (1933)
1953
Main Street to Broadway (1953)
1952
My Son John (1952)
Helen Hayes 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 Helen Hayes movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Helen Hayes movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Helen Hayes movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Helen Hayes 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 Helen Hayes movies received.
- Sort Helen Hayes 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.
| 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 | A Farewell To Arms (1932) AA Best Picture Nom |
Gary Cooper | 4.60 | 259.7 | 259.70 | 4 | 71 | 04 / 02 | 97.8 | |
| 1 | Anastasia (1956) | Ingrid Bergman & Yul Brynner |
14.30 | 324.7 | 324.70 | 13 | 79 | 02 / 01 | 97.6 | |
| 3 | Arrowsmith (1931) AA Best Picture Nom |
Myrna Loy & Directed by John Ford |
3.80 | 228.9 | 228.90 | 11 | 72 | 04 / 00 | 97.5 | |
| 2 | Airport (1970) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Supp Actress Win |
Burt Lancaster & Dean Martin |
102.40 | 825.6 | 825.60 | 2 | 63 | 10 / 01 | 96.8 | |
| 5 | Herbie Rides Again (1974) | Ken Berry | 50.00 | 334.2 | 334.20 | 8 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 89.7 | |
| 6 | Stage Door Canteen (1943) | Ralph Bellamy & Merle Oberon |
12.40 | 516.6 | 516.60 | 5 | 54 | 02 / 00 | 89.6 | |
| 7 | Candleshoe (1977) | Jodie Foster & David Niven |
19.50 | 109.5 | 109.50 | 40 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 83.5 | |
| 8 | The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) AA Best Actress Win |
Robert Young | 1.90 | 114.5 | 114.50 | 55 | 61 | 01 / 01 | 81.6 | |
| 9 | The White Sister (1933) | Clark Gable | 2.10 | 116.5 | 259.60 | 31 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 80.8 | |
| 10 | Night Flight (1933) | Clark Gable & John Barrymore |
1.60 | 89.4 | 167.50 | 55 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 79.1 | |
| 11 | One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) | Peter Ustinov | 16.70 | 101.6 | 101.60 | 42 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 78.6 | |
| 12 | What Every Woman Knows (1934) | Donald Crisp | 1.00 | 52.8 | 78.00 | 113 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 61.6 | |
| 14 | The Son-Daughter (1932) | Ramon Novarro | 0.90 | 51.2 | 51.20 | 123 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 53.7 | |
| 13 | Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935) | Robert Montgomery & Donald Crisp |
0.80 | 39.5 | 39.50 | 162 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 52.4 | |
| 15 | Another Language (1933) | Robert Montgomery & Walter Wanger |
0.70 | 40.1 | 72.50 | 142 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 52.1 | |
| 16 | Main Street to Broadway (1953) | Lionel Barrymore & Agnes Moorehead |
1.30 | 26.3 | 28.00 | 197 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 47.3 | |
| 17 | My Son John (1952) | Robert Walker | 2.30 | 51.8 | 51.80 | 144 | 49 | 01 / 00 | 42.3 |
There are only two films on the chart I know I’ve seen – Anastasia and Airport.
I may have watched ‘Herbie Rides Again’ and ‘One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing’ back in the 70s but I can’t remember for sure.
I remember her Oscar-winning ‘mad old biddy’ role in Airport used to annoy the heck out of me, but it doesn’t bother me as much now in me middle-age. 🙂
Nice work Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve. Tally counts: Flora 9, Cogerson 5, Bob 2, bob cox 2, Steve 2 and PhilHoF16 2. I bet you saw some of those Disney 1970s movies….I have the same vague memory of seeing them as well…ah….the negatives of getting older…lol. Glad her Airport role has grown on you…..I bet it wa Airplane’s spoofing of that movie that helped turned you around on her performance. Thanks for the vote up and the visit.
she was in a movie were she was befriended by small u f o s that rebuilt her home
i cant recall the title
I saw top 2 . i missed Anastasia and arrowsmith with 2 of my top actresses Loy and Bergman , I hope to correct this soon. no 10s, no favorites, no hidden gems
Hey bob cox….thanks for the feedback on Helen Hayes. Tally count…Flora 9, Cogerson 5, Bob 2, bob cox 2, Steve 2 and PhilHoF16 2. Anastasia is worth checking out. Yul Brynner is pretty good in that one too….as for Bergman she got her second Oscar for that one. Good stuff.
