Want to know the best Jeffrey Hunter movies? How about the worst Jeffrey Hunter movies? Curious about Jeffrey Hunter box office grosses or which Jeffrey Hunter movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jeffrey Hunter 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.
Jeffrey Hunter (1926-1969) was an American actor. Hunter was known for his roles in films such as The Searchers and King of Kings. On television, Hunter was known for his 1965 role as Capt. Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek. His IMDb page shows 69 acting credits between 1950 to 1969. This page will rank Jeffrey Hunter movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles, and movies that we unable to find box office grosses on were not included in the rankings. This page comes from a request by Mike, as well as some help from Mike.
Jeffrey Hunter Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Jeffrey Hunter 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 any way you want.
- Sort Jeffrey Hunter movies by his co-stars
- Sort Jeffrey Hunter movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Jeffrey Hunter movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort Jeffrey Hunter 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 Jeffrey Hunter movie received.
- Sort Jeffrey Hunter 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 Jeffrey Hunter
1. Henry Herman “Hank” McKinnies Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1926.
2. Darryl F. Zanuck of Fox offered McKinnies a long term contract after a successful screen test with Ed Begley. The young actor agreed and the studio changed his name to “Jeffrey Hunter” in 1950.
3. Tab Hunter wrote in his memoir that he was in Madrid in 1967 to make “The Christmas Kid” and ran into Jeffrey Hunter, who was there to make “The Cups of San Sebastian“. Figuring that the producers of either movie wouldn’t know the difference between Tab and Jeffrey, they decided to switch roles. Neither the producers nor anyone else involved with the making of either movie, apparently, knew the difference either.
4. Jeffrey Hunter was the first friend actor Roger Moore made in Hollywood. In his autobiography, Moore says he named his son Geoffrey Moore in his honor.
5. Jeffrey Hunter lobbied to be cast as Mike Brady for the situation comedy The Brady Bunch (1969). Producer Sherwood Schwartz would not consider him, as he thought Hunter was “too good-looking to be an architect”.
Check out Jeffrey Hunter’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve’s Jeffrey Hunter YouTube Video
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Emmy®, Tony®, and Golden Globe® are also registered trademarks.
Jeffrey was at one time on the Oracle of Bacon list back in the beginning but he gas fallen by the wayside. Actors on the 2020 list that worked with Jeff are;
13 SEAN CONNERY The Longest Day (1962)
16 DENNIS HOPPER Key Witness (1960)
23 ROD STEIGER The Longest Day (1962)
36 ANTHONY QUINN Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
38 CHARLTON HESTON Julius Caesar (1950)
39 RODDY MCDOWELL The Longest Day (1962)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The Last Hurrah (1958)
68 JOHN CARRADINE The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
76 DEAN STOCKWELL Gun for a Coward (1957)
81 ROBERT MITCHUM The Longest Day (1962)
99 RIP TORN King of Kings (1961)
102 ORSON WELLES King of Kings (1961)
124 ROBERT WAGNER A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
124 ROBERT WAGNER The Frogmen (1951)
124 ROBERT WAGNER The Longest Day (1962)
124 ROBERT WAGNER The True Story of Jesse James (1957)
124 ROBERT WAGNER White Feather (1955)
126 HENRY FONDA The Longest Day (1962)
143 JACK WARDEN The Frogmen (1951)
154 MARC LAWRENCE Custer of the West (1967)
175 GEORGE SEGAL The Longest Day (1962)
182 FRANK FINLAY The Longest Day (1962)
207 JEFF COREY Fourteen Hours (1951)
223 JAMES COBURN The Man from Galveston (1963)
