Want to know the best Marion Davies movies? How about the worst Marion Davies movies? Curious about Marion Davies box office grosses or which Marion Davies movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Marion Davies movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Marion Davies (1897-1961) was an American actress. Despite starring in movies for twenty years, Davies is best remembered as being William Randolph Hearst’s mistress. Their relationship is a huge part of the story in the all-time classic movie Citizen Kane (1941). Her IMDb page shows over 52 acting credits from 1917 to 1937. This page will rank Marion Davies movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. To do well in our overall rankings a movie has to do well at the box office, get good reviews by critics, be liked by audiences, and get some award recognition. This page comes from a long time request from Dan.
Marion Davies Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Marion Davies 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 Marion Davies movies by her co-stars
- Sort Marion Davies movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Marion Davies movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Marion Davies 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 Marion Davies movie received.
- Sort Marion Davies movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Marion Davies
1. Marion Cecelia Douras was born in the borough of Brooklyn, New York in 1897.
2. Marion Davies had a long-standing reputation in the film industry for being extremely kind to the casts and crews of her films, going so far as to pay hospital bills anonymously if she heard that they were sick.
3. Marion Davies was William Randolph Hearst’s mistress for over 30 years. It was widely considered the “worst kept secret in Hollywood” that she lived with him in California while his wife Millicent resided in New York. His wife would not grant him a divorce so that he could marry Davies. Davies retired from the screen in the late 1930s so she could be with Hearst as his health was declining. When Hearst lay dying in 1951 at age 88, Davies was given a sedative by his lawyer. When she awoke several hours later, she discovered that Hearst had passed away and that his associates had removed his body as well as all his belongings and any trace that he had lived there with her. His family had a big formal funeral for him in San Francisco. Davies did not attend.
4. Marion Davies has been portrayed by Virginia Madsen in The Hearst and Davies Affair (1985), by Heather McNair in Chaplin (1992), by Melanie Griffith in RKO 281 (1999), Kirsten Dunst in The Cat’s Meow (2001) and Amanda Seyfried in Mank (2020).
5. In films from 1917 to 1937, Marion Davies never appeared as an extra, a bit player, or a supporting player.
6. Marion Davies was nicknamed “Queen of the Screen,” starring in nearly four dozen feature films (30 silents and 16 talkies) between 1917 and 1937. She also appeared as herself in a handful of short subject films.
Check out Marion Davies‘ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Marion Davies was named #1 female box office star of 1923 (Rudolph Valentino was #1 male) by a theater owners group in April 1924 and dubbed Queen of the Screen. The films WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER (1922) and LITTLE OLD NEW YORK (1923) had very long runs in most big cities, the latter well into 1924. These two films rank among the biggest box office attractions of the 1920s. From her joining MGM in 1924/35 she ranked among their top stars thru 1934 and then joined Warners, where PAGE MISS GLORY and CAIN AND MABEL were solid hits.
From my research, I’ve found that all of her MGM silents did well at the BO with the exception of QUALITY STREET. High production costs may have kept some of these from turning a profit but they were very popular. Same with her talkies at MGM.
Several of her early 1920s films like ENCHANTMENT, THE RESTLESS SEX, BEAUTY’S WORTH and THE BRIDE’S PLAY reportedly were hits but they seem to pre-date reliable BO info. Early MGM silents like ZANDER THE GREAT, BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK and LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY were also hits (despite your numbers above).
Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst were a major power couple in films from 1918 to 1937. I liked MANK but it failed to give Davies her due.
‘I’m amazed there are 2 people on the 2020 Oracle of Bacon list that appeared in a film with her. They are (and both deceased)
406 LIONEL STANDER Page Miss Glory (1935)
512 RAY MILLAND Polly of the Circus (1932)
512 RAY MILLAND The Bachelor Father (1931)
Marian did a little bit better with Oscar winners, appearing with 11.
BING CROSBY Going Hollywood (1933)
CLARK GABLE Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
CLARK GABLE Cain and Mabel (1936)
CLARK GABLE Polly of the Circus (1932)
GARY COOPER Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
GARY COOPER Operator 13 (1934)
HATTIE MCDANIEL OPERATOR 13 (1934)
JANE WYMAN Cain and Mabel (1936)
JANET GAYNOR Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
JOAN CRAWFORD The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)
JOAN CRAWFORD Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
LIONEL BARRYMORE Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
LIONEL BARRYMORE The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)
MARIE DRESSLER The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)
MARIE DRESSLER The Patsy (1928)
MARY ASTOR Page Miss Glory (1935)
NORMA SHEARER The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)
RAY MILLAND Polly of the Circus (1932)
RAY MILLAND The Bachelor Father (1931)
Hey Dan….thanks for the trivia lists on Marion Davies. Wow only two Oracle connections. Granted her last movie was over 80 years ago. I saw Mank on NetFlix the other day, and I thought I should finally do a page on her….and then I realized you had requested her a very long time ago. Not to many times does the Oscar list top the Oracle list. I am thinking they threw every actor or actress working into the extra scenes of 1925’s Ben-Hur. I wonder if you even spot Davies or Crawford in those scenes. Good information as always.
I am sure you know, Bruce, that the movies are not numbered except for a handful of films low in the list of movies that then start at a high ranking again. Therefore, I will just list my favourites and others. I have seen 11 Marion Davies movies.
Favourite Marion Davies Movies:
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Ever Since Eve
Page Miss Glory
Cain and Mabel
Show People
Going Hollywood
The Florodora Girl
Other Marion Davies Movies I Have Seen:
Polly at the Circus
The Bachelor Father
Peg o My Heart
Hearts Divided
Hey Flora…..sadly I know the rankings are messed up…..this transition has been a huge headache for us…just when we think we are done…10 more issues pop up. I have not seen any of her movies….yet I feel I have known her a long time….as I have seen so many people play her in movies. Most recently….I saw Amanda Seyfried as her in Mank. She is getting some Oscar buzz for her performance as Davies. Of your favorites…Cain and Mabel is the highest on my list of movies to see. Thanks as always for the feedback on our pages…it is greatly appreciated.
Excellent UMR Page
Thank you Mike.