Who were the Top Movie Stars of the 1930s statistically? This page will attempt to answer that question. Our main source of information was our Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) pages that covered movie stars that made movies in the 1930s. So far we have box office grosses on 1,297 movies made between 1930 and 1939. Granted this is far from all the movies made during that time frame….but it does cover most of the major movie releases in that decade.
We have included four lists of information. List one looks at the Top 15 stars by adjusted domestic box office. List two looks at the Top 15 stars by highest average rating per movie according to critics and audiences. List three looks at the Top 15 Stars by highest average UMR score per movie. List four shows our entire table of all the stars we looked at while complying these lists.
Top 15 Adjusted Domestic Box Office Leaders 1930 – 1939
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- 1st – Clark Gable $7,151,600,000
- 2nd – Myrna Loy $5,400,000,000
- 3rd – Hattie McDaniel $4,595,000,000
- 4th – Lionel Barrymore $4,262,400,000
- 5th – Robert Young $4,027,200,000
- 6th – Thomas Mitchell $3,926,400,000
- 7th – Loretta Young $3,816,000,000
- 8th – Olivia de Havilland $3,803,400,000
- 9th – Gary Cooper $3,753,600,000
- 10th – Donald Crisp $3,713,500,000
- 11th – Wallace Beery $3,612,000,000
- 12th – Mickey Rooney $3,478,800,000
- 13th – Robert Montgomery $3,420,000,000
- 14th – William Powell $3,328,000,000
- 15th – Maureen O’Sullivan $3,315,200,000
Top 15 Average Critic/Audience Rating Leaders 1930 – 1939 (mininum 8 movies)
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- 1st – Marx Brothers 80.40%
- 2nd – Fred Astaire 76.00%
- 3rd – Thomas Mitchell 75.50%
- 4th – Marlene Dietrich 74.30%
- 5th – Robert Donat 72.80%
- 6th – Greta Garbo 72.60%
- 7th – Hattie McDaniel 72.10%
- 8th – Leslie Howard 72.10%
- 9th – Charles Laughton 72.00%
- 10th – James Stewart 71.00%
- 11th – Laurel & Hardy 70.70%
- 12th – W.C. Fields 70.60%
- 13th – Jean Arthur 70.50%
- 14th – Olivia de Havilland 70.00%
- 15th – Jean Harlow 69.70%
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Top 15 Average UMR (combining box office, reviews and awards) Score Per Movie 1930-1939 (minimum 8 movies)
1st – Fred Astaire
2nd – Marx Brothers
3rd – Tyrone Power
4th – Norma Shearer
5th – Judy Garland
6th – Greta Garbo
7th – James Stewart
8th – David Niven
9th – Charles Laughton
10th – Errol Flynn
11th – Shirley Temple
12th – Clark Gable
13th – Jean Arthur
14th – Marlene Dietrich
15th – Ginger Rogers
Top Movie Stars 1930-1939 Main Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies any way you want.
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- Sort by actor or actress
- Sort by movies made between 1930 and 1939
- Sort by total adjusted domestic box office from 1930 to 1939
- Sort by total adjusted worldwide box office from 1930 to 1939
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each performers’ movies earned
- Sort by average UMR Score
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Default setting is total adjusted domestic box office.