As many of my devotees on this site will know I being a modest chap never list the films that I have seen unless their quantity is nothing to boast about. So it is here too,because the only two Helen Hayes movies I have seen are 1956’s Anastasia and 1970s Airport when she was an elderly lady of 56 and 70 respectively.
Indeed I was more familiar with her son, James MacArthur, via films like The Light in the Forest (1958) Swiss family Robinson (1960) Kidnapped (1960) and 1959s 3rd Man on the Mountain.
Young naïve Bob saw that last one because he thought the film was a Harry Lime outing as Michael Rennie in the lead was at that time playing Harry Lime in the hit TV series The Third Man (1959-1965).
Rennie’s Lime was a travesty of the Welles figure because Michael played Harry as a good guy, but teenager Bob loved the series anyway. You see in those days the blissfully simple, carefree Robert hadn’t yet fallen prey to deadly serious movie doyens like The Master and The Work Horse. James MacArthur died in 2010 aged 72.
I am of course vaguely familiar with the titles of some of the movies of the young Helen but the only two of which I have ever been seriously conscious are 1932’s Farewell to Arms with the wooden Cooper and 1933’s Night Flight.
Night Flight was made in the first flush of the talkies but they were aware of where true star power lay even back then because Helen was billed above Myrna Loy. Indeed fast forward until today and it is evident that our subconscious, despite attempts at brainwashing, grasps the true situation because only Gable and Barrymore are listed above as Helen’s co-stars in Night Flight.
Anyway that great old trooper Helen deserves her Cogerson page so Vote Up!
Hey Bob…thanks for the feedback and comment on Helen Hayes. I appreciate the tally count. Looks like you saw her best late movies in her career. I thought she was excellent in both. It is actually hard to realize how new her role was in Airport…as that part got copied and spoofed so much. The James McArthur trivia was one that I knew and heard a lot growing up….mainly because of McArthur’s success on Hawaii Five-O. Another piece of trivia I heard a lot back then….that I rarely hear today? Who was both a Magnificent Seven and a Dirty Dozen?….Mr. Charles Bronson.
Night Flight is worth checking out….if only to see the legends working together…Gable, Barrymore, Barrymore, Hayes, Loy and Montgomery….MGM threw the cast works at the movie for sure. 6 stars above the title in that one. A Farewell To Arms was a good movie….but has not aged well…..though the Sandra Bullock is horrible…..have not seen the Rock Hudson version yet. Good stuff as always.
Hey Flora. I have seen 5 of her movies, way more thsn I thought. My mother in law loves her. She could not figure how Hayes did not make my Top 50 Book. Nine is a good total, and you have seen her best ones too. I have seen 3 of your favorites, with Airport being my favorite. The cast of Night Flight is incredible….the movie has some good moments. I will fix the error….currently away from my beloved database …but we will be reunited very soon. Good stuff, as always.
Correction: You have a film listed incorrectly. Number 12 should read WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS. You have “EVER” listed instead of “Every.”
I have seen 9 Helen Hayes movies, 8 of them in the top 10.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is A Farewell to Arms.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Herbie Rides Again.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Vanessa: Her Love Story. I just recently saw this for the first time.
Favourite Helen Hayes Movies:
Airport
Arrowsmith
Anastasia
Night Flight
A Farewel to Arms
The Sin of Madame Claudet
Stage Door Canteen
Vanessa:Her Love Story
Only Helen Hayes Movie I’ve Seen NOT a Favourite:
Candleshoe