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Top movie star year by year

posted 5 years ago by Jes' Sayin' (5958)
37 replies | jump to latest

The Quigley Publications Poll determined the top box-office stars each year.
1912 Maurice Costello
1913 Romaine Fielding
1914 Earle Williams
1915 William S. Hart
1916 William S. Hart
1917 Douglas Fairbanks
1918 Douglas Fairbanks
1919 Wallace Reid / Winner of the 1910s: Hart & Fairbanks
1920 Wallace Reid
1921 Mary Pickford
1922 Mary Pickford
1923 Thomas Meighan
1924 Norma Talmadge
1925 Rudolph Valentino
1926 Colleen Moore
1927 Tom Mix
1928 Clara Bow
1929 Clara Bow / Winner of the 1920s: Pickford & Bow
1930 Joan Crawford
1931 Janet Gaynor
1932 Marie Dressler
1933 Marie Dressler
1934 Will Rogers
1935 Shirley Temple
1936 Shirley Temple
1937 Shirley Temple
1938 Shirley Temple
1939 Mickey Rooney / Winner of the 1930s: Temple
1940 Mickey Rooney
1941 Mickey Rooney
1942 Abbott & Costello
1943 Betty Grable
1944 Bing Crosby
1945 Bing Crosby
1946 Bing Crosby
1947 Bing Crosby
1948 Bing Crosby
1949 Bob Hope / Winner of the 1940s: Crosby
1950 John Wayne
1951 John Wayne
1952 Martin & Lewis
1953 Gary Cooper
1954 John Wayne
1955 James Stewart
1956 William Holden
1957 Rock Hudson
1958 Glenn Ford
1959 Rock Hudson / Winner of the 1950s: Wayne
1960 Doris Day
1961 Elizabeth Taylor
1962 Doris Day
1963 Doris Day
1964 Doris Day
1965 Sean Connery
1966 Julie Andrews
1967 Julie Andrews
1968 Sidney Poitier
1969 Paul Newman / Winner of the 1960s: Day
1970 Paul Newman
1971 John Wayne
1972 Clint Eastwood
1973 Clint Eastwood
1974 Robert Redford
1975 Robert Redford
1976 Robert Redford
1977 Sylvester Stallone
1978 Burt Reynolds
1979 Burt Reynolds / Winner of the 1970s: Redford
1980 Burt Reynolds
1981 Burt Reynolds
1982 Burt Reynolds
1983 Clint Eastwood
1984 Clint Eastwood
1985 Sylvester Stallone
1986 Tom Cruise
1987 Eddie Murphy
1988 Tom Cruise
1989 Jack Nicholson / Winner of the 1980s: Reynolds
1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger
1991 Kevin Costner
1992 Tom Cruise
1993 Clint Eastwood
1994 Tom Hanks
1995 Tom Hanks
1996 Tom Cruise – Mel Gibson
1997 Harrison Ford
1998 Tom Hanks
1999 Julia Roberts / Winner of the 1990s: Hanks
2000 Tom Cruise
2001 Tom Cruise
2002 Tom Hanks
2003 Jim Carrey
2004 Tom Hanks
2005 Tom Cruise
2006 Johnny Depp
2007 Johnny Depp
2008 Will Smith
2009 Sandra Bullock / Winner of the 2000s: Cruise
2010 Johnny Depp
2011 Brad Pitt
2012 Denzel Washington
2013 Jennifer Lawrence

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

John Wayne number 1 in 1971 at age 64. Impressive.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yes! I guess that was after True Grit and more recently, Rio Lobo, Big Jake and The Cowboys.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I never saw Doris Day as a top tier actress.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

I know what you mean. Apparently brought a lot of people to the theaters though. Good date movies?

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

definitely before the counter culture movement.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yes, a strange holdover from the 50s and not at all what we tend to remember of the 60s. But usually the movies would lag behind popular taste. For example, MGM had bad years right after World War II because people wanted something with more grit, but they kept making musicals and costume dramas.

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[–] Stratego (29252) 5 years ago

Pillow Talk is a really cute movie.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Wasn't it clever the way they did it?

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[–] Stratego (29252) 5 years ago

You mean the telephone thing?