Rank Thespian Movies Adj. Domestic B.O. Adj. Worldwide B.O. AVG Review % Oscar Noms / Wins AVG UMR Score Clark Gable 38 $7,151,600,000 $11,430,200,000 68.7 % 040 / 17 73.13 Myrna Loy 54 $5,400,000,000 $7,305,100,000 63.9 % 031 / 06 64.56 Hattie McDaniel 25 $4,595,000,000 $6,764,700,000 72.1 % 021 / 08 71.01 Lionel Barrymore 36 $4,262,400,000 $6,368,600,000 68.0 % 023 / 05 69.82 Robert Young 48 $4,027,200,000 $4,912,600,000 59.0 % 003 / 01 60.48 Thomas Mitchell 16 $3,926,400,000 $5,756,000,000 75.5 % 043 / 13 77.46 Loretta Young 45 $3,816,000,000 $4,032,600,000 62.5 % 009 / 01 62.31 Olivia de Havilland 18 $3,803,400,000 $6,489,900,000 70.0 % 041 / 18 71.63 Gary Cooper 32 $3,753,600,000 $3,848,800,000 65.0 % 034 / 06 69.24 Donald Crisp 35 $3,713,500,000 $5,796,900,000 63.3 % 043 / 08 66.61 Wallace Beery 30 $3,612,000,000 $4,969,000,000 66.0 % 014 / 07 70.61 Mickey Rooney 26 $3,478,800,000 $4,848,600,000 66.1 % 017 / 06 70.37 Robert Montgomery 40 $3,420,000,000 $4,410,300,000 61.2 % 012 / 03 62.51 William Powell 32 $3,328,000,000 $4,738,500,000 67.5 % 022 / 05 67.57 Maureen O'Sullivan 32 $3,315,200,000 $5,112,500,000 65.1 % 008 / 00 66.74 Leslie Howard 20 $3,314,000,000 $5,268,000,000 72.1 % 028 / 10 68.27 Dick Powell 31 $3,307,700,000 $4,453,200,000 62.5 % 014 / 03 65.87 Fredric March 29 $3,306,000,000 $3,816,900,000 64.4 % 036 / 07 68.87 Tyrone Power 16 $3,289,600,000 $3,469,200,000 64.9 % 030 / 04 76.86 Edward Arnold 33 $3,280,200,000 $3,747,100,000 66.0 % 022 / 04 64.99 Joan Blondell 41 $3,206,200,000 $4,049,700,000 62.5 % 003 / 00 60.94 Ginger Rogers 30 $3,204,000,000 $4,833,500,000 68.7 % 026 / 02 68.92 Spencer Tracy 26 $3,127,800,000 $4,621,300,000 65.7 % 021 / 04 67.03 Joan Crawford 25 $3,095,000,000 $4,712,500,000 61.7 % 004 / 01 68.44 Shirley Temple 22 $3,049,200,000 $3,048,600,000 69.5 % 001 / 00 73.70 James Cagney 32 $2,963,200,000 $4,145,500,000 65.8 % 011 / 02 65.75 Carole Lombard 35 $2,943,500,000 $2,996,500,000 63.1 % 006 / 00 62.97 Pat O'Brien 39 $2,917,200,000 $3,883,800,000 61.0 % 008 / 00 60.38 Robert Taylor 24 $2,872,800,000 $4,455,000,000 61.4 % 008 / 01 67.26 Claudette Colbert 22 $2,864,400,000 $3,030,200,000 67.7 % 018 / 06 71.69 Melvyn Douglas 33 $2,864,400,000 $3,500,500,000 62.6 % 012 / 01 62.21 Jean Harlow 22 $2,860,000,000 $3,962,200,000 69.7 % 004 / 00 70.47 Cary Grant 28 $2,758,000,000 $3,235,300,000 69.7 % 014 / 01 66.41 James Stewart 20 $2,706,000,000 $3,565,900,000 70.9 % 024 / 03 72.94 Alice Faye 21 $2,685,900,000 $2,686,900,000 64.8 % 015 / 03 68.20 Jeanette MacDonald 19 $2,667,600,000 $4,520,200,000 66.4 % 015 / 03 69.74 George Brent 36 $2,649,600,000 $3,653,200,000 64.4 % 016 / 03 61.68 Don Ameche 18 $2,595,600,000 $2,595,000,000 61.7 % 013 / 03 68.69 Humphrey Bogart 30 $2,592,000,000 $3,550,500,000 63.9 % 011 / 00 63.78 John Barrymore 30 $2,589,000,000 $3,816,500,000 65.8 % 015 / 01 64.22 Barbara Stanwyck 32 $2,556,800,000 $2,829,500,000 63.1 % 005 / 00 62.06 George Raft 30 $2,532,000,000 $2,766,600,000 64.1 % 003 / 00 63.28 Bette Davis 36 $2,520,000,000 $3,567,800,000 63.7 % 017 / 03 62.08 Kay Francis 41 $2,488,700,000 $3,485,900,000 62.9 % 003 / 01 59.10 Claude Rains 20 $2,460,000,000 $3,391,100,000 69.3 % 025 / 08 70.25 Basil Rathbone 27 $2,421,900,000 $3,706,300,000 70.5 % 021 / 03 67.24 Ray Milland 31 $2,396,300,000 $2,436,500,000 62.8 % 007 / 00 61.80 Victor McLaglen 29 $2,354,800,000 $2,820,300,000 65.4 % 011 / 04 62.85 Joel McCrea 29 $2,349,000,000 $2,493,000,000 63.5 % 013 / 01 62.69 Jean Arthur 19 $2,350,300,000 $2,477,000,000 70.5 % 026 / 04 71.15 David Niven 16 $2,347,200,000 $3,022,300,000 68.1 % 024 / 03 75.28 Vivien Leigh 6 $2,238,600,000 $3,848,600,000 72.4 % 013 / 08 71.34 Boris Karloff 34 $2,199,800,000 $2,391,800,000 67.2 % 006 / 00 61.33 Charles Laughton 17 $2,125,000,000 $2,765,000,000 72.0 % 020 / 02 73.07 Henry Fonda 20 $2,096,000,000 $2,371,100,000 63.1 % 012 / 02 64.81 Irene Dunne 24 $2,035,200,000 $2,256,000,000 63.9 % 021 / 05 64.88 Douglas Fairbanks Jr. 26 $2,020,200,000 $2,620,200,000 67.0 % 009 / 02 62.63 Miriam Hopkins 23 $1,996,400,000 $2,105,400,000 65.5 % 009 / 01 64.54 Janet Gaynor 19 $1,995,000,000 $2,104,200,000 63.6 % 012 / 01 67.24 Rosalind Russell 20 $1,990,000,000 $2,837,800,000 63.7 % 006 / 00 65.47 Fay Wray 32 $1,980,800,000 $2,496,400,000 63.0 % 009 / 01 58.14 Lew Ayres 36 $1,936,800,000 $2,180,900,000 59.0 % 008 / 02 56.58 Constance Bennett 25 $1,922,500,000 $2,262,400,000 63.2 % 013 / 00 61.32 Mary Astor 28 $1,920,800,000 $2,251,100,000 65.3 % 012 / 01 61.42 Marie Dressler 14 $1,883,000,000 $2,432,800,000 64.7 % 005 / 01 72.35 Errol Flynn 13 $1,846,000,000 $3,173,200,000 69.7 % 017 / 04 73.65 Fred MacMurray 19 $1,810,700,000 $1,831,500,000 65.4 % 004 / 00 65.72 Lyle Talbot 31 $1,807,300,000 $2,104,800,000 59.1 % 008 / 02 57.00 Randolph Scott 15 $1,804,500,000 $2,041,900,000 64.2 % 003 / 00 67.79 Will Rogers 19 $1,795,500,000 $1,844,500,000 62.8 % 002 / 00 64.42 Edward G. Robinson 24 $1,795,200,000 $2,373,000,000 64.4 % 004 / 00 62.09 Norma Shearer 13 $1,794,000,000 $2,750,700,000 65.4 % 018 / 02 75.9 Walter Brennan 17 $1,785,000,000 $1,973,600,000 65.8 % 012 / 03 67.65 Fred Astaire 11 $1,756,700,000 $2,891,400,000 76.0 % 019 / 03 81.87 Joan Bennett 24 $1,756,800,000 $1,990,900,000 61.8 % 006 / 01 60.49 Walter Pidgeon 25 $1,740,000,000 $2,508,500,000 60.3 % 000 / 00 58.00 Ronald Colman 15 $1,734,000,000 $1,863,500,000 66.4 % 020 / 02 70.53 Nelson Eddy 10 $1,706,000,000 $2,908,700,000 66.0 % 007 / 01 73.66 Bing Crosby 20 $1,686,000,000 $1,725,800,000 65.6 % 005 / 02 64.06 Herbert Marshall 26 $1,682,200,000 $1,897,000,000 65.2 % 008 / 01 60.35 Sylvia Sidney 20 $1,586,000,000 $1,713,300,000 67.1 % 006 / 00 64.04 Monty Woolley 15 $1,543,500,000 $1,880,000,000 66.8 % 001 / 00 67.11 Marlene Dietrich 13 $1,535,300,000 $1,535,900,000 75.3 % 009 / 01 72.61 Greta Garbo 13 $1,534,000,000 $3,428,000,000 72.6 % 013 / 01 75.31 Joe E. Brown 25 $1,532,500,000 $1,917,200,000 57.7 % 004 / 02 56.71 William Demarest 16 $1,507,200,000 $1,723,500,000 66.8 % 011 / 01 64.74 Charles Bickford 21 $1,493,100,000 $1,779,000,000 60.7 % 007 / 00 59.98 Ralph Bellamy 24 $1,478,400,000 $1,700,200,000 62.3 % 009 / 01 58.71 Ann Sheridan 21 $1,430,100,000 $1,846,900,000 56.9 % 004 / 00 56.90 Laurel and Hardy 15 $1,423,500,000 $1,595,600,000 70.7 % 003 / 00 67.71 Judy Garland 8 $1,421,600,000 $2,017,600,000 68.7 % 009 / 02 74.13 Paul Muni 13 $1,378,000,000 $2,409,400,000 68.3 % 024 / 08 70.96 Elisha Cook Jr. 14 $1,356,600,000 $1,428,500,000 63.5 % 001 / 00 63.68 Priscilla Lane 11 $1,345,300,000 $1,663,800,000 63.9 % 001 / 00 68.72 Dorothy Lamour 13 $1,337,700,000 $1,337,500,000 62.5 % 003 / 01 65.58 Bela Lugosi 24 $1,320,000,000 $1,627,100,000 63.5 % 004 / 00 58.46 Walter Huston 20 $1,312,000,000 $1,671,000,000 63.9 % 011 / 01 60.95 Paul Lukas 19 $1,311,000,000 $1,581,800,000 63.7 % 010 / 02 61.46 Madeleine Carroll 14 $1,265,600,000 $1,327,900,000 65.0 % 009 / 00 64.66 Luise Rainer 8 $1,252,000,000 $2,094,500,000 65.8 % 015 / 06 74.48 Mae West 8 $1,249,600,000 $1,249,200,000 66.6 % 002 / 00 72.58 Jane Wyman 17 $1,229,100,000 $1,452,000,000 58.5 % 001 / 00 58.61 Leo G. Carroll 16 $1,224,000,000 $1,745,300,000 67.8 % 019 / 02 64.13 Ruth Hussey 11 $1,196,800,000 $1,446,000,000 64.3 % 000 / 00 66.53 Deanna Durbin 6 $1,182,600,000 $1,182,800,000 70.5 % 017 / 01 81.65 Ethel Merman 9 $1,167,300,000 $1,167,000,000 61.9 % 007 / 01 64.49 W.C. Fields 17 $1,159,400,000 $1,307,200,000 70.6 % 001 / 01 64.05 Ronald Reagan 17 $1,157,700,000 $1,435,500,000 54.8 % 004 / 00 56.51 Eleanor Powell 6 $1,144,200,000 $1,638,800,000 62.0 % 005 / 01 76.30 Katharine Hepburn 15 $1,140,000,000 $1,622,100,000 67.8 % 012 / 02 65.07 Claire Trevor 12 $1,125,600,000 $1,348,900,000 64.4 % 011 / 02 65.96 George Burns 13 $1,114,100,000 $1,178,100,000 62.1 % 003 / 01 62.62 Sonja Henie 6 $1,099,200,000 $1,098,900,000 54.3 % 002 / 00 70.58 Marx Brothers 8 $1,094,400,000 $1,355,400,000 80.4 % 001 / 00 78.52 Fay Bainter 12 $1,082,400,000 $1,325,100,000 66.7 % 007 / 02 67.22 Colin Clive 17 $1,079,500,000 $1,249,800,000 65.8 % 001 / 00 59.56 Joan Fontaine 9 $1,033,200,000 $1,564,800,000 65.8 % 007 / 01 67.23 Merle Oberon 13 $1,032,200,000 $1,032,700,000 66.5 % 018 / 05 65.42 Lucille Ball 9 $1,032,300,000 $1,487,400,000 65.2 % 006 / 00 68.33 Eve Arden 13 $1,032,200,000 $1,375,200,000 62.0 % 005 / 00 60.94 George Sanders 10 $1,029,000,000 $1,137,000,000 62.4 % 003 / 00 64.70 Charles Boyer 13 $1,027,000,000 $1,478,500,000 63.6 % 015 / 01 63.66 Paulette Goddard 5 $1,024,000,000 $1,110,400,000 78.9 % 003 / 00 82.51 