294 RICHARD BURTON The Longest Day (1962)
315 CHARLES BRONSON Red Skies of Montana (1952)
344 JOHN WAYNE The Longest Day (1962)
344 JOHN WAYNE The Searchers (1956)
385 EDDIE ALBERT The Longest Day (1962)
398 MEL FERRER The Longest Day (1962)
443 LESLIE PHILLIPS The Longest Day (1962)
462 STUART WHITMAN The Longest Day (1962)
496 VIVECA LINDFORS Brainstorm (1965)
496 VIVECA LINDFORS King of Kings (1961)
502 RICHARD WIDMARK Red Skies of Montana (1952)
502 RICHARD WIDMARK The Frogmen (1951)
517 WOLFGANG PREISS The Longest Day (1962)
532 DUB TAYLOR Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
534 CURT JURGENS The Longest Day (1962)
537 WOODY STRODE Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
554 PAT HINGLE No Down Payment (1957)
565 MICHAEL MEDWIN The Longest Day (1962)
569 TERRY-THOMAS A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
629 ROYAL DANO King of Kings (1961)
633 ALEXANDER KNOX The Longest Day (1962)
667 PETER LAWFORD The Longest Day (1962)
717 SLIM PICKENS The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)
718 GEORGE TAKEI HELL TO ETERNITY (1960)
719 WALTER MATTHAU A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
727 ROBERT RYAN Custer of the West (1967)
727 ROBERT RYAN King of Kings (1961)
727 ROBERT RYAN The Longest Day (1962)
727 ROBERT RYAN The Proud Ones (1956)
740 GERT FROBE The Longest Day (1962)
748 GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA The Private Navy of Sgt. O’Farrell (1968)
757 RICHARD CRENNA Red Skies of Montana (1952)
760 LEE VAN CLEEF Princess of the Nile (1954)
828 JACK ELAM Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
828 JACK ELAM Princess of the Nile (1954)
869 CAMERON MITCHELL No Down Payment (1957)
895 JOHN CRAWFORD The Longest Day (1962)
952 BRIAN KEITH Fourteen Hours (1951)
957 BERNARD LEE Sailor of the King (1953)
972 PEDRO ARMENDARIZ JR. Super Colt 38 (1969)
974 EDMOND O’BRIEN Man-Trap (1961)
974 EDMOND O’BRIEN The Longest Day (1962)
986 OSSIE DAVIS Fourteen Hours (1951)
994 JACQUES HERLIN Sexy Susan Sins Again (1968)
998 GEOFFREY BAYLDON THE LONGEST DAY (1962)
Jeff appeared with 21 Oscar winners in pictures.
ANTHONY QUINN Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
ART CARNEY A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
CHARLTON HESTON Julius Caesar (1950)
DONALD CRISP THE LAST HURRAH (1958)
EDMOND O’BRIEN Man-Trap (1961)
EDMOND O’BRIEN The Longest Day (1962)
GINGER ROGERS Dreamboat (1952)
GRACE KELLY Fourteen Hours (1951)
HENRY FONDA The Longest Day (1962)
JAMES COBURN The Man from Galveston (1963)
JANE DARWELL The Last Hurrah (1958)
JOANNE WOODWARD A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
JOANNE WOODWARD No Down Payment (1957)
JOHN WAYNE The Longest Day (1962)
JOHN WAYNE The Searchers (1956)
MARY ASTOR A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
RED BUTTONS The Longest Day (1962)
RITA MORENO Seven Cities of Gold (1955)
ROD STEIGER The Longest Day (1962)
SEAN CONNERY The Longest Day (1962)
SPENCER TRACY The Last Hurrah (1958)
WALTER BRENNAN Lure of the Wilderness (1952)
WALTER BRENNAN The Proud Ones (1956)
WALTER BRENNAN The Way to the Gold (1957)
WALTER MATTHAU A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
WENDY HILLER Sailor of the King (1953)
Hey Dan. As always, thanks for the lists on our latest UMR subject. He had a good amount of movies for less than 20 years. So I am not surprised he has fallen off the Oracle list. Robert Wagner gets the honors as most frequent Oracle co-star….appearing in 5 movies with Hunter. Another Robert…Robert Ryan was not too far behind with 4 movies with Hunter. Almost a third of his Oscar winning co-stars appeared in one movie…The Longest Day. That movie is starting to get a ton of people with UMR pages. Good stuff as always.
Jesus! Jeffrey Hunter’s followers should be happy he has a place among the UMR stars.
Holy moly I’ve only seen 7 of the 46 films on the chart, I probably saw more in my youth but can’t remember the titles.
