Sandy Dennis Movies

Want to know the best Sandy Dennis movies?  How about the worst Sandy Dennis movies?  Curious about Sandy Dennis box office grosses or which Sandy Dennis movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Sandy Dennis movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Sandy Dennis (1937-1992) was an Oscar® and Tony® award-winning American actress.  At the height of her career in the 1960s, she won two Tony® Awards, as well as an Oscar® for her performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  Her IMDb page shows 36 acting and writing credits from 1952 to 1991.  This page will rank Sandy Dennis 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.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Sandy Dennis Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Up The Down Staircase (1967)

Sandy Dennis 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 Sandy Dennis movies by her co-stars
  • Sort Sandy Dennis movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Sandy Dennis movies by yearly domestic box office rank.
  • Sort Sandy Dennis 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 Sandy Dennis movie received.
  • Sort Sandy Dennis movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
The Out of Towners (1970)

Best IMDb Trivia On Sandy Dennis

1. Sandy Dale Dennis was born in Hastings, Nebraska in 1937. Her mom was a secretary and her dad was a postal clerk.

2.  Sandy Dennis’s early acting break occurred she was cast as an understudy in the Broadway production of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957) which was directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan cast Dennis in her first feature film, a small part in Splendor in the Grass (1961), which starred Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.

3.  Sandy Dennis achieved Broadway fame with her leading role in Herb Gardner’s A Thousand Clowns (1962–63), for which she won a Tony® award for her performance alongside Jason Robards.

4.  Sandy Dennis’s second film role was as in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Directed by Mike Nichols and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the film was a huge critical and commercial success and Dennis won the Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

5. Sandy Dennis was a dedicated exponent of the ‘Method’ technique via the Actor’s Studio, her physical neuroticisms could either captivate or repel audiences.

Check out Sandy Dennis’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

14 thoughts on “Sandy Dennis Movies

  1. I haven’t been doing well on your recent pages Bruce – Gloria Swanson, 2 films watched. Harold Russell, 1 film. Tantrum O’Neal 0 films and Sandy Dennis? 1 film.

    Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wooolf is the only one I’ve seen from her chart. It’s a yap-fest and not a favorite. I may have seen 976-EVIL back in my video renting days but I can’t remember for sure.

    Vote Up!

    1. Hey Steve…you can still hang around even with your low totals…..lol. I am not a fan of Va Woolf either…well done…great performances but not the kind of people I would want to spend an evening with. I saw Parents….but I do not remember her part at all. Overall I have seen 8 of her movies, with no favorites. Good stuff as always.

  2. Fifty years ago when I was in summer camp, on a visitor’s weekend, the father of one of the kids I was friendly with, took us to the movies in upstate New York. The father of the kid wanted to see Patton but I wanted to see The Out of Towners with Sandy, so we went to that (selfish little brat).

    Sandy Dennis with her prolific career (hmm) never made the Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe. These are the actors on the current list she has appeared with.

    19 DENNIS HOPPER The Indian Runner (1991)
    74 GENE HACKMAN Another Woman (1988)
    78 JASON ROBARDS Mr. Sycamore (1975)
    87 ROBERT LOGGIA The Three Sisters (1966)
    100 ELI WALLACH Nasty Habits (1977)
    102 RIP TORN Nasty Habits (1977)
    125 SHANE RIMMER Nasty Habits (1977)
    133 IAN HOLM Another Woman (1988)
    137 SHELLEY WINTERS The Three Sisters (1966)
    154 KATHY BATES Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
    218 GEORGE SEGAL Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
    244 RANDY QUAID Parents (1989)
    274 MIA FARROW Another Woman (1988)
    299 RICHARD BURTON Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
    312 HARRIS YULIN Another Woman (1988)
    341 CHARLES BRONSON The Indian Runner (1991)
    415 VALERIA GOLINO The Indian Runner (1991)
    429 GREG COLLINS 976-EVIL (1988)
    473 MICHAEL MURPHY That Cold Day in the Park (1969)
    481 KAREN BLACK Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
    502 JACK LEMMON The Out of Towners (1970)
    610 PAT HINGLE Splendor in the Grass (1961)
    622 BLYTHE DANNER ANOTHER WOMAN (1988)
    623 VIGGO MORTENSEN The Indian Runner (1991)
    646 ELIZABETH TAYLOR Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
    649 BENICIO DEL TORO The Indian Runner (1991)
    665 MAURICE DENHAM Thank You All Very Much (1969)
    674 IAN MCKELLEN THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH (1969)
    732 ROBERT PICARDO 976-EVIL (1988)
    755 PAUL DOOLEY The Out of Towners (1970)
    775 GENA ROWLANDS Another Woman (1988)
    813 DAVID MORSE THE INDIAN RUNNER (1991)
    840 KEVIN MCCARTHY The Three Sisters (1966)
    847 BUD CORT Up the Down Staircase (1967)
    889 RICHARD LYNCH God Told Me To (1976)
    986 KENNETH WELSH Another Woman (1988)
    999 JERRY STILLER NASTY HABITS (1977)
    HM (975) DAVID OGDEN-STEIRS ANOTHER WOMAN (1988)

