The Biggest Stars of 1946
Every leading poll in 1946 had Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman as the most popular male and female stars of the day. They had co-starred in the smash Christmas 1945 release "The Bells of St. Mary's," as a priest and a nun. Catholic religiosity was big box office in the Forties.
Earlier Bergman had starred opposite Charles Boyer in "Gaslight" (1944), with Gary Cooper in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943) and with Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" (1942). She also starred in two popular movies that were nearing the end of their long extended first run engagements in New York: Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound," in which she played Gregory Peck's psychiatrist, and "Saratoga Trunk," a costume drama that reunited her with Cooper. She recently had been announced to star in the film adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's Arch of Triumph, then number one on The New York Times best seller list, followed by a stint on Broadway in "St. Joan." Also upcoming was another Hitchcock film, "Notorious," with Cary Grant, which opened that September.
Crosby was a triple threat. Not only was he the number one male movie star but he also had a top-rated radio program and put out a string of hit records. While people tend to think of Frank Sinatra as the most popular singer of the mid-40s, his popularity was pretty much confined to the younger set. Crosby had a much broader-based constituency who had been fans for over a decade. On the movie side, he had won an Oscar for his portrayal of a priest in the 1944 hit "Going My Way." His "Road" pictures with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour were very popular. Their latest, "The Road to Utopia," also was nearing the end of highly successful first-run engagement.
According to a survey of moviegoers conducted by Audience Research, a division of Gallup, Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable were the other stars that moviegoers named as favorites. Variety’s box office analysis had Fred Astaire, Dorothy Lamour, Van Johnson, Gene Tierney and newcomer Joan Caulfield in the mix. For the annual Motion Picture Herald poll, motion picture exhibitors also included Humphrey Bogart, child star Margaret O’Brien, pin-up girl Betty Grable and B-movie cowboy star Roy Rogers as big audience draws.