Is Clint Eastwood the Longest-Running Movie Star Ever?

With Clint Eastwood's return to the top of the box office courtesy of Gran Torino, I thought it might be revealing to see what movie star had the most box office clout the longest. In order to determine a winner, we're relying heavily on end-of-the-year box office numbers, and then digging a little deeper beyond that.

This is not a list of who's made the most money. That's a completely different argument, especially because the industry has changed so much in just the past 20 years in terms of what actors get paid. We want to know which actor or actress most consistently produced big hits the over the longest period of time. Keep in mind that Tom Hanks hasn't even been a top ten draw for 25 years and you begin to see how difficult this list is to crack. Realistically, Harrison Ford can qualify, thanks to the success of the last Indiana Jones. But that still only puts him at 35 years, thanks to American Graffiti. Nicholson's a real possibility, and we'll explore his credentials in a bit. Clearly, Eastwood has to be near the top of the list. After all, his first film to crack an annual top ten list was, somewhat embarrassingly, Paint Your Wagon, the western musical in which both Eastwood and Lee Marvin sing showtunes. They call the wind Mariah, indeed. It may not seem like much, but 40 years ago, $14 million was a lot of money at the box office. Paint Your Wagon was the seventh-highest grossing film that year, and only three movies made over $20 million. While Eastwood's new movie probably won't wind up in the top ten of 2009, we're counting it for the sake of argument because it inspired this whole thing. Million Dollar Baby was a $100 million movie in 2004, good enough for 24th that year. And that's the sort of thing that makes this list so tough to break into. Eastwood has a 40-year run as a major box office star. The 70s, 80s, and 90s all feature films that hit number one for multiple weeks, and he's had plenty of top ten annual finishes, too. So in that respect, the sheer number of times he's managed to do so well has to account for something. But there are a few other candidates with career longevity we should look at, although not too many. Jimmy Stewart spanned almost exactly the same number of years, from 1938's You Can't Take it With You to Airport '77. Like Torino, the Airport sequel made a lot of money but wasn't a top ten film, however Stewart was a major star for several decades, well into the 1960s, and the Airport thing is kind of a one-off. I think we can excuse The Duke at this point; John Wayne was a big star, but his first top ten finish wasn't until he was 42, in The Sands of Iwo Jima from 1949. Considering his last film was in 1976, and his last major hit was about a decade before that (True Grit), we'll put him in the ring of honor, but he's not winning this debate. Paul Newman began his film career in the late 1950s, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof landed at the number four spot for 1958. Now, we're going to absolutely count his supporting role in Road to Perdition in our list; he did get an Oscar nomination, after all. Like Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, that film was the 24th-highest grossing movie that year. We could also cheat and throw Cars into the mix and give Newman 48 years of huge success. I don't like to consider animated movies for actors' bankability, but if you want to, you could. Without it, you'd have to go way back from Road to Perdition to the 1980s to find a Newman film that qualifies, with The Color of Money, The Verdict, and Absence of Malice all finishing in the top 20 in their respective years. He's certainly a top three candidate. As for Jack Nicholson, he's definitely a contender for the title, and you could easily make the case that he's the pick. After all, The Departed and Anger Management were both in the top 20 in their respective years, he had two top ten finishes in the 1990s (As Good As It Gets and A Few Good Men), three of them in the 1980s (Batman, Terms of Endearment, and The Witches of Eastwick), as well as two more in the 1970s (Cuckoo's Nest and Carnal Knowledge), kicking it all off in 1969 with Easy Rider. Hard to knock the achievement, as well as all those Oscar nominations, and if he keeps it up for another five years or so, there won't be any doubt that eventually, this is Nicholson's list. But in the meantime, our winner is Henry Fonda. Like everyone else on the list, Fonda obviously had a very long and successful career, capped by On Golden Pond, a Best Picture winner, a personal Oscar win for Best Actor, and a top-three box office finish in 1981. You'd have to go back to 1939 to find his first big commercial successs, Jesse James. He also gained plenty of attention in The Young Abraham Lincoln that year, and followed it up with an Oscar nomination in 1940 for The Grapes of Wrath. A steady performer for nearly 30 years, Fonda had back-to-back top ten finishes in 1962 and 1963, thanks to The Longest Day and How the West Was Won. He even had a top ten finish in 1968 with the original Yours, Mine, and Ours. You could argue for Katharine Hepburn, since her first top ten finisher was 1933's Little Women and her last was also On Golden Pond, giving her a 48-year track record, however, she wasn't able to stay on top throughout those 48 years. Hepburn wouldn't have another top ten finisher until The African Queen in 1951, and not again after that until Guess Who's Coming To Dinner in 1967. So, she really only made a year-end top ten four times. What really keeps Fonda at the top of this list, in my mind, is the consistency. He's the only actor to place in the top ten at least one year in at least five decades, with Jesse James, Mr. Roberts, any one of three films from the 1960s (plus three others in the top 20), Midway in 1976, and On Golden Pond.

Comments

[Rick]

This was well thought out. Thanks for that!

[Allan]

Colin: An interesting article, but one could argue that just because an actor appears in a film doesn't mean he is THE reason people attend the movie. Often popular films feature ensemble casts. Henry Fonda was often billed as the second or third lead actor in some of his more popular films. Nicholson was not the draw in Easy Rider. Don't forget Cruise was in A Few Good Men, and Leo D. and Matt Damon were in The Departed. While Harrison Ford has been a big box office attraction over the years, he was not the main reason people flocked to see the three early Star Wars movies. Many of Hepburn's big movies featured popular leading men.
Having said all of that, I must say I really enjoyed reading your article.

[American Wilson]

Where's Gene Hackman in all of this?

[Don Svenne]

Yeah, bonnie and clyde 1967, french connection, Posedon adventures, superman 1 and 2, enemy of the state and so forth

Dont know about the conversation if it was a moneymaker...
DonSvenneProduction on youtube½

[Get The Big Picture]

Hackman unofficially retired a few years ago, after Welcome to Mooseport, of all things. But he didn't even make it 30 years, unfortunately.

[Rick]

I know he is not the Gold Mine that these others have been, but what are your thoughts on Robert Duval?

[Marty]

The reason I think Eastwood is the prime contender is that he's the main draw in all of his movies. It's outstanding that Gran Torino opened at number one, and the sole reason is Clint Eastwood, at 78 no less.

[Seth]

I'm now sure why you're saying Clint's first it came in 1969. He actually starred in a much more famous film five years earlier, A Fistful of Dollars. It was released in the U.S. in 1967 and grossed $14.5 million placing it in the top 10 of the year. This means that Clint actually has a 42 year record, tying him with Henry Fonda (1939-1981).

Also, unless you're lookign at different figures than I am, Jesse James wasn't one of the top 10 films of 1939, although it was likely in the top 20. In this case, that means neither he nor Clint have had top 10 films in five different deaces, although they have had top 20 films.