[1] Therefore, gross revenue lists are largely meaningless for comparing acting careers widely separated in time, as many actors from earlier eras will not appear on a modern, unadjusted list, despite their films achieving higher commercial success when adjusted for inflation.
A survey by TLA Video in 2000 estimated that the following actors had sold the most movie tickets at the box office.
[36][37] In 1966, Variety calculated a list of the highest-grossing stars using their All-Time Top Grossing Films lists based on the number of films that had earned theatrical rentals of $4 million or more in the United States and Canada by the end of 1965.
Variety noted that Crosby's last hit prior to 1965 was High Society in 1956, and at that date he would have led the list.
[38] They also noted that Gable was the undisputed king until he went into the Army in 1942 and that he wasn't ranked higher, as many of his earlier hits did not reach their $4 million cut-off and were therefore not included in his total.