Want to know the best Natalie Wood movies? How about the worst Natalie Wood movies? Curious about Natalie Wood box office grosses or which Natalie Wood movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Natalie Wood movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Natalie Wood (1938-1981) was a three-time Academy Award® nominated actress. Wood began her acting career as a child actress (1947’s Miracle on 34th Street), gained renown as a teenage actress (1955’s Rebel Without A Cause & 1956’s The Searchers) and became one of the most successful actresses of the 1960s (1961’s West Side Story, 1969’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice). Her movies grossed over $3.46 billion in adjusted box office gross….picked up 51 Oscar® nominations…..won 15 Oscars®. So with all of these great movie stats and great movies in her movie career, it seemed that we were way overdue it writing a Natalie Wood Movie Ranking page…..well that error has been fixed!
Her IMDb page shows 73 acting credits from 1943-1983. This page will rank 43 Natalie Wood movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in North American theaters were not included in the rankings. To do well in our 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.
Natalie Wood 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
1961
West Side Story (1961)
AA Best Picture Win
1947
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
AA Best Picture Nom
1956
The Searchers (1956)
1955
Rebel without a Cause (1955)
AA Best Supp Actress Nom
1961
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
AA Best Actress Nom
1965
The Great Race (1965)
1946
Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)
1962
Gypsy (1962)
1969
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
1963
Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
AA Best Actress Nom
1951
The Blue Veil (1951)
1950
Our Very Own (1950)
1958
Kings Go Forth (1958)
1952
Just For You (1952)
1947
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
1964
Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
1949
Father Was a Fullback (1949)
1947
Driftwood (1947)
1958
Marjorie Morningstar (1958)
1949
Chicken Every Sunday (1949)
1948
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948)
1954
The Silver Chalice (1954)
1965
Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
1950
Never a Dull Moment (1950)
1950
The Jackpot (1950)
1960
Cash McCall (1960)
1955
One Desire (1955)
1956
The Girl He Left Behind (1956)
1966
This Property Is Condemned (1966)
1956
The Burning Hills (1956)
1951
Dear Brat (1951)
1966
Penelope (1966)
1957
Bombers B-52 (1957)
1983
Brainstorm (1983)
1946
The Bride Wore Boots (1946)
1950
No Sad Songs For Me (1950)
1952
The Star (1952)
1949
The Green Promise (1949)
1960
All The Fine Young Cannibals (1960)
1980
The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
1956
A Cry in The Night (1956)
1975
Peeper (1975)
1952
The Rose Bowl Story (1952)
1979
Meteor (1979)
Natalie Wood 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 Natalie Wood movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Natalie Wood movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Natalie Wood movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Natalie Wood 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 Natalie Wood movie received.
- Sort Natalie Wood movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (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 box to make this table very interactive. For example if you type in “Redford” in the search box….the 2 Robert Redford/Natalie Wood movies will pop right up.
| 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 | West Side Story (1961) AA Best Picture Win |
Rita Moreno | 41.30 | 698.1 | 1,378.60 | 2 | 80 | 11 / 10 | 99.8 | |
| 2 | Miracle on 34th Street (1947) AA Best Picture Nom |
Edmund Gwenn & Maureen O'Hara |
7.20 | 242.0 | 242.00 | 35 | 86 | 04 / 03 | 99.4 | |
| 3 | The Searchers (1956) | John Wayne | 14.00 | 318.2 | 430.60 | 14 | 89 | 00 / 00 | 98.7 | |
| 4 | Rebel without a Cause (1955) AA Best Supp Actress Nom |
James Dean & Sal Mineo |
13.10 | 315.9 | 315.90 | 17 | 86 | 03 / 00 | 98.6 | |
| 5 | Splendor in the Grass (1961) AA Best Actress Nom |
Warren Beatty | 12.00 | 202.7 | 202.70 | 16 | 82 | 02 / 01 | 98.1 | |
| 5 | The Great Race (1965) | Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon |
30.80 | 377.6 | 377.60 | 5 | 74 | 05 / 01 | 96.9 | |
| 7 | Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) | Orson Welles & Claudette Colbert |
8.60 | 308.9 | 308.90 | 30 | 77 | 00 / 00 | 96.5 | |
| 6 | Gypsy (1962) | Rosalind Russell & Karl Malden |
17.10 | 285.7 | 285.70 | 10 | 72 | 03 / 00 | 95.7 | |
| 9 | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) | Elliott Gould & Dyan Cannon |
41.70 | 367.2 | 367.20 | 6 | 67 | 04 / 00 | 94.6 | |
| 10 | Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) AA Best Actress Nom |