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yes, the way they were in completely separate places and yet not.

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[–] Stratego (29252) 5 years ago

Ah yes! Wouldn't work the same way today, though.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Guesses at the winners if the poll had continued:
2014 Jennifer Lawrence
2015 Harrison Ford
2016 Robert Downey Jr.
2017 Adam Driver
2018 Robert Downey Jr.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

14 Jennifer Lawrence
15 Matt Damon
16 Amy Adams
17 Dwayne Johnson
18 Jason Momoa

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Interesting, how did you arrive at?
In my case, just grabbed the star of the top domestic grossing film of the year.
Well at least we agree on one of them.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Superhero/action movies are taking over.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yes, probably a big reason they stopped the poll?

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

That's interesting. Reynolds made so many terrible movies. Only a couple are remembered as being anything good.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yes, we forget how many people went to see them.

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[–] Keelai (31892) 5 years ago

I'm not buying Reynolds for all those years. How does Burt Reynolds win 1981 when a Harrison Ford movie was #1 and made more money than two Reynold's movies? Sylvester Stallone's movies were bigger than Reynold's in 1982. Both Stallone and Ford were A list stars. Reynolds more like a B list with no #1 movies.

Harrison Ford should win the 1980s with Raiders of the Lost Ark, two Star Wars movies, two Indiana Jones movies, Witness, Blade Runner, Working Girl.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yah, I don't know how they concluded it. The list was based on a poll of US movie theater owners, who were asked to name who they felt were the previous year's top 10 moneymaking stars.

In 81 they had Ford as 6th, in 82 Stallone as 3rd.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ten_Money_Making_Stars_Poll#Poll_Results_by_Year

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[–] Keelai (31892) 5 years ago

It sounds like a subjective opinion poll instead of basing it on box office results and the actor's popularity at the time.

It would be better to poll people who were a part of the culture at the time (if alive). Rudolph Valentino was wildly popular during the 20s and he only has one year? No way.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Yes, true, though no system would be perfect. One problem is that the owner of a multiplex showing a film to tens of thousands or more gets just one vote, just like the owner of a one screen place in a small town somewhere. It could be that those Reynolds movies were the top draws in a lot of country towns.

I've heard Valentino was a trend that came and went pretty fast though. He won in '25 and died already in '26.

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[–] Keelai (31892) 5 years ago

That's why I'm saying the list is bogus. Valentino became a huge star in 1921 when the hits "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "The Sheik" came out. I have multi-generational ancestors who had a major crush on that guy.

Reynolds was a sex symbol and had some popular movies in the cities too. But, he was not a mega star like a Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Paul Newman. Five years of popularity is overkill. No way. Maybe one year - but not five.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Mary Pickford was a big star as well though.

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[–] Keelai (31892) 5 years ago

Absolutely. She probably deserved a lot more years than they gave her.

I agree with the names on the list. I'm only questioning some stars' frequency.

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[–] nyctc7 (41244) 5 years ago

I would imagine that Shirley Temple by a wide margin is the youngest on the list.

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5958) 5 years ago

Safe bet

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[–] TexasJack (12515) 5 years ago

I don't get Julia Roberts in 1999.

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[–] exithereplease (3553) 3 years ago

Interesting post.

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[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

Wow. What an amazing list!

😎

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[–] exithereplease (3553) 3 years ago

It is a very good list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Ten_Money_Making_Stars_Poll

Though this and numerous other magazines, like Photoplay, continued with this type of poll, the standards for the polling were set by the Quigley Publishing Company. They published a poll, which became known as the "Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll", from a questionnaire sent to movie exhibitors every year between 1915 and 2013 by Quigley Publishing Company.

I've been watching a lot of old game shows from the 1980's and was always surprised to hear Burt Reynolds here or there.

I guess this explains that.

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[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

Have you ever watched the Jeopardy parody on SNL with Norm McDonald as Burt?

😎

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (71750) 3 years ago

I have, Norm is hilarious
I like the Sean Connery impression too

'I'll take The Rapist for one hundred Alexsh'
'Umm, that's Therapist'🤪

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[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

That's one of the few funny bits on SNL in the last couple of decades. Most of what they do is Leftist Hatred.

😎

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