Anthony Quinn 8 $911,200,000 $910,900,000 63.6 % 004 / 01 67.97 George Arliss 18 $907,200,000 $1,211,000,000 58.3 % 001 / 00 55.64 Ann Miller 8 $893,600,000 $1,062,000,000 66.5 % 011 / 02 67.42 Robert Cummings 11 $861,300,000 $861,400,000 63.7 % 004 / 00 62.36 Elsa Lanchester 7 $800,800,000 $1,056,600,000 73.6 % 005 / 02 73.66 Charles Chaplin 2 $796,200,000 $796,100,000 92.2 % 000 / 00 94.05 Margaret Sullavan 9 $772,200,000 $988,600,000 69.6 % 001 / 00 66.49 Lana Turner 9 $765,000,000 $893,400,000 63.4 % 000 / 00 62.57 Broderick Crawford 6 $749,400,000 $810,200,000 65.5 % 003 / 00 68.93 Jack Benny 10 $742,000,000 $874,600,000 59.6 % 004 / 01 59.45 Ida Lupino 12 $736,800,000 $815,100,000 60.8 % 002 / 00 58.73 Helen Hayes 9 $727,200,000 $931,800,000 63.4 % 009 / 03 64.49 Laurence Olivier 10 $727,000,000 $726,600,000 58.6 % 008 / 01 60.5 John Garfield 6 $715,200,000 $944,600,000 67.2 % 002 / 00 71.67 Robert Donat 9 $709,200,000 $1,129,000,000 72.8 % 013 / 02 69.28 Charles Farrell 7 $704,200,000 $704,500,000 58.5 % 000 / 00 63.51 Peter Lorre 14 $702,800,000 $717,600,000 65.6 % 000 / 00 58.58 Barry Fitzgerald 8 $680,000,000 $885,200,000 67.3 % 000 / 00 63.55 Bob Hope 7 $665,000,000 $664,800,000 64.5 % 001 / 01 65.18 John Wayne 15 $648,000,000 $842,400,000 58.9 % 007 / 02 54.53 Dennis Morgan 10 $629,000,000 $659,500,000 58.5 % 001 / 00 57.87 Marsha Hunt 10 $625,000,000 $727,300,000 59.1 % 000 / 00 57.67 Betty Grable 8 $605,600,000 $748,800,000 59.1 % 001 / 00 59.75 Ralph Richardson 14 $599,200,000 $817,600,000 64.9 % 005 / 00 57.80 Dean Jagger 9 $550,800,000 $550,500,000 57.1 % 000 / 00 56.38 Johnny Weissmuller 4 $535,600,000 $1,190,600,000 73.0 % 000 / 00 74.55 Buster Keaton 9 $520,200,000 $751,500,000 49.9 % 000 / 00 52.79 Robert Preston 4 $498,400,000 $498,200,000 71.8 % 003 / 00 72.35 Frances Farmer 8 $489,600,000 $518,300,000 64.4 % 002 / 01 59.78 Burgess Meredith 5 $457,000,000 $554,400,000 57.6 % 006 / 00 63.70 Tallulah Bankhead 7 $433,300,000 $433,600,000 61.4 % 000 / 00 58.97 Donald O'Connor 5 $429,000,000 $429,200,000 68.0 % 002 / 00 65.24 Hedy Lamarr 3 $411,000,000 $549,100,000 67.8 % 005 / 00 73.77 Maureen O'Hara 2 $408,600,000 $668,200,000 68.5 % 002 / 00 80.77 Rex Harrison 6 $355,800,000 $574,500,000 62.1 % 004 / 00 59.69 Gene Autry 20 $346,000,000 $346,900,000 58.2 % 001 / 00 50.09 Susan Hayward 4 $311,200,000 $323,900,000 68.0 % 002 / 00 62.08 Greer Garson 2 $297,400,000 $541,800,000 67.3 % 007 / 01 78.93 Edmond O'Brien 1 $244,400,000 $504,100,000 83.5 % 002 / 00 91.00 Paul Henreid 1 $224,700,000 $425,500,000 79.5 % 007 / 01 94.80 Robert Morley 1 $221,600,000 $401,100,000 76.5 % 004 / 00 94.60 Rita Hayworth 2 $212,800,000 $212,700,000 75.8 % 002 / 00 71.43 Linda Darnell 2 $212,200,000 $212,100,000 61.0 % 000 / 00 65.14 Gloria Swanson 6 $193,200,000 $192,900,000 58.6 % 000 / 00 53.47 
