Surprising, or Forgotten Box Office Stars of the 50s

At least I’ve heard of these guys.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

I grew up in the 60s and 70s, which meant that I watched a lot of TV movies from the 50s when I was growing up. I checked to see who the leading box office stars were in that time frame. I was surprised by a few of them.

For example, John Wayne, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra were all on the list. Since I’ve already done pieces on those five, I won’t go into detail about them. As for these other guys, I will probably do a more in-depth piece on them in the future.

So, here are some big-time actors you probably remember from the 50s.

James Stewart: Jimmy was kind of like the Tom Hanks of his time, only he did a lot of westerns. While he was known for his westerns, he did some other classics. Included are “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Harvey” and “The Philadelphia Story.” To commemorate Jimmy’s career, I typed like Jimmy talked, haltingly. Of course, I do that all the time.

Gary Cooper: Cooper was also great in westerns. He spoke in a slow, measured way. Like Stewart, in addition to westerns, Cooper also starred in some other great movies. I wouldn’t rank “Pride of the Yankees” as one of them. Watching the baseball scenes in “Pride of the Yankees” made me think that if Cooper was their pride, they…