Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#35814
of 909177 performers
Top 5%
George Magrill works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
George Magrill appears in 20 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without George. Double Indemnity is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, science fiction, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Byron Haskin, Alfred Hitchcock, Richard Fleischer and others, George Magrill helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Double Indemnity (1944) as Man (uncredited) · Strangers on a Train (1951) as Policeman at Merry-Go-Round (uncredited) · King Kong (1933) as Member of Ship's Crew (uncredited)
Career snapshot
Ranked #35814 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
20
1931–1953
Career length
22 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Double Indemnity
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Double Indemnity
Most frequent director
Byron Haskin
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Byron Haskin
Most common genre
Crime
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.5
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1950s
6.9 average MV
The 1950s are where the work and the material meet. The War of the Worlds, Strangers on a Train, Armored Car Robbery — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1950s
6.9
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1950s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1930s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Mad Miss Manton, Merbabies, Flash Gordon.
Most productive era
1940s
11 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.41 film | 6.54 films | 7.51 film |
| Action | 6.31 film | 6.31 film | 6.62 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.85 films | 7.02 films |
| Comedy | 6.34 films | 6.72 films | — |
| Crime | 6.32 films | 6.94 films | 7.02 films |
| Romance | 6.43 films | 6.81 film | — |
| Horror | 7.41 film | 6.41 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1931The Front Page
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Policeman (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1944Double Indemnity
7.8 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Traffic Cop (uncredited).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
20 of 20 films
as Man (uncredited)
Directed by Billy Wilder
as Policeman at Merry-Go-Round (uncredited)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
as Member of Ship's Crew (uncredited)
Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack
as Subway Conductor (uncredited)
Directed by George Cukor
as Sideshow Spectator Wearing Straw Hat (uncredited)
Directed by Edmund Goulding
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Man (uncredited)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Man (uncredited) gives George Magrill a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Policeman at Merry-Go-Round (uncredited)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Performance score7.3
Strangers on a Train asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Policeman at Merry-Go-Round (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Member of Ship's Crew (uncredited)
King Kong (1933)
Performance score7.2
King Kong asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Member of Ship's Crew (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Subway Conductor (uncredited)
Adam's Rib (1949)
Performance score6.7
Adam's Rib asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Subway Conductor (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Man (uncredited)
Start here. Double Indemnity is the clearest statement of what George Magrill does — accessible, 107 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet George at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
King Kong (1933)
A deliberate change of key after Double Indemnity — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Nightmare Alley (1947)
A deliberate change of key after King Kong — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Adam's Rib (1949)
A deliberate change of key after Nightmare Alley — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Strangers on a Train (1951)
A deliberate change of key after Adam's Rib — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Lewis Milestone
Director
1 film together
Notably The Front Page
Ernest B. Schoedsack
Director
1 film together
Notably King Kong
Ernst Lubitsch
Director
1 film together
Notably The Merry Widow
Ray Taylor
Director
1 film together
Notably Flash Gordon
Rudolf Ising
Director
1 film together
Notably Merbabies
Leigh Jason
Director
1 film together
Notably The Mad Miss Manton
Arthur Lubin
Director
1 film together
Notably Buck Privates
Michael Curtiz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sea Wolf
Frank Tuttle
Director
1 film together
Notably This Gun for Hire
Lambert Hillyer
Director
1 film together
Notably Batman
Billy Wilder
Director
1 film together
Notably Double Indemnity
John Brahm
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lodger
John Ford
Director
1 film together
Notably They Were Expendable
Edgar G. Ulmer
Director
1 film together
Notably The Strange Woman
Edmund Goulding
Director
1 film together
Notably Nightmare Alley
Kurt Neumann
Director
1 film together
Notably Tarzan and the Huntress
George Cukor
Director
1 film together
Notably Adam's Rib
Richard Fleischer
Director
1 film together
Notably Armored Car Robbery
Alfred Hitchcock
Director
1 film together
Notably Strangers on a Train
Byron Haskin
Director
1 film together
Notably The War of the Worlds
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Billy Wilder
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Double IndemnityAlfred Hitchcock
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Strangers on a TrainErnest B. Schoedsack
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
King KongGeorge Cukor
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Adam's RibEdmund Goulding
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nightmare AlleyByron Haskin
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The War of the WorldsFrank Tuttle
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
This Gun for HireMichael Curtiz
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Sea WolfArthur Lubin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Buck PrivatesErnst Lubitsch
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Merry WidowRichard Fleischer
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Armored Car RobberyJohn Ford
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
They Were ExpendableJohn Brahm
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The LodgerLewis Milestone
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Front PageLambert Hillyer
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BatmanLeigh Jason
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Mad Miss MantonRay Taylor
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Flash GordonEdgar G. Ulmer
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Strange WomanRudolf Ising
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MerbabiesKurt Neumann
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tarzan and the HuntressSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Double Indemnity
as Man (uncredited)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Merbabies
as Snails (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Double Indemnity
as Man (uncredited)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The War of the Worlds
as Traffic Cop (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Double Indemnity
as Man (uncredited)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. George Magrill has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
22 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Crime Legend
Awarded
8 catalogue titles in crime, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
King Kong
as Member of Ship's Crew (uncredited)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Double Indemnity
as Man (uncredited)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Merbabies
as Snails (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
This Gun for Hire
as Policeman (uncredited)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Double Indemnity
as Man (uncredited)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Batman
as Henchman at Sphinx Club
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Merbabies
as Snails