Want to know the best Lee J. Cobb movies? How about the worst Lee J. Cobb movies? Curious about Lee J. Cobb box office grosses or which Lee J. Cobb movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Lee J. Cobb 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.
Lee J. Cobb (1911-1976) was an Oscar® nominated American actor. His best known roles include: 1954’s On the Waterfront, 1957’s 12 Angry Men, and 1973’s The Exorcist. Cobb also played the role of Willy Loman in the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s 1949 play Death of a Salesman. His IMDb page shows 104 acting credits from 1934 to 1976. This page will rank Lee J. Cobb movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings. This UMR page was requested by John.
Lee J. Cobb Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Lee J. Cobb 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 Lee J. Cobb movies by his co-stars
- Sort Lee J. Cobb movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Lee J. Cobb movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Lee J. Cobb 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 Lee J. Cobb movie received.
- Sort Lee J. Cobb movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Best IMDb trivia on Lee J. Cobb
- Leo Jacoby was born in New York City in 1911.
2. Lee J. Cobb was a child prodigy in music, mastering the violin and the harmonica. Any hopes of a career as a violin virtuoso were dashed when he broke his wrist
3. The part of Willy Loman in the stage play “Death of a Salesman” was written specifically for Lee J. Cobb by Arthur Miller.
4. Lee J. Cobb was the original choice to play Mickey in “Rocky” but refused the role because he would have to audition.
5. Lee J. Cobb appeared in five Oscar® Best Picture nominees: The Song of Bernadette (1943), On the Waterfront (1954), 12 Angry Men (1957), How the West Was Won (1962) and The Exorcist (1973), with On the Waterfront winning in 1954.
Check out Lee J. Cobb’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. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press. Emmy® is a registered trademark.
Hello Bruce,
Lee J. Cobb was a great actor. I’ve seen 14 movies of this list, and I liked all of them. My favorite is 12 angry men in wich he was excellent.
I wich you a late merry christsmas.
Hey Laurent….good to hear from you. Hope your holidays were awesome. Tally count….Flora 25, me 15 and you 14. You can’t go wrong picking 12 Angry Men as your favorite Lee J. Cobb movie….a great performance in a great movie. Thanks for the Christmas wishes….have a great New Year.
Lee J. Cobb is no longer on the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe. He hasn’t been on for years which is sort of curious because he has quite a few connections on the current list, and he worked twice with Gabby Hayes, no small thing. These are the actors on the list he has appeared with.
12 MAX VON SYDOW The Exorcist (1973)
31 ROGER MOORE That Lucky Touch (1975)
35 HARRY DEAN STANTON Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
35 HARRY DEAN STANTON How the West Was Won (1962)
36 ROD STEIGER On the Waterfront (1954)
40 ROBERT DUVALL Lawman (1971)
45 OMAR SHARIFF Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
48 JOHN CARRADINE Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
51 FRANCO NERO Mafia (1968)
53 JOHN SAXON La legge violenta della squadra anticrimine (1976)
61 JACK PALANCE Las Vegas, 500 millones (1968)
65 CLAUDIA CARDINALE Mafia (1968)
73 BURT REYNOLDS The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
85 JACK WARDEN 12 Angry Men (1957)
85 JACK WARDEN The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
87 ROBERT LOGGIA The Garment Jungle (1957)
94 PAUL NEWMAN Exodus (1960)
100 ELI WALLACH How the West Was Won (1962)
100 ELI WALLACH Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