Steve McQueen | 10.10 | 147.4 | 147.40 | 26 | 81 | 05 / 00 | 94.1 | |
| 11 | The Blue Veil (1951) | Jane Wyman & Joan Blondell |
6.30 | 157.1 | 157.10 | 36 | 72 | 02 / 00 | 91.1 | |
| 12 | Our Very Own (1950) | Jane Wyatt & Ann Blyth |
6.90 | 178.6 | 260.40 | 22 | 64 | 01 / 00 | 90.5 | |
| 14 | Kings Go Forth (1958) | Frank Sinatra | 8.00 | 166.7 | 166.70 | 26 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 89.7 | |
| 16 | Just For You (1952) | Bing Crosby & Jane Wyman |
8.30 | 189.4 | 189.40 | 17 | 55 | 01 / 00 | 88.4 | |
| 13 | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) | Rex Harrison & Gene Tierney |
2.80 | 95.9 | 95.90 | 118 | 84 | 01 / 00 | 88.2 | |
| 15 | Sex and the Single Girl (1964) | Tony Curtis & Henry Fonda |
12.10 | 161.5 | 161.50 | 20 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 87.6 | |
| 17 | Father Was a Fullback (1949) | Maureen O'Hara & Fred MacMurray |
5.00 | 145.3 | 145.30 | 58 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 86.2 | |
| 18 | Driftwood (1947) | Walter Brennan | 3.40 | 114.1 | 114.10 | 102 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 85.2 | |
| 19 | Marjorie Morningstar (1958) | Gene Kelly | 7.50 | 156.1 | 156.10 | 29 | 54 | 01 / 00 | 84.2 | |
| 20 | Chicken Every Sunday (1949) | Dan Dailey & Celeste Holm |
4.20 | 121.0 | 121.00 | 84 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 82.5 | |
| 22 | Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948) | Walter Brennan & Marilyn Monroe |
5.30 | 164.5 | 164.50 | 65 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 82.2 | |
| 21 | The Silver Chalice (1954) | Paul Newman & Jack Palance |
9.10 | 248.4 | 345.80 | 29 | 30 | 02 / 00 | 79.1 | |
| 23 | Inside Daisy Clover (1965) | Robert Redford | 8.10 | 99.4 | 99.40 | 38 | 60 | 03 / 00 | 78.4 | |
| 24 | Never a Dull Moment (1950) | Irene Dunne & Natalie Wood |
3.90 | 102.3 | 135.80 | 81 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 77.5 | |
| 26 | The Jackpot (1950) | James Stewart | 4.40 | 113.5 | 113.50 | 70 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 76.2 | |
| 25 | Cash McCall (1960) | James Garner | 5.30 | 95.2 | 120.30 | 54 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 75.8 | |
| 28 | One Desire (1955) | Rock Hudson & Anne Baxter |
3.40 | 82.4 | 82.40 | 95 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 73.2 | |
| 29 | The Girl He Left Behind (1956) | James Garner | 4.00 | 90.9 | 90.90 | 85 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 72.5 | |
| 27 | This Property Is Condemned (1966) | Robert Redford | 5.50 | 62.5 | 62.50 | 52 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 72.4 | |
| 32 | The Burning Hills (1956) | Tab Hunter | 4.30 | 97.4 | 97.40 | 74 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 70.0 | |
| 31 | Dear Brat (1951) | Edward Arnold & Mona Freeman |
2.20 | 56.1 | 56.10 | 145 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 66.4 | |
| 30 | Penelope (1966) | Peter Falk | 4.00 | 45.5 | 45.50 | 63 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 65.7 | |
| 33 | Bombers B-52 (1957) | Karl Malden | 3.30 | 73.7 | 136.20 | 76 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 65.6 | |
| 34 | Brainstorm (1983) | Christopher Walken | 10.20 | 40.6 | 40.60 | 65 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 60.3 | |
| 37 | The Bride Wore Boots (1946) | Barbara Stanwyck | 3.00 | 106.4 | 106.40 | 103 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 58.5 | |
| 35 | No Sad Songs For Me (1950) | Margaret Sullavan | 2.40 | 61.4 | 61.40 | 132 | 54 | 01 / 00 | 57.4 | |
| 36 | The Star (1952) | Bette Davis & Sterling Hayden |
2.80 | 63.1 | 63.10 | 121 | 52 | 01 / 00 | 55.6 | |
| 38 | The Green Promise (1949) | Walter Brennan | 1.50 | 43.9 | 43.90 | 159 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 44.6 | |
| 39 | All The Fine Young Cannibals (1960) | Robert Wagner | 2.70 | 49.2 | 93.70 | 83 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 44.0 | |
| 41 | The Last Married Couple in America (1980) | George Segal | 12.80 | 61.7 | 61.70 | 60 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 38.2 | |
| 40 | A Cry in The Night (1956) | Raymond Burr | 1.50 | 33.0 | 54.80 | 157 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 36.8 | |
| 42 | Peeper (1975) | Michael Caine | 2.40 | 14.8 | 14.80 | 107 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 19.5 | |
| 43 | The Rose Bowl Story (1952) | Vera Miles | 0.80 | 18.1 | 18.10 | 214 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 16.1 | |
| 44 | Meteor (1979) | Sean Connery & Henry Fonda |
8.40 | 41.8 | 41.80 | 71 | 24 | 01 / 00 | 3.1 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Natalie Wood
1. Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko was born in 1938 in San Francisco, California. RKO Studios executives changed her name to Natalie Wood. Her sister, Lana Wood, would become a Bond girl….Diamonds Are Forever.
2. Natalie Wood made her film debut a few weeks before turning five during a fifteen-second scene in the 1943 film Happy Land.
3. Natalie Wood went to high school with Robert Redford. Wood also attended ballet classes as a child with Jill St. John and Stefanie Powers. All three women would eventually be a huge part of Robert Wagner’s life.
4. Natalie Wood was nominated for three acting Oscars®: 1955’s Rebel Without A Cause, 1961’s Splendor In The Grass and 1963’s Love With The Proper Stranger.
5. Natalie Wood has been nominated for five acting Golden Globes®: 1961’s Splendor In The Grass, 1962’s Gypsy, 1963’s Love With The Proper Stranger, 1965’s Inside Daisy Clover and 1966’s This Property Is Condemned. She won Golden Globes® for Best Newcomer in 1955’s Rebel Without A Cause (had they not seen Miracle on 34th street?) and Best Actress in a television movie…1979’s From Here To Eternity.
6. Natalie Wood was married three times. Twice to Robert Wagner (1957-1962) & (1972 to her death in 1983) and once to Richard Gregson (1969-1972). She had one child with both of them.
7. Natalie Wood was voted the 51st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
8. Natalie Wood’s pallbearers were Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Elia Kazan, Gregory Peck, David Niven and Fred Astaire.
9. Don Henley wrote the song “Dirty Laundry” to express his outrage at the tabloid press for their treatment of Natalie Wood after her death.
10. Natalie Wood turned down or was seriously considered for the following roles: Jane Fonda role in Barefoot in the Park, Faye Dunaway role in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, Audrey Hepburn role in Charade, Liza Minnelli role in Cabaret, Mia Farrow role in The Great Gatsby, Lois Lane role in Superman and Katharine Ross role in The Graduate.
Check out Natalie Wood‘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 Globe® is a registered trademark.
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Okay, I have a very specific reason for commenting on Ms. Wood’s page right now. I love Ms. Wood. I respect Ms. Wood. But…. because a person from Florida who adores her to the point of despising anyone who doesn’t hate her costars in West Side Story and saying that I don’t care what race anyone is, I am not allowed to talk about her on Facebook. So–I have blocked the person. maybe I will b able to talk about Natalie Wood next week.
But in the meantime, what I had wanted to say on Facebook but was not allowed, was that Sex and the Single Girl is one of my favourite of her films.
Hey Flora….sorry about your issues on Facebook. But looking at your other comment I am glad that you have gotten them resolved. Sex and the Single Girl is one of the ones that I have seen as well. I enjoyed it as well…..silly but a fun movie anyway.
Hi, Bruce.
I have just read Steve’s comment where he states he has seen only 10 Natalie Wood movies. There are plenty I haven’t yet seen, but I’ve seen more than 10.
Try not to get burnt out, Bruce. I have done this myself lots of times and when that happens I end up sick.
The highest rated movie I have seen is Number 1:West Side Story
The lowest rated movie I have seen is Number 36: The Star. And actually, that movie is the only one I have seen that is rated lower than Penelope at Number 30.
The highest rated movie I have not seen is Number 11: The Blue Veil.
Thus, my rankings are:
I have seen all 10 of her top ten movies.
I have seen 14 of her top twenty movies.
I have seen only 19 of her overall 43 movies overall. less than 50%. Oh, dear. Yes, it is higher than Steve, but in looking at the titles I hate to have to admit it, but there are some titles I simply didn’t know existed rather than I simply had not yet seen. For example, I did not know she had made a movie with Marilyn Monroe.
The most recent movie I have seen for the first time was The Searchers which I saw for the first time earlier this year.
My favourite five movies of hers alphabetically are:
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Great Race
Miracle on 34th Street
Sex and the Single Girl
West Side Story
Among movies I have not yet seen, ones that interest me the most are The Bride Wore Boots for Barbara Stanwyck and Marjorie Morningstar for Gene Kelly.
Movies I saw once and that was enough for me include one of the top ten: Splendor in the Grass. It makes me uncomfortable.
Although I have seen it often, I really have to be in the right mood for Rebel Without a Cause.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. Yep you are the winner in the Natalie Wood tally contest. 19 for you….15 for me and 10 for Steve.
2. I actually think I was thinking that way because I was starting to feel bad….my little girl was sick…and I am around kids at school….so it finally caught up to me this weekend…a very rough weekend…but Monday everything seems lovely.
3. Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! was actually a decent sized hit….though Monroe has one line in the entire movie….so I can see why you were not aware of that one.
4. Glad you saw The Searchers…but did you like the movie? It did not crack your Top 5 Wood movies…so the jury is still out?
5. Less than 50%…..is still way better than Steve and my totals.
6. I had never heard of the Blue Veil before doing this page….I did actually watch a new Wood movie last night….Inside Daisy Clover….although it was supposed to show the dirty side of Hollywood….to me it seemed that Hollywood took pretty could care of her character….though I can not say the same thing for how Robert Redford treated her.
7. I have seen 5 of your Top 5…my memory of the Great Race has abandoned me…I tried to watch this weekend…but the DVD copy I got was in horrible shape and it stopped working just as Wood finally appeared in the movie.
8. Splendor in the Grass was a one and done movie for me too. Just too damn depressing to sit through that one again. Rebel Without A Cause is not a favorite either….never bought the 25 year old Dean playing a teenager…..his East of Eden and Giant movies are the ones I enjoy much more.
As always…thanks for sharing your thoughts on our latest movie page.
Oh, dear!
With the weather and choir commitments during this month I see a whole lot of actors added and am again way behind. So I will have to try and go one at a time focusing on names that are completed.
Because you asked about The Searchers I will start about that film:
As a Wood film, she is not in it enough for the movie to make the top five of my favourite films of her career. However, I do think if you did a page on Vera Miles it would make my top Vera Miles films. The choreography is gorgeous.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora….I just wanted to add a little more stress into your busy holiday schedule. I actually gave a much better and deeper response to the increase in pages lately. Thanks for the mini review of The Searchers. I agree her part is pretty small……but it is an all-time classic. Thanks for the return visit to my Wood page.
Yes poor Natalie and only 45 years old. You don’t mention how she died Bruce, drowned while boating with her husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken in 1983. Apparently she was drunk when she fell overboard.
I’ve seen just 10 Natalie Wood films, shame! West Side Story is my favorite of her films and the one I’ve watched most. The Searchers is one of the greatest westerns and another favorite of mine. I saw Meteor at the cinema, it was pretty bad but I still bought it on DVD.
From her top rated films I haven’t seen Splendor in the Grass or Love With the Proper Stranger. Some more trivia – Natalie’s sister Lana was a Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) which also starred Jill St.John.
An excellent tribute to tragic Natalie, Bruce. Voted Up.
Hey Steve….yeah I generally ignore the negative things…I do mention that she died though. Sadly her death and how it happened is still a mess…over 30 years later. Tally count….19 for Flora….15 for me and 10 for you….though I have to admit my memory of her roles in Meteor and The Great Race have faded over time….seen both of those movies…Meteor in theaters actually too. I recently rewatched The Swarm…so I want to rewatch Meter too. I almost included that her sister was a Bond girl…which I will go ahead include that bit of trivia after doing this comment. She and McQueen are excellent in Love With The Proper Stranger….and are highly recommended. Thanks for your thoughts on Natalie Wood….they are as always greatly appreciated.
Thank you for this site. I enjoyed Natalie Wood in her movies. It was tragic how she died. It was interesting that she married Robert Wagner twice. Interesting who her pallbearers were too. I still like her role with James Garner in Cash McCall – good movie. Also her role in Miracle on 34th Street – she will live on for a very long time with that movie. THANKS A LOT…….
Hey Bern1960….glad you like your requested page. She had a very good career. Her movie with Garner is pretty good…so I agree with you there. This is the perfect time to watch Miracle on 34th Street…..the first Christmas in my lifetime that Maureen O’Hara (the mom in that one) is not around. Appreciate the kind words.
Nicely done! You have been busy! What a career and what a tragic ending!
Thank you S & S…..been very busy….getting close to being burned out…when it comes to getting a nice page out every couple of days. Yes indeed her death was a very tragic ending. Thanks for stopping by.