Joan Crawford sits in 10th place when looking at the top adjusted worldwide box office leaders of 1930-1939 *Our worldwide box office grosses are hugely dependent on the studio the star worked for. Those working at RKO, Warner Brothers and MGM have the most worldwide grosses in our database. Poor Gary Cooper, he spent many years at Paramount so we have very little when it comes to his worldwide grosses.
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Saw the debate in the comments. First of all, I LOVE YOUR SITE!!! I just discovered it today! I’m so surprised I’d never seen or even heard of it before. Keep up the good work! I will be referring other movie lovers like myself to your site.
Now, if I may add my 2 cents to the debate. I love the data you list, however, to determine the “Top Movie Stars” of a particular decade, instead of using the TOTAL box office, wouldn’t it be better to ALSO list the AVERAGE Box Office (Total Box Office divided Number of Movies, with a minimum number of movies for the decade, like maybe 5 because back in the early years many Stars did lots of movies, whereas today it is not uncommon for big Stars to do as few as 1 movies every 2 years.) An example of how looking at the AVERAGE gets different results is to compare Myrna Loy’s 54 movies average, to very popular Stars like Marlene Dietrich, or Greta Garbo who both only did 13 movies. It’s interesting to see how much comparing the Average Box Office, changes the list of the Top Stars.
Either way, could you please add an “Average Box Office” column to your list?
Thanks. Keep up the good work. Love your site! : )
Movie Lover, great share. keep coming back.
I love this site it has great info. But if we place Astaire at #1 and Rogers at #15 in the Top 15 Average UMR (combining box office, reviews and awards) list, something is seriously broken here.
There are only three explanations I can think of. Either
A.) these ratings are based on the entire career instead of the decade in question. But that actually would support Rogers being higher since she won awards Astaire never received, including an Academy Award, was a much bigger box office draw for most of her career, had a far greater range of roles, always received high quality reviews, and had a much larger body of work;
Or
B.) Fred gets most of the credit for the set of Astaire-Rogers films. This is an idea not found in contemporary reviews, which all praised Fred for his dancing yet had little to say about his singing and even less about his acting, while virtually all reviews raved about Ginger’s endless array of talent (she really was that rarest of phenomenons, a Triple Threat, sing, dance & act at A List levels). He didn’t come close to her at the box office – everything he did 1930-1940 without her, flopped. Head to head, Ginger Rogers outsold Fred Astaire every year 1930-1940.