103 CLINT EASTWOOD Coogan’s Bluff (1968)
127 BURT LANCASTER Lawman (1971)
137 SHELLEY WINTERS That Lucky Touch (1975)
141 KIRK DOUGLAS The Racers (1955)
142 MARC LAWRENCE Captain from Castile (1947)
146 MARTIN BALSAM 12 Angry Men (1957)
146 MARTIN BALSAM On the Waterfront (1954)
172 MICKEY ROONEY Men of Boys Town (1941)
180 DAVID CARRADINE Macho Callahan (1970)
181 JAMES COBURN In Like Flint (1967)
181 JAMES COBURN Our Man Flint (1966)
182 BURGESS MEREDITH Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
193 WILLIAM HOLDEN Golden Boy (1939)
193 WILLIAM HOLDEN The Dark Past (1948)
198 ELLEN BURSTYN The Exorcist (1973)
208 TELLY SAVALAS Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
216 JEAN-PIERRE CASSEL That Lucky Touch (1975)
227 KEENAN WYNN Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
227 KEENAN WYNN The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
230 JEFF COREY Paris Calling (1941)
230 JEFF COREY Sirocco (1951)
230 JEFF COREY The Moon Is Down (1943)
232 ANGELA LANSBURY The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
269 JOHN WAYNE How the West Was Won (1962)
273 CLAIRE BLOOM The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
276 SEYMOUR CASSEL Coogan’s Bluff (1968)
291 ANNE BANCROFT Gorilla at Large (1954)
297 HENRY FONDA 12 Angry Men (1957)
297 HENRY FONDA How the West Was Won (1962)
302 GREGORY PECK How the West Was Won (1962)
302 GREGORY PECK Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
302 GREGORY PECK The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
308 GLENN FORD Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
308 GLENN FORD The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
309 ROBERT TAYLOR Party Girl (1958)
352 BRIAN KEITH Boomerang! (1947)
374 ANTHONY PERKINS Green Mansions (1959)
379 JOHN IRELAND Party Girl (1958)
391 LLOYD BRIDGES The Tall Texan (1953)
414 LOIS MAXWELL The Dark Past (1948)
416 ADOLFO CELI Last Moments (1974)
427 WILLIAM SHATNER The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
428 RICHARD WIDMARK How the West Was Won (1962)
428 RICHARD WIDMARK The Trap (1959)
431 HENRY SILVA Green Mansions (1959)
433 JAMES BROLIN Our Man Flint (1966)
454 JAMES GAMMON Macho Callahan (1970)
459 ANTHONY QUAYLE Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
467 PAUL FIX Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
469 VINCENT PRICE The Song of Bernadette (1943)
476 YUL BRYNNER The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
487 MARCEL DALIO The Song of Bernadette (1943)
487 MARCEL DALIO Tonight We Raid Calais (1943)
495 BO HOPKINS Macho Callahan (1970)
495 BO HOPKINS The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
496 ARTHUR KENNEDY Boomerang! (1947)
496 ARTHUR KENNEDY Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
508 BARBARA HERSHEY The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
521 ROYAL DANO Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
521 ROYAL DANO Man of the West (1958)
531 DIANE LADD Macho Callahan (1970)
553 ANTHONY ZERBE The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
554 RICHARD JORDAN Lawman (1971)
566 LILLI PALMER But Not for Me (1959)
605 LIONEL STANDER Call Northside 777 (1948)
610 PAT HINGLE On the Waterfront (1954)
634 DEBBIE REYNOLDS How the West Was Won (1962)
651 CYRIL CUSACK Last Moments (1974)
656 CAMERON MITCHELL Gorilla at Large (1954)
658 ALEXANDRA STEWART Exodus (1960)
664 SUSANNAH YORK That Lucky Touch (1975)
687 FRANK SINATRA Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
687 FRANK SINATRA The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
688 ROBERT WEBBER 12 Angry Men (1957)
691 DUB TAYLOR The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
699 RALPH RICHARDSON Exodus (1960)
702 REX HARRISON Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
708 JOHN DEHNER Man of the West (1958)
