Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll

The Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll were polls on determining the bankability of movie stars. They began quite early in the movie history. At first, they were popular polls and contests conducted in film magazines, where the readers would vote for their favorite stars, like the poll published in ''New York Morning Telegraph'' on 17 December 1911. Magazines appeared and disappeared often and among the most consistent in those early days were the polls in the ''Motion Picture Magazine''.

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. The list was based on a poll of movie theater owners, who were asked to name who they felt were the previous year's top 10 money-making stars. The Top 10 Poll, which appeared annually in Quigley's ''Motion Picture Herald'' and ''The Motion Picture Almanac'', was long regarded as one of the most reliable barometers of a movie star's box-office power, as film exhibitors base their decisions on one economic criterion: those stars who will bring patrons into their theaters.

For the 1915–1924 period, the list was compiled from 200,000 exhibitor reports, published in the "What the Picture Did for Me" department in 520 weekly editions of the ''Exhibitors Herald'' magazine. The first version of the questionnaire, specifically made for the exhibitors to vote for the money-makers, was used from 1925 to 1931. It included voting for both the box office films and the stars. A standardized questionnaire specifically for choosing the biggest box office stars was used since 1933.

Records

Poll results by year

* 1912
* 1916
* 1921
* 1926
* 1931
* 1936
* 1941
* 1946
* 1951
* 1956
* 1961
* 1966
* 1971
* 1976
* 1981
* 1986
* 1991
* 1996
* 2001
* 2006
* 2011

Select top 25 lists

In addition to the top ten stars for that year, the Quigley Poll would commonly list the next 15 stars as well. A sample of these, including some of the predecessors' lists, are below:

* 1912
* 1928
* 1935
* 1940
* 1945
* 1950
* 1955
* 1960
* 1965
* 1970
* 1975
* 1980
* 1985
* 1990
* 1995
* 2000

*Other listings for 1933: 28) Ann Harding, 29) Marlene Dietrich, 30) Greta Garbo, 32) John Barrymore, 46) Walter Huston, 57) Ruth Chatterton, 67) Leslie Howard, 86) Kate Smith
*Random ratings for 1934: 29) Greta Garbo, 57) Marlene Dietrich, 60) Charles Farrell, 64) Constance Bennett, 96) Maurice Chevalier

Top ten Western stars

For a number of years, there was also a poll for the top ten Western stars in the United States.

Top Ten Money Makers in Britain

The ''Motion Picture Herald'' published a similar list for the UK, listing the most popular stars at the British box office, including the most popular British stars.

*Another poll by Sidney L. Bernstein of his theatre group listed these actors.

* In 1967, Sean Connery was voted most popular male star and Julie Christie most popular female star.

* In 1972, Sean Connery was voted most popular male star, followed by Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.

Top Stars in France

Various polls have been taken for the top stars in France too.

Box Office Poison

In 1938 a list was published of stars who were considered "box office poison" by exhibitors. The list was from Harry Brandt of the Independent Theater Owners Association.

The stars included:
* Edward Arnold
*Fred Astaire
*John Barrymore
*James Cagney
*Joan Crawford
* Dolores del Río
*Marlene Dietrich
*Kay Francis
*Greta Garbo
* Katharine Hepburn
*Norma Shearer
*Mae West

''Variety''s Over Priced Stars of 1968

In 1968 ''Variety'' magazine published a list of ten stars it considered overpriced. The stars charged at least $250,000 a film and had at least four flops in a row recently:

* Brigitte Bardot
* Marlon Brando
* Yul Brynner
* Tony Curtis
* Glenn Ford
* James Garner
* William Holden
* Rock Hudson
* Anthony Quinn
* Natalie Wood

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 2

Cinemas and movie theaters
Lists of actors
Polling
Film box office