She was in all his hits and none of his flops, while she was a powerful draw on her own outside of the Astaire-Rogers musicals. While Fred Astaire was getting labeled Box Office Poison, Ginger Rogers was carrying another B.O.P., awardee – katherine hepburn – to her best box office receipts of the decade in Stage Door;
Or
C.) These ratings are hurting Rogers because she made more movies in the 1930s. But if that’s the case, where is Harlow? She made 7 All Time classic movies out of 9 during the 1930s, all smash hits, with great reviews, the best hitting percentage of any lead actor’s body of work in any era. And too, this falls apart because, as stated, Rogers had a whole series of box office hits on her own, while Astaire movies did so poorly without Ginger that movie theater managers publicly said they did not want to lose any more money by showing his movies.
To me, this is a problem similar to the view of katherine hepburn as the greatest actress of the golden era because she won 4 Academy Awards. Not only was there a very strong debate at the time about who was the greatest actress (Bergman & Garbo both were more highly regarded by many if not most critics), she actually only received a single Academy Award during the Golden Era. She received the other three in 1968, 1969, & 1982 – decades after the Golden Era was dead and buried.
Much as I love the work on here, that ranking just does not stand up to scrutiny.
Hey Old Movie Fan. Great comment. It was very interesting to read. Of the three options you presented…..Option C is the main reason that Ginger is lower than Fred. Her 30 movies is almost 3 times the amount that Fred made in the 1930s. That quantity really lowered her average score…as some of those 30 movies were not successful movies at all. I am including the 30 movies she made from 1930 to 1939.
MovieYear MovieScorePct
Follow The Leader (1930) 17.84
Queen High (1930) 45.66
Suicide Fleet (1931) 48.86
Tip-Off, The (1931) 20.66
Tenderfoot, The (1932) 43.79
Flying Down to Rio (1933) 87.03
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) 97.32
Broadway Bad (1933) 57.71
42nd Street (1933) 98.43
Don’t Bet On Love (1933) 20.56
Finishing School (1934) 26.12
Gay Divorcee, The (1934) 97.54
Change of Heart (1934) 56.44
Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934) 80.24
Upper World (1934) 41.72
Star of Midnight (1935) 71.05
Roberta (1935) 93.39
Romance in Manhattan (1935) 76.96
Top Hat (1935) 99.28
In Person (1935) 70.89
Swing Time (1936) 98.23
Follow the Fleet (1936) 95.21
Shall We Dance (1937) 96.14
Stage Door (1937) 99.12
Having Wonderful Time (1938) 81.12
Vivacious Lady (1938) 93.41
Carefree (1938) 93.36
Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, The (1939) 91.05
Fifth Avenue Girl (1939) 87.21
Bachelor Mother (1939) 94.59
Of the 30 movies, 8 of her movies scored under 50%. Including 3 in the mid 20s or worse. Having almost a third of her movies really hurt the average. But she has some many high scoring movies (13 over 90) that her overall average is still pretty good. Fred benefited from only having 11 movies for the entire decade…with most of those being with Ginger. In our book…Top 50 Stars Statistically Speakling….both Fred and Ginger did well…first of all, both made the book…with Ginger topping Fred in those rankings…she is 26th and he is 32nd. I think that goes with many of the great points in your comment.
Ultimately…you can sort the table however you like….and you will get lots of different rankings…and ultimately it is up to the reader to pick the rankings that like the most. Great feedback….it is greatly appreciated.
This page has been updated.
can not understand why Laurel and Hardy aere never in these lists. They were the best!
Hey Elias….just gave this page a major update….Laurel & Hardy are now in the rankings. They are in 87th place for the decade when looking at box office grosses….but when looking at average review % they have a spot in the Top 15.
FYI….They were not originally in the table, because I had not yet written a page on them when I first put this 1930-1930 page together. Added bonus…about 50 more thespians are now on the page. Good feedback.