    I remember seeing an episode of an old TV series, Naked City, and in the opening c redits it said “introducing Sandy Dennis”. According to the IMDB she was on 2 episodes , 1 in 1962 and 1 in 1963. She’s also in1961’s Splendor in the Grass, so who were they introducing her to, television audiences, or was it her first substantial part.

    Sandy appeared with 12 Oscar winners.

    BENICIO DEL TORO The Indian Runner (1991)
    CHER Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
    ELIZABETH TAYLOR Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
    GENE HACKMAN Another Woman (1988)
    GERALDINE PAGE Nasty Habits (1977)
    GERALDINE PAGE The Three Sisters (1966)
    GLENDA JACKSON Nasty Habits (1977)
    JACK LEMMON The Out of Towners (1970)
    JASON ROBARDS Mr. Sycamore (1975)
    KATHY BATES Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
    PATRICIA ARQUETTE THE INDIAN RUNNER (1991)
    RITA MORENO The Four Seasons (1981)
    SHELLEY WINTERS The Three Sisters (1966)

    Whoever wrote her bio on the IMDB compared her to Geraldine Page whom she appeared with twice.

    1. Hey Dan. Great memory of Patton and Out of Towners. WoC does not know how I remember stuff like that. Last night we were watching Starship Troopers…ok I was watching it, she was in the room. My memory of that movie revolves around another significant female in my life… I kept that memory to myself…lol. Wow not a single person with more than one movie on the first list. Maybe that method acting did not create many friends in the movie business. Her second list is also not too overwhelming. Thanks as always for putting these lists together.

  3. I only ever saw Sandy in one movie – The Out of Towners with Lemmon – but I enjoyed her in it very much. On top of her movie career she was in 18 television productions 1956-86 and Wikipedia lists 12 of her theatrical performance in the period 1957-82.

    Sadly her life was cut short prematurely by ovarian cancer at the age of 54 [RIP] but at the time of her death she had [according to the Forbes Rich List and Wikipedia] nonetheless managed to accumulate the equivalent of $120 million in 2019 money making her one of the richest stars in history outside  the top group of mega performers like Hanks and Sinatra.

    As Bruce indicates above Sandy Dennis was a method actor from the Actors Studio and there was a very mixed reaction to her performances in her lifetime  Nonetheless, William Goldman, in his book The Season, referred to her as a quintessential “critics’ darling” who got rave reviews no matter how unusual her acting and questionable her choice of material. 

    During her stint in Any Wednesday, Walter Kerr  the famed Broadway critic said the following: “Let me tell you about Sandy Dennis. There should be one in every home.”

    1. Hey Bob. Thanks for the thoughts on Sandy Dennis. I am surprised you have not seen Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?….not that I love the movie..but a serious movie buff as yourself, it seems like required viewing. Granted it is a very tough watch….but it has lots movie history wrapped around it. Good quotes about her acting style and skill. She was in a relationship with Julia Roberts’ brother, Eric, near the end of her life. Thanks for providing more information on her…it makes the page even better. Good stuff.

  4. I have seen 5 Sandy Dennis movies, all of them in the top 5.

    The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

    The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is The Four Seasons.

    The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.

    Favourite Sandy Dennis Movies:

    Sweet November
    Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
    The Out-of-Towners

    Other Sandy Dennis Movies I Have Seen:

    Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
    Splendor in the Grass

    1. Hey Flora…thanks for checking out our Sandy Dennis page. Thanks for the tally count. Your 5 is probably going to get you second place….as most seem to have only seen Va Woolf. I do not have a favorite Sandy Dennis movie…though I have seen one of your favorites, The Out of Towners. Good stuff as always.

  5. Hi Mr. Cogerson,

    I went to the “Check out Sandy Dennis’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.”

    Alas, poor Sandy didn’t make the list.

    Too sad
    Mike

    1. Hey Mike… you caught me…..I have not been updating that list nearly as often as I should….your comments have me motivated to see how big that list will be when I update it tomorrow. Sadly it is not dynamic….maybe WoC will fix that for me in the near future.

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