Thelma Ritter Movies

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

Thelma Ritter (1902-1969) was a 6-time Oscar® nominated American actress. Ritter was best best known for her comedic roles as working class characters and her strong New York accent.   In the 1950s and early 1960s she was one of the most popular supporting actresses working. Thelma Ritter’s IMDb page shows 44 acting credits from 1947-1968 This page will rank 31 Thelma Ritter movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances were not included in the rankings.  This page comes from a request by Dan and Flora.

Thelma Ritter and James Stewart in 1954's Rear Window
Thelma Ritter and James Stewart in 1954’s Rear Window

Thelma Ritter 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 Thelma Ritter movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Thelma Ritter movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Thelma Ritter movies by domestic yearly box office rank
  • Sort Thelma Ritter 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 Thelma Ritter movie received.
  • Sort Thelma Ritter movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR)Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Thelma Ritter Table

  1. Fourteen Thelma Ritter movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 45.16% of her movies listed. Rear Window (1954) was her biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Thelma Ritter movie grossed $126.60 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  28 of Thelma Ritter’s movies are rated as good movies…or 90.32% of her movies.  Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) is her highest rated movie while Perfect Strangers (1950) is her lowest rated movie.
  4. Sixteen Thelma Ritter movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 51.61% of her movies.
  5. Seven Thelma Ritter movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 22.58% of her movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00.  22 Thelma Ritter movie scored higher that average….or 75.00% of her movies. All About Eve (1950) got the the highest UMR Score while Perfect Strangers (1950) got the lowest UMR Score.
Bette Davis and Thelma Ritter in 1950's All About Eve
Bette Davis and Thelma Ritter in 1950’s All About Eve

Possibly Interesting Facts About Thelma Ritter

1. Thelma Ritter was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1902.

2. Thelma Ritter got a late start to her movie career.  She made her film debut in 1947 when she was already 45 years old.

3. Thelma Ritter was nominated for an Oscar® six times, giving her the distinction of being one of the three actresses (tied with Deborah Kerr and Glenn Close) most nominated for the award in an acting category without a win.

4. Thelma Ritter’s first Oscar® nomination for 1950’s All About Eve (1950) marked her first of 4 consecutive nominations, a feat she shares with Jennifer Jones (1943-1946), Marlon Brando (1951-1954), Elizabeth Taylor (1957-1960) and Al Pacino (1972-1975). Greer Garson and Bette Davis both have five consecutive nominations (1942-1946) and (1939-1943), respectively.

5. Thelma Ritter held a “Come Over and Watch Me Lose” Oscar party for her 5th Oscar® nomination.

6. Thelma Ritter was nominated for 3 Golden Globes®.  Won Broadway’s 1958 Tony Award® as Best Actress (Musical) for “New Girl in Town” in a tie with her co-star, Gwen Verdon .

7.  Thelma Ritter was married one time and had two children.

8. Thelma Ritter’ cumulative box office totals:  Adjusted domestic box office:  $3.92 billion.  60 Oscar® nominations all her movies in all categories.  17 Oscar® wins all her movies in all categories.

9.  Two of Thelma Ritter’s movies are in the IMDb Top 250 movies of all-time:  Rear Window is currently ranked 40th and All About Eve is currently ranked 106th.

10. Check out Thelma Ritter‘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.

31 thoughts on “Thelma Ritter Movies

    1. Hey Stein….glad you enjoyed her performance in Pillow Talk….it is without a doubt one of her signature roles. Thanks for stopping by.

  1. Somehow she isn’t remembered as much as she deserved She might be greatest supporting actress of alltime. She was stellar in Pillow Talk and All About Eve. Good to see somebody giving her some respect.

    1. Hey T. Dryburgh….I think anybody that likes classic movies is aware of Thelma Ritter. But I agree not many young people are too aware of her excellent movie career. She was great comic relief …and yes her performances in Pillow Talk and especially All About Eve were Oscar worthy. Thanks for stopping by.

  2. Have seen them all. It’s been a long time, didn’t remember her in the Misfits or that she was in a Jerry Lewis epic (albeit he didn’t create it) and the ever popular What’s So Bad About Feeling Good. That came on NBC in 1969 or 70. Used to think when I was a kid then that films that debuted on regular TV in a year or so were big bombs but a lot of Universal’s 1968 flicks debuted on free TV just a year later. It was just like that studio’s films came on fast, like they do on HBO now.

    1. Hey Dan….your requests have been coming off the board at a good rate lately. So you have seen all 31 of her movies….well nobody will top that tally count…lol. She is billed 4th in The Misfits….but I have to admit her part is hard to remember…she easily got overshadowed by Gable, Monroe and Clift. Her last two movies barely registered at all at the box office…though The Incident had some decent reviews. Interesting about NBC and Universal movies. I have such fond memories of Sunday night movies….many times it was a James Bond movie….for years I would see about a 1/3 of Bond movie and then get sent to bed. Many times my dad will tell me….as soon as Q and the gadgets come on….it is time to go to bed. Thanks for the comment and the movie thoughts.

  3. Wow I have seen 23 of her movies. She was a fun actress to watch. I have actually seen the Top 12 on the table. Another winning page. Keep them coming.

    1. Hey Bern1960….thanks for stopping by. 23 movies has me beat….as I am at 15. I get to #8 A Hole In The Head before I stumble. Thanks for the tally count, the visit and the nice words.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.