Want to know the best Olympia Dukakis movies? How about the worst Olympia Dukakis movies? Curious about Olympia Dukakis box office grosses or which Olympia Dukakis movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Olympia Dukakis movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Olympia Dukakis (1931-2021) was an Oscar® winning Greek-American actress. Dukakis performed in over 130 stage productions, over 60 films, and in 50 television series Her IMDb page shows 123 acting credits from 1962 to 2021. This page will rank Olympia Dukakis 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.
Olympia Dukakis Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Olympia Dukakis 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 Olympia Dukakis movies by her co-stars
- Sort Olympia Dukakis movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Olympia Dukakis movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Olympia Dukakis 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 Olympia Dukakis movie received.
- Sort Olympia Dukakis movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Check out Olympia Dukakis’ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
What Variety says.
Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-Winning ‘Moonstruck’ Actress, Dies at 89
Variety
CARMEL DAGAN
May 1, 2021, 3:35 PM
Olympia Dukakis, a character actress best known for her Oscar-winning supporting turn in Norman Jewison’s “Moonstruck” and for her role as the wealthy widow in “Steel Magnolias,” has died. She was 89.
Dukakis’ brother, Apollo Dukakis, confirmed her death to Variety. Apollo Dukakis announced her death in a Facebook post, writing: “My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City. After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her Louis.”
The actress was 56 when she came to prominence overnight thanks to her Oscar-winning turn in “Moonstruck,” in which she played, with an extraordinary comic ethnic gusto characteristic of the movie as a whole, the mother of Cher’s character. The Washington Post singled out Dukakis for praise: Cher and Nicolas Cage are “backed by an equally quirky cast of marvelous supporting players — especially Olympia Dukakis, whose role as Loretta’s world-weary mother Rose is expected to get Oscar’s attention.”
Dukakis, who also did a lot of television work, was thrice Oscar nominated, first for the 1991 TV movie “Lucky Day,” the second time for “Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City” in 1998 and the third time in 1999 for the miniseries “Joan of Arc.”
Probably made before her Oscar changed her fortunes, Mike Nichol’s “Working Girl” returned Dukakis to the sort of role she had had on a regular basis for much of her career: She was 12th credited for her role as the personnel director.
By the next year, however, she was third-billed, behind John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, in baby comedy “Look Who’s Talking,” in which she played the pregnant Alley’s mother in a manner reminiscent of her work in “Moonstruck.” She returned for the 1990 sequel.
Herbert Ross’ 1989 hit “Steel Magnolias,” starring Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine and Dukakis, drew women of all ages with its effective sentimentality and even more effective one-liners, but Rolling Stone said, “For the real fun, stick with MacLaine as the town crank and Dukakis as the wealthy widow who goads her to distraction; they’re priceless.”
The actress starred with Diane Ladd and Ellen Burstyn in the Bill Duke-directed 1993 film “The Cemetery Club,” about three Jewish women all of whom find themselves widowed over the course of a year and must reconstruct their lives, with Dukakis’ character prickly and strong-willed.
Dukakis was part of the Greek chorus that was either a charming conceit or an ungainly one, depending on whom you ask, in Woody Allen’s 1995 romantic comedy “Mighty Aphrodite,” in which the chorus comments on the Allen character’s infidelity. Also that year she appeared as the skeptical, hard-nosed principal in sentimental Richard Dreyfuss vehicle “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” and as the mother of a gay man in the AIDS drama “Jeffrey.”
The next year she had a small role in Danish auteur Bille August’s spiritually based period film “Jerusalem.” The actress also had a small but powerful role in the 2005 father-son road movie “The Thing About My Folks,” starring Peter Falk and Paul Reiser.
In 2006, Dukakis was part of the ensemble cast of “The Great New Wonderful,” a series of vignettes about life in New York City a year after the 9/11 attacks, and she did excellent work in Sarah Polley’s Alzheimer’s drama “Away From Her,” starring Julie Christie, in which Dukakis’ character reveals an unwaveringly realistic view of a difficult situation — her husband is an Alzheimer’s patient as well.
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She played a senile grandmother in Jon Kasdan’s “In the Land of Women,” starring Adam Brody, Kristen Stewart and Meg Ryan. But much more interesting was writer-director Thomas Fitzgerald’s 2011 film “Cloudburst,” in which Dukakis starred with Brenda Fricker as a lesbian couple who travel to Canada in order to get married. Variety said, “Dukakis outdoes even her most memorable earlier turns as Stella, the irrepressible old dame determined to spring her lover free.”
Her TV work included playing Anna Madrigal, the flamboyant matriarch presiding over an apartment house in San Francisco, in HBO’s 1993 “Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City” and the 1998 sequel “Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City,” for which she drew an Emmy nomination; and 2001’s third entry “Further Tales of the City.”
