Want to know the best Van Johnson movies? How about the worst Van Johnson movies? Curious about Van Johnson box office grosses or which Van Johnson movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Van Johnson movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Van Johnson (1916-2008) was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at MGM from 1942 to 1954. His IMDb page shows 123 acting credits from 1940-1992. This page ranks 63 Van Johnson movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. But what about his other 60 IMDb credits? Well….his 42 television appearances, his 13 movies not released in North America, his 4 uncredited roles and his one short were not included in the rankings.
Drivel Part: So earlier today we were web hopping around some of our favorite classic movie Facebook pages. While checking out Classic Film Lovers’ Haven we noticed that their current banner was mentioning that tomorrow, August 25th 2016 is Van Johnson’s 100th birthday. Knowing that Flora had requested a Van Johnson page we wonder if we would be able to put together an entire Van Johnson page in time for his 100th birthday….well since you are now reading this page, the answer to that question was yes….thank you Eddie Mannix’s MGM ledgers.
Van Johnson 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 Van Johnson movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Van Johnson movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Van Johnson movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)….we were able to worldwide box office on 48 of his movies
- Sort Van Johnson movies 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 Van Johnson movie received.
- Sort Van Johnson 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.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Van Johnson Table
- Twenty-seven Van Johnson movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 42.85% of his movies listed. The Caine Mutiny (1954) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Van Johnson movie grossed $114.80 million in adjusted domestic box office gross.
- That translates to a career adjusted box office of $7.23 billion.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 44 Van Johnson movies are rated as good movies…or 69.84% of his movies. The Caine Mutiny (1954) is his highest rated movie while Plymouth Adventure (1952) is his lowest rated movie.
- Seventeen Van Johnson movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 26.98% of his movies.
- Four Van Johnson movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 6.34% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 34 Van Johnson movies scored higher that average….or 44.11% of his movies. The Caine Mutiny (1954) got the the highest UMR Score while The Enemy General (1960) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Van Johnson
1. Charles Van Dell Johnson was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1916.
2. Van Johnson met Lucille Ball during the filming of 1940’s Too Many Girls. Ball took Johnson to to Chasen’s Restaurant, where she introduced him to MGM casting director Billy Grady. After his 6 month contract with Warner Brothers was terminated, Johnson signed with MGM.
3. Van Johnson was listed on Quigley’s Annual Top Box Office Star list 6 times. He was ranked 2nd in 1945, 3rd in 1946, 13th in 1947, 20th in 1948, 18th in 1950 and 20th in 1951.
4. Halfway through the filming of 1943’s A Guy Name Joe….Van Johnson was in a serious car accident that left him with a metal plate in his forehead and a number of scars on his face that the plastic surgery of the time could not completely correct or conceal; he used heavy makeup to hide them for years. When the crash happened, Johnson’s scalp was nearly sheared off. The closest rescue units responded, but because the accident happened just over the local county line, the rescuers had to stop at the county line and could not help him. Johnson had to slap his scalp into place and literally crawl nearly 50 yards to get to the rescue workers for aid.
5. Van Johnson’s injury caused the production of A Guy Named Joe to shut down. At first the studio wanted to replace Johnson….but Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne insisted that Johnson be allowed to finish the picture,
6. Van Johnson’s two main nicknames were: King of Dinner Theater & The Voiceless Sinatra
7. Van Johnson was married 1 times and had 3 children….one daughter and 2 stepsons…..the father of his stepsons was actor Keenan Wynn.
8. Van Johnson starred in 4 movies that earned Best Picture Oscar® nominations: 1943’s Madame Curie, 1943’s The Human Comedy, 1949’s Battleground and 1954’s The Caine Mutiny.
9. Van Johnson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6600 Hollywood Blvd.
10. Check out Van Johnson ‘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.
By the way – I have a sprained right foot and cannot seem to stay off of it.
I say this and comment on your site. because I saw on the Henry Fonda page a reference from you and Robert Roy best wished for a speedy recovery.
I will not go into how or why I got it.
But with the well wishes on Google I saw them, I thought I would just say a brief hi. And Van’s page was new and a classic star.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo is my favourite.
Flora
Hey Flora…sorry about your ankle. Hope it heals quickly. 30 Seconds Over Tokyo was one of my dad’s favorite movie too.
Hi, Bruce.
I won’t be commenting on your site anymore on regular , but I loved the Van Johnson day on TCM, and I thought that I would say hi to you and other regulars on VAN JOHNSON’s page.
I am a big fan of Van.
Flora
Hey Flora…got this published on his 100th birthday. His career was pretty impressive…especially his years at MGM. Glad you saw your requested page.
Hi
Johnson had a good 10 year run of real success. At first he was the all American boy next door, perfect leading man or best friend to the likes of Spencer Tracey or Gene Kelly. But I think Battleground showed that he was worth more, it’s one of the best war movies ever and he was superb in it. And of course The Cain Mutiny was a great part. I’m surprised that MGM let him go in ’54, considering he was such a box office draw. It’s a pity he didn’t get better parts as he got older.
I remember around 2006, a British paper done an article on him about he had become an old recluse and you could see a picture of him emptying his bin. I suppose it was really an invasion of personal privacy but i think the point of the article is he is just an ordinary guy, an old man wanting to be left alone now.
I think Battleground and The Cain Mutiny were his two best movies.
Hey Chris.
1. His first 10 years at MGM were incredible…..money in the bank for sure.
2. MGM pretty much let everybody go in the mid 1950s….even the King..Gable….got let go…..and MGM has never been the powerhouse studio again.
3. I agree….it is a shame that pretty much all of his work the last 30 years of his career…were television roles or movies made overseas that never saw the light of day in North America and probably in your area as well.
4. That is sad about him in 2006…it sounds like his personal life was not the happiest.
5. Good to see that your two favorite Van Johnson movies…have the Top 2 stops according to our ranking system….great movies indeed.
Thanks for the visit.
Hi Bruce,
This is a great choice for a page! Van Johnson’s carreer reads like an almost great. His charisma was unquestionable, when the camera veered towards him even Clark Gable’s star power paled. Without ever resorting to McQueen tricks the viewer was automatically attracted to his character; a natural scene stealer!
Happy 100th!
Marcel
Hey Marcel….good points on Van Johnson…I think his performance in The Caine Mutiny is the greatest example of the points you made in the comment. A natural scene stealer…I agree 100%. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Love him in Battleground!
Hey Sue…I agree he was very good in Battleground! Thanks for stopping by.