Favorites are – The Searchers, The Longest Day and King of Kings. I’ve also seen Jesse James, Seven Cities of Gold, A Kiss Before Dying and Custer of the West.
The Searchers tops the UMR & critics charts and The Longest Day is no.1 on the box office chart. King of Kings at no.2.
Hunter was the first captain of the Starship Enterprise (as Christopher Pike) in the original Star Trek series of the 60s, the pilot episode (The Cage) was shelved and the series was rebooted with William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk.
Good work Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve….thanks for checking out our Jeffrey Hunter page. I just got through adding your Jeffrey Hunter video to the page…think you bet me to the punch years ago. Tally count. 7 for you and 5 for me. Doing the comments backwards tonight..so you have the lead right now. I have seen all 3 of your favorites…with The Searchers and The Longest Day being my top 2 Hunter movies. As for him playing Pike….that might be the only Hunter role young people remember him playing…and that was a failed a pilot episode. Thanks for the vote up and for the visit.
Thanks for the video share Bruce, always appreciated. Only 25 films on that video, that was a bit stingy of me. Even my Buck Jones video had more entries. 🙂
BIG BOY
What have you got against writing in the plural? Are you so busy chasing down missing commas again that your overlook the Facts?
Hey Bob….I fixed the “s”….and I even went back and fixed so other missing “s” in some of the recent UMR pages…as always…thanks for the headsup.
As The Work Horse indicates above [and see*** also below] most people will probably regard The Searchers and King of Kings as Hunter’s two key films. However Jesus Christ is the most iconic figure in the entire history of mankind so no actor could in my view do justice to His legend; and although he is a much lesser being it’s hard to take one’s eyes off The Duke when he is in the form that he demonstrated in The Searchers which one film historian opines is arguably THE outstanding movie performance of the 1950s.
Accordingly for me Jeffrey acquitted himself best in Sgt Rutledge and two of his Robert Wagner films: A Kiss Before Dying and Jesse James and [with Robert as Jesse Hunter as Brother Frank] though the latter as a film is just so-so as WH’s 62% rating rightly reflects:
Well the people held their breath
When they heard about Jesse’s death
And they wondered how poor Jesse came to die
It was one of his own guys, called Little Robert Ford
And he shot Jesse James on the sly
However I always like to try to save the best wine for the last so with all due respect to The Work Horse I will let The Oracle himself writing back in 1983 have the final word on Jeffrey who does in my view deserve his Cogerson page [Keep em coming like this Big Boy and forget about trying to find more of Gable and/or Bill Powell’s grosses to give to The Thin Woman! One traditional definition of madness- doing the same failed thin -sorry thing – over and over again but expecting a different result!]:
“Jeffrey Hunter was a handsome, competent actor who had a strange identity problem in films. He was never quite a fan-magazine pretty boy or a ruggedly virile action hero. After swinging back and forth between romantic leads and westerns, he finally found his niche*** as Jesus in King of Kings.” ***Shows you what I know!
Hey Bob….thanks for all the comments…this one is for part 3. Thanks for sharing the Joel gospel…we are now down to 48 Joel subjects that need pages…or about 88% done. Good mini-reviews on your favorite Hunter roles. Good stuff.
It is so seldom on this site that I get to play these days with The Big People like Flora – ie that I have a movies “have seen” list that runs well into double figures -that I thought that I would “make hay while the sun shines” and treat my list of 17 [or strictly speaking 16 and a half] to a separate part of this post. So please excuse my self-indulgence on this occasion. I hope Ma’s reading this!
“Fools! for I also had my hour.
One far-fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears.
And palms before my feet.”
[G K Chesterton- The Donkey: about the animal carrying Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday – very appropriate to a Jeffrey Hunter page!]
1/THE FROGMEN -early Widmark fare.
2/TAKE CARE OF MY LITTLE GIRL – ah! My early 1950s matinee days.
3/RED SKIES OF VIRGINIA-my Richard in fine form again
4/DREAMBOAT-a part that could well have been written for Clifton Webb. More about JOEL later.
5/GREAT LOCAMOTIVE CHASE-made during Fess Parker’s Davy Crockett heyday
6/WHITE FEATHER -the ‘missing’ Robert Wagner film in the table above.