715 LEE VAN CLEEF How the West Was Won (1962)
715 LEE VAN CLEEF The Road to Denver (1955)
717 ROBERT RYAN Lawman (1971)
727 VALENTINA CORTESE Thieves’ Highway (1949)
734 JAMES WHITMORE Last Moments (1974)
759 NEHEMIAH PERSOFF Green Mansions (1959)
759 NEHEMIAH PERSOFF Mafia (1968)
759 NEHEMIAH PERSOFF On the Waterfront (1954)
760 LEE MARVIN Gorilla at Large (1954)
763 ROSCOE LEE BROWNE The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
780 MARLON BRANDO On the Waterfront (1954)
782 EDWARD G. ROBINSON Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
784 CESAR ROMERO Captain from Castile (1947)
784 CESAR ROMERO The Racers (1955)
793 MARIANNE STONE That Lucky Touch (1975)
805 CHARLES LANE Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
805 CHARLES LANE But Not for Me (1959)
805 CHARLES LANE Call Northside 777 (1948)
805 CHARLES LANE Golden Boy (1939)
815 DANA ANDREWS Boomerang! (1947)
827 GEORGE HAMILTON The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
840 KEVIN MCCARTHY Winged Victory (1944)
846 MARTIN BENSON EXODUS (1960)
851 E.G. MARSHALL 12 Angry Men (1957)
851 E.G. MARSHALL Call Northside 777 (1948)
851 E.G. MARSHALL The Left Hand of God (1955)
857 JOHN CRAWFORD Exodus (1960)
867 PETER LAWFORD Exodus (1960)
869 RICHARD ANDERSON Macho Callahan (1970)
883 MARIA SCHELL The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
884 WILFORD BRIMLEY LAWMAN (1971)
892 MATT CLARK Macho Callahan (1970)
896 ALIDA VALLI The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
909 JAMES STEWART Call Northside 777 (1948)
909 JAMES STEWART How the West Was Won (1962)
942 RUSS TAMBLYN How the West Was Won (1962)
955 RAF VALLONE That Lucky Touch (1975)
956 YAPHET KOTTO The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
992 VITO SCOTTI Party Girl (1958)
993 NINA FOCH Johnny O’Clock (1947)
993 NINA FOCH The Dark Past (1948)
HM (806) CHARLES BOYER The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
HM (927) HUGH GRIFFITH Exodus (1960)
Lee appeared with 40 Oscar winners.
ANNE BANCROFT Gorilla at Large (1954)
ANNE BAXTER The Luck of the Irish (1948)
AUDREY HEPBURN Green Mansions (1959)
BURT LANCASTER Lawman (1971)
CLARK GABLE But Not for Me (1959)
DEAN JAGGER Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
EDMUND O’BRIEN Winged Victory (1944)
ELLEN BURSTYN The Exorcist (1973)
EVA MARIE SAINT Exodus (1960)
EVA MARIE SAINT On the Waterfront (1954)
FRANK SINATRA Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
FRANK SINATRA The Miracle of the Bells (1948)
FREDRIC MARCH The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
GALE SONDERGAARD ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM (1946)
GALE SONDERGAARD PARIS CALLING (1941)
GARY COOPER Man of the West (1958)
GREGORY PECK How the West Was Won (1962)
GREGORY PECK Mackenna’s Gold (1969)
GREGORY PECK The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
HENRY FONDA 12 Angry Men (1957)
HENRY FONDA How the West Was Won (1962)
HUGH GRIFFITH Exodus (1960)
HUMPHREY BOGART Sirocco (1951)
HUMPHREY BOGART The Left Hand of God (1955)
JACK PALANCE Las Vegas, 500 millones (1968)
JAMES COBURN In Like Flint (1967)
JAMES COBURN Our Man Flint (1966)
JAMES STEWART Call Northside 777 (1948)
JAMES STEWART How the West Was Won (1962)
JENNIFER JONES The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
JENNIFER JONES The Song of Bernadette (1943)
JOANNE WOODWARD The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
JOHN WAYNE How the West Was Won (1962)
JUDY HOLLIDAY Winged Victory (1944)
KARL MALDEN Boomerang! (1947)
KARL MALDEN How the West Was Won (1962)
KARL MALDEN On the Waterfront (1954)
KARL MALDEN Winged Victory (1944)
KATY JURADO The Racers (1955)
LEE MARVIN Gorilla at Large (1954)
MARLON BRANDO On the Waterfront (1954)
MARTIN BALSAM 12 Angry Men (1957)
MARTIN BALSAM On the Waterfront (1954)
MELVYN DOUGLAS This Thing Called Love (1940)