Among the many TV movies in which Dukakis appeared was HBO and BBC’s “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells” (2000), starring with Judi Dench and Ian Holm and focusing on a reunion of a group of women who formed an orchestra in London during WWII.
Dukakis was a series regular on the brief 2004 CBS sitcom “Center of the Universe,” starring John Goodman and Jean Smart. She also guested on numerous TV series, providing voices on “Frasier” and “The Simpsons” and appearing on “Numbers”; “Law & Order: SVU,” as a defense attorney; and HBO detective comedy “Bored to Death.”
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Dukakis graduated from Boston University and studied acting with Peter Kass in Boston.
Dukakis’ first experience on Broadway was as an understudy in 1962 on the original play “The Aspern Papers,” written by Michael Redgrave based on a story by Henry James and starring Maurice Evans and Wendy Hiller. Dukakis won an Obie in 1963 for her work Off Broadway in Bertolt Brechlt’s “Man Equals Man.” She hit the stage in 1964 in the one-nighter “Abraham Cochrane.” She returned to Broadway in 1974 in Peter Ustinov’s “Who’s Who in Hell,” but its run proved brief as well. Much more successful was her 1986-87 run in Andrew Bergman’s “Social Security,” directed by Mike Nichols and also starring Ron Silver, Marlo Thomas and Joanna Gleason. In 2000 she starred on Broadway in the one-woman show “Rose,” in which she played an 80-year-old Jewish woman in Miami Beach who talks to the audience of her life, including her experiences in the Holocaust.
She made her television debut in 1962 on an episode of “The Doctors and the Nurses,” also guesting on “Dr. Kildare” the same year. The actress made her bigscreen debut in the 1964 film short “Twice a Man.” Over the next 10 years she had a number of small, often uncredited, roles in films including “Death Wish.” In the Peter Yates’ 1969 film “John and Mary,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, Dukakis played the Hoffman character’s mother; she also had a supporting role in 1971’s “Made for Each Other,” starring Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna.
Dukakis was one of the stars of a 1974 political film by writer-director Jules Dassin called “The Rehearsal,” concerning the massacre of students protesting the ruling junta in Greece; many famous people were involved with the film, including Laurence Olivier, Arthur Miller, Melina Mercouri, Maximilian Schell and Arthur Millet, but by the time the film was completed the junta fell and it was never publicly seen in this country until decades later. In 1975, the actress appeared in a “Great Performances” presentation of a production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” that also starred Frank Langella, Blythe Danner and Lee Grant. She had supporting roles in Philip Kaufman’s “The Wanderers” in 1979 and in Taylor Hackford’s “The Idolmaker” in 1980. But despite years earning credits in film, on television and onstage, the actress did not break through until “Moonstruck” in 1987.
Much later, Dukakis taught master classes in acting throughout the U.S. and elsewhere. In July 2020, a documentary feature about her life, titled “Olympia,” was released in the U.S.
Dukakis is predeceased by her husband, actor Louis Zorich, who died in 2018. She is survived by daughter Christina Zorich, an actress; and sons Peter and Stefan Zorich.
Hey Dan, thanks for sharing this awesome article on Olympia Dukakis. Lots of great information. The Idolmaker is a good movie that nobody seems to remember. Though I do admit, I do not remember her role in that one at all.
The late Olympia Dukakis was # 393 on the 2020 Oracle of Bacon list. These are the actors on the list she appeared with.
14 MAX VON SYDOW Jerusalem (1996)
29 HARRISON FORD Working Girl (1988)
43 CHRISTOPHER LLOYD National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982)
45 GEORGE KENNEDY Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
49 FRANK WELKER Jane Austen’s Mafia! (1998)
51 BRUCE WILLIS Look Who’s Talking (1989)
51 BRUCE WILLIS Look Who’s Talking Too (1990)
71 NICOLAS CAGE Moonstruck (1987)
78 GENE HACKMAN Lilith (1964)
85 F. MURRAY ABRAHAM Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
89 DANNY TREJO Dead Badge (1995)
101 M. EMMET WALSH Dead Badge (1995)
101 M. EMMET WALSH Stiletto (1969)
106 SHIRLEY MACLAINE Steel Magnolias (1989)
111 STACY KEACH Jesus, Mary and Joey (2006)
113 ROBERT VAUGHN Milk & Money (1996)
130 STEVE BUSCEMI I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009)
143 JACK WARDEN Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
149 JEFF GOLDBLUM Death Wish (1974)
160 JULIA ROBERTS I Love Trouble (1994)
160 JULIA ROBERTS Steel Magnolias (1989)
161 ROBERT LOGGIA I Love Trouble (1994)
164 NICK NOLTE I Love Trouble (1994)
173 MAXIMILIAN SCHELL The Rehearsal (1974)
175 GEORGE SEGAL Look Who’s Talking (1989)
175 GEORGE SEGAL Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
187 JAMES EARL JONES Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
191 PETER FONDA Lilith (1964)
194 CHARLES DURNING Jesus, Mary and Joey (2006)
194 CHARLES DURNING Sisters (1973)
194 CHARLES DURNING Stiletto (1969)
196 CLORIS LEACHMAN Never Too Late (1997)
202 FOREST WHITAKER Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
211 DANNY DEVITO Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
213 JULIE CHRISTIE Away from Her (2006)
214 ELIAS KOTEAS Look Who’s Talking Too (1990)
217 WALLACE SHAWN The Cemetery Club (1993)
220 ELLEN BURSTYN The Cemetery Club (1993)
226 ALEC BALDWIN Working Girl (1988)
230 WOODY ALLEN Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
231 DUSTIN HOFFMAN John and Mary (1969)
232 SAM SHEPARD Steel Magnolias (1989)
236 PAUL SORVINO Made for Each Other (1971)
237 PETER FALK In the Spirit (1990)
237 PETER FALK The Thing About My Folks (2005)
243 LESLIE NIELSEN Digger (1993)
243 LESLIE NIELSEN Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
259 MIA FARROW John and Mary (1969)
278 JASON ISAACS THE INFILTRATOR (2016)
283 RICHARD DREYFUSS Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
291 EDWARD HERRMANN Better Living (1998)
293 DENZEL WASHINGTON Death Wish (1974)
300 JOE PANTOLIANO The Idolmaker (1980)
303 CLAIRE BLOOM Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
309 JOHN LEGUIZAMO THE INFILTRATOR (2016)
310 JACK LEMMON Dad (1989)
311 SCOTT WILSON Mother (1996/I)
314 PAUL GIAMATTI Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
315 CHARLES BRONSON Death Wish (1974)
318 TONY SHALHOUB THE GREAT NEW WONDERFUL (2005)
321 LAURENCE OLIVIER The Rehearsal (1974)
324 WILLIAM H. MACY Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
329 DIANE LANE National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982)
332 OLIVER PLATT Working Girl (1988)
333 DANNY AIELLO Moonstruck (1987)
333 DANNY AIELLO The Cemetery Club (1993)
340 MELANIE GRIFFITH In the Spirit (1990)
340 MELANIE GRIFFITH Working Girl (1988)
343 PETER BOYLE Milk & Money (1996)
356 STOCKARD CHANNING 3 Needles (2005)
370 DARYL HANNAH Steel Magnolias (1989)
371 KEVIN DUNN Picture Perfect (1997)
372 LLOYD BRIDGES Jane Austen’s Mafia! (1998)
374 PATRICK STEWART Jeffrey (1995)
375 JOHN TRAVOLTA Look Who’s Talking (1989)
375 JOHN TRAVOLTA Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
375 JOHN TRAVOLTA Look Who’s Talking Too (1990)
382 JUDY GREER THE GREAT NEW WONDERFUL (2005)
396 ROY SCHEIDER Better Living (1998)
396 ROY SCHEIDER Stiletto (1969)
424 TOM SKERRITT Steel Magnolias (1989)
427 SAUL RUBINEK I Love Trouble (1994)
444 MICHAEL MURPHY Away from Her (2006)
475 BRITT EKLAND Stiletto (1969)
477 LIN SHAYE Jesus, Mary and Joey (2006)
480 DIANE LADD Charlie’s War (2003)
480 DIANE LADD Mother (1996/I)
480 DIANE LADD The Cemetery Club (1993)
483 SIGOURNEY WEAVER Jeffrey (1995)
483 SIGOURNEY WEAVER Working Girl (1988)
485 DICK MILLER National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982)
486 JOHN LITHGOW Rich Kids (1979)
487 FRED WARD Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
490 LYNN REDGRAVE Charlie’s War (2003)
502 RICHARD WIDMARK National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982)
503 BRYAN CRANSTON THE INFILTRATOR (2016)
516 ART MALIK THE INFILTRATOR (2016)
542 DYLAN MCDERMOTT STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989)
546 KEVIN BACON Picture Perfect (1997)
573 KEVIN SPACEY Dad (1989)
573 KEVIN SPACEY Working Girl (1988)
581 VIRGINIA MADSEN THE LAST KEEPERS (2013)
587 MARTIN DONOVAN DAY ON FIRE (2006)
590 ETHAN HAWKE Dad (1989)
615 CHRISTINA RICCI The Cemetery Club (1993)
625 JAMES REBHORN I Love Trouble (1994)
631 DIANE KEATON Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
638 PARKER POSEY The Event (2003)
668 JOAN CUSACK WORKING GIRL (1988)
674 MIRA SORVINO Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
702 PAUL DOOLEY Death Wish (1974)
702 PAUL DOOLEY Rich Kids (1979)
710 SALLY FIELD Steel Magnolias (1989)
712 FRANKIE FAISON I Love Trouble (1994)
729 MATT CLARK Mother (1996/I)
745 HELENA BONHAM CARTER Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
746 MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL The Great New Wonderful (2005)
749 KATHLEEN FREEMAN Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
776 LUCY LIU 3 NEEDLES (2005)
780 JOHN DEHNER Stiletto (1969)
789 MARK BOONE JUNIOR In the Spirit (1990)
803 PETER WELLER Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
814 PETER RIEGERT National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982)
841 VICTOR GARBER JEFFREY (1995)
863 MARGOT KIDDER Sisters (1973)
865 PHILIP BOSCO Brooklyn Sonnet (2000)
865 PHILIP BOSCO Walls of Glass (1985)
865 PHILIP BOSCO Working Girl (1988)
870 RENE AUBERJONOIS Lilith (1964)
888 R. LEE ERMEY Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
919 AIDAN QUINN THE LAST KEEPERS (2013)
926 PATRICK O’NEAL Stiletto (1969)
927 CHRISTINE BARANSKI JEFFREY (1995)
928 YAPHET KOTTO Dead Badge (1995)
940 J.T. WALSH Dad (1989)
950 DAVID OGDEN-STEIRS MIGHTY APHRODITE (1995)
960 KATHY BAKER DAD (1989)
961 CATHERINE KEENER The Cemetery Club (1993)
962 NATHAN LANE JEFFREY (1995)
989 KEVIN J. O’CONNOR STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989)
1000 FRED WILLARD NATIONAL LAMPOON’S MOVIE MADNESS (1982)
Olympia appeared with 24 Oscar winners.
CHER Moonstruck (1987)
CLORIS LEACHMAN Never Too Late (1997)
DENZEL WASHINGTON Death Wish (1974)
DIANE KEATON Look Who’s Talking Now (1993)
DUSTIN HOFFMAN John and Mary (1969)
ELLEN BURSTYN The Cemetery Club (1993)
F. MURRAY ABRAHAM Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
FOREST WHITAKER Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
GENE HACKMAN Lilith (1964)
GEORGE KENNEDY Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
GERALDINE PAGE Walls of Glass (1985)
JACK LEMMON Dad (1989)
JULIA ROBERTS I Love Trouble (1994)
JULIA ROBERTS Steel Magnolias (1989)
JULIE CHRISTIE Away from Her (2006)
KEVIN SPACEY Dad (1989)
KEVIN SPACEY Working Girl (1988)
KIM HUNTER Lilith (1964)
LAURENCE OLIVIER The Rehearsal (1974)
MARSHA MASON I Love Trouble (1994)
MAXIMILIAN SCHELL The Rehearsal (1974)
MIRA SORVINO Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
NICOLAS CAGE Moonstruck (1987)
RICHARD DREYFUSS Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)
SALLY FIELD Steel Magnolias (1989)
SHIRLEY MACLAINE Steel Magnolias (1989)
Hey Dan
1. As always….thanks for putting these lists together.
2. Some of my all-time favorites are on the first list……Willis, Ford, and Dreyfuss.
3. A few people tied for the most frequent Oracle co-star…..I think John Travolta would be the winner for most famous of those thespians.
4. Speaking of Travolta…have you see his latest trailer with Kevin Hart….it is called DieHart….looks like it could be horrible.
5. As for her Oracle ranking…way higher than I would have guessed……but she has been a busy actress for the last 35 years.
6. Looking at the second list….her Oscar winning co-star list is a lot fewer than I would have guessed.
7. Rest in Peace Olympia Dukakis.
Nice UMR Page
Thanks Mike.
I have seen 7 Olympia Dukakis movies, 6 of them in the top 10.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Moonstruck.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Look Who’s Talking.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Lilith.
Favourite Olympia Dukakis Movies:
Moonstruck
Working Girl
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Steel Magnolias
Other Olympia Dukakis Movies I Have seen;
Death Wish
Naked Gun 33 1/3
Lilith
RIP
Hey Flora…as always thanks for the feedback on our latest page….sadly in this case the page was created because the actress passed away. Tally counts: I have seen 18 of her movies, compared to your 7. Most of my 18 are after 1976. I have seen all of your favorites…..with Moonstruck (one of my grandmother’s favorite movies) and Mr. Holland’s Opus being on my favorites list as well. She has a bit role in Death Wish…but I did notice her the last time I watched that one. Lillith was a recent view for me….what a depressing sad movie. Good stuff as always. RIP.