7/A KISS BEFORE DYING
8/THE SEARCHERS-Today it transcends meaningful comment.
9/THE PROUD ONES – memorable for Robert Ryan’s sporadically-blind law officer.
10/GUN for A COWARD-Jeffrey as MacMurray’s ‘kid’ brother good in support of Fred. I saw it in a double bill with Van Johnson’s musical comedy “Kelly and Me”
11/JESSE JAMES. Called the James Brothers here in Northern Ireland
12/NO DOWN PAYMENT – the young Joanne Woodward in just her 4th movie but continuing to make her mark as a prestigious actress following 3 Faces of Eve.
13/The WAY to the GOLD-illustrating that at that point Jeffrey’s career was not living up to early promise; rightly WH give just a 55% rating and a so-so $80 million adjusted domestic gross.
14/LAST HURRAH-Jeffrey’s turn to work with Old Cantankerous – but no equal billing THERE! with Spence alone above the title.
15/SGT RUTLEDGE- strange one from John Ford: more like an Agatha Christie whodunnit than a traditional Ford western if I recall correctly. Sympathetically handled by Ford as the plot involves racial prejudice. One of Hunter’s best lead role performance in my view.
16/KING of KINGS. Anyone wishing to know what THIS SITE’s King of Kings thinks of Jeffrey will need to stick around for my Part 3.
17/SEXY MYRNA SINS AGAIN [Fra Wirten hat auch einen Grafen] – WH’s lowest entry in his grosses table above and a far cry from the themes of King of Kings! A German-language film only half of which I watched because of sub-titles. The movie illustrates that Jeff’s career was going nowhere [and sadly he died the year after its release] attracting as it does an unloved 40% from WH. Top-billed Jeffrey miscast as Count Enrico in this tale of a German innkeeper who is also a prostitute in Napoleonic times. A sequel to the commercially successful Sweet Sins of Sexy Myrna which didn’t feature Hunter but made a fortune in Continental cinemas. It’s not only the Hollywood Big Franchise Boys and Ham Actors who refuse to kill off the goose that lays the golden egg!
Hey Bob. Tally count: Bob 17, Steve 7 and myself 5. Your 17 might get you another victory in our tally contest. Good mini-reviews on the ones you have seen. Not sure what the “missing” White Feathers movie means. Good breakdown on Sexy Susie Sins Again…his last movies took years to reach the United States…and then they barely registered any type of gross. Good stuff as always.
HI BIG BOY: Thanks for your overall feedback -always valued – on my Jeffrey Hunter posts. You will note that I initially put “missing” in single-comma quotes when referring to Wagner and White Feather – always denoting that a statement is not to be taken completely literally. I was in effect saying that White Feather was being missed out as a Wagner credit in your co-star links column but happily that has now been fixed.
I should add that as I’ve said before I think commas are overused these days and indeed I feel that the practice is one of Joel’s unfortunate habits in his 1983 book. Today my own posts are kept virtually single-comma free and I normally would use that form of punctuation in just the White Feather/Wagner situation or in a passage such as the following:
“On page 350 [closing paragraph] of his 1983 book Joel Hirschhorn makes it abundantly clear that he regards the Hollywood ‘actor’ Sylvester Stallone as limited in the skills of screen character interpretation; and in his Book of 50 Greatest Stars Bruce Cogerson who includes a further 50 stars as “honourable mentions” does not list Stallone anywhere. I would go further than Bruce and say that if it was up to me Sly would not be allowed to even READ Bruce’s valuable book – Stallone hasn’t earned the right.”
In my opinion single commas are not sufficient to encase by way of emphasis “closing paragraph” in the opening wording of that statement; and as the two parts of the opening sentence have equal value a comma is not strong enough to separate them so I use a semi-colon.
Also professional grammarians who tutor in the art often emphasise that the use of single commas tends to slow down the pace and expression of a narrative and that budding authors who wish their work to be perceived as crisp and snappy should avoid too many of them like the plague. Without being pretentious I aim for “crisp and snappy”. We live today in a world that likes thing to be instant and fast.