PAUL LUKAS The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962)
PAUL NEWMAN Exodus (1960)
REX HARRISON Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
ROBERT DUVALL Lawman (1971)
ROD STEIGER On the Waterfront (1954)
SHELLEY WINTERS That Lucky Touch (1975)
SPENCER TRACY How the West Was Won (1962)
SPENCER TRACY Men of Boys Town (1941)
WALTER BRENNAN How the West Was Won (1962)
WILLIAM HOLDEN Golden Boy (1939)
WILLIAM HOLDEN The Dark Past (1948)
YUL BRYNNER The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
Hey Dan….hope you had a great holiday. Thanks as always for the lists of trivia. Lee J. Cobb not being on the list is not too surprising…..he had a lengthy movie career…but I suspect his stage acting really kept his movies made totals down. Looking at the first list…Charles Lane leads the way with 4 movies…..when looking at the legends of movies…Gregory Peck has three movies. As for the second list….40 Oscar winning co-stars is pretty good….How The West Was Won helped that total. Speaking of How The West Was Won….Cobb makes the 14th star of that movie to get an UMR page….overall that movie is now on 23 UMR pages. Good stuff as always.
Another classic actor has a page, glad to see it. I have seen 25 Lee J. Cobb movies, including 11 of the top 15.
The HIGHEST ranked film I have seen is On the Waterfront.
The highest ranked film I have NOT seen is The Exorcist.
The LOWEST ranked film I have seen is Green Mansions.
Favourite lee J. Cobb Movies:
12 Angry Men
How the West Was Won
The Man in the Gray Flannal Suit
Golden Boy (you have “The” in front of Golden Boy which is incorrect)
Call Northside 777
Our Man Flint
In Like Flint
Makenna’s Gold
Thieves Highway – great film noir
The Brother’s Karamozov
The Trap
Boomerang!
The Man Who Cheated Himself – B film noir which is quite good
Other Lee J. Cobb Movies I Have Seen:
On the Waterfront
The Song of Bernadette
Anna and the King of Siam
Men of Boys Town
Come Blow Your Horn
The Three Faces of Eve
Man of the West
Party Girl
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Sirocco
Green Mansions
Hey Flora….thanks for sharing your thoughts on Lee J. Cobb. Hope your Xmas was a good one. Tally count…me 15 and you 25…..almost doubling my total. I have a couple of classic thespian pages written…they will be out during my upcoming “holiday”.
I have seen 8 of your 13 favorite Lee J. Cobb movies….I fixed The Golden Boy….somehow that changed in the database….of those 8 movies…How The West Was Won, 12 Angry Men and MacKenna’s Gold are amongst my favorites.
Of the remaining movies…..I have seen 4 of them….Bob will be disappointed On The Waterfront is not on your favorites list….as BERN1960 will be disappointed The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is not your favorites list. Good stuff as always.
Lee J Cobb appeared in a number of stage presentations between 1935 and 1968, including Death of a Salesman, Golden Boy, Crime and Punishment and King Lear. However it was in the cinema that he most made his mark, largely in supporting roles, from 1934 until 1976. Wikipedia lists 80 films he made though that figure includes 5 TV movies.
He gave many fine performances but I will always cherish him most for bawling and yelling as the racist juror in 12 Angry Men and constantly blowing his top as Johnny Friendly the low-life gangster in On the Waterfront who complained that his subordinate henchmen were treating him as “Just another guy around here!”
He was perfect for those parts but when Paramount was casting The Godfather, first choice Olivier was unavailable and initially the studio heads didn’t want Brando because of his record of being troublesome [and they thought as well that he was no longer box office] so Lee J was one of the names suggested for the part of Don Corleone [another apparently was Ernest Borgnine].
However it would seem that whilst Cobb was regarded as fine for the ‘two bit’ gangster John Friendly, Lee J’s style and persona were not considered suitable for one of the very top brass in the gangster organisations: “Men of big power don’t NEED to shout and scream all the time.” Said Coppola. Anyway this new page was well earned by Cobb so it is “Voted Up!”
Hey Bob. Thanks for checking out our Lee J. Cobb page. I have been putting together lots of pages as we are about to take a trip (another trip to Alabama) to see WoC’s family and attend a wedding…so I will be away from my database for a decent amount of time.
I agree, Lee J. Cobb became famous for his stage work well before his movie career took off. I did not realize that Miller had written the role of Willy Loman for Cobb….I imagine that had to make Cobb pretty happy.
I like both of the movies you mentioned…he is outstanding in both of them…12 Angry Men is the highest rated movie on IMDb….and On The Waterfront is a classic….great performances by Malden, Steiger, Saint and others. I can never remember who played the lead in that movie…lol.
Like John McClane….the role of Don Corleone was offered to lots of different people before Brandon and Willis made those roles iconic. Good stuff as always.
FYI….one of my Christmas presents this year was a “new to me” copy of Joel Hirschhorn’s Rating The Movie Stars book…not to mention an autograph by Sir Michael Caine…..it was a good Christmas.
Thanks for your reply. Comments-wise [as Jack Lemmon would say in The Apartment] activity on the site seems to be relatively low with most regulars presumably preoccupied for now with the festivities, though I see that Flora, Steve and a few of the other stalwarts did reach for their keyboards.
Fly in the ointment: the guy who wrote the first comments on this page [ie in 10.07am post on 26 Dec] had to mention The Grinch even though HE had no connection whatsoever with the Lee J Cobb page.
As for myself, among other treats I watched once more Bonnie Bedelia in 2017’s A Joyous Christmas, with Bonnie playing the very touching do-gooder Joy of the title. Unusually for one of her generation of movie stars that Bonnie gal sure knows how to make a Christmas movie!!!
Anyway I hope that you and your family are all having a wonderful Christmas. I hadn’t realized that Loman was specifically written for Cobb; thanks for sharing that. Definitely the Mother of All Christmas Presents as Saddam Hussein would no doubt express it: Sir Maurice’s autograph. My best wishes to you and W o C on your forthcoming trip.
I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee,
I’m going to Louisiana, my true love for to see.
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death, Susanna, don’t you cry
Oh! Susanna, Oh don’t you cry for me,
For I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee
[Famous old song sung for example in 1951 western Oh Susanna starring Rod Cameron, Forrest Tucker and Chill Wills]
Hey Bob…..knocking out Joel subjects is one of our goals here at UMR….we are finally down to less than 100 subjects….as we have done 312 pages on his subjects. You might be hearing more of Joel’s name in the near future…as he is about to join a club that already has you as a member. Glad you liked the Loman trivia…I also found that pretty interesting. Sir Mike is about to go on our autograph wall in a little bit. Thanks for the best wishes on our trip…..it is a long car ride…..but I have to say we are getting used to it. Good stuff.
HI BRUCE
Thanks for all the additional feedback – much appreciated.
To sign off on these exchanges, please say how Sir M signed the autograph – Sir Michael, Michael Caine, Sir Maurice, plain Michael; the permutations are many!
“Hey Bob…..knocking out Joel subjects is one of our goals here at UMR.” – BRUCE
I think it is a safe bet that some of those “subjects” who knew Joe in his time would have wanted to knock out HIM!
I was sure Lee J. Cobb was in Joel Hirschhorn’s book…..but I was wrong. I have seen 15 of the Cobb movies listed above. Favorites would include 12 Angry Men, On The Waterfront, MacKenna’s Gold and The Exorcist. BERN1960 loves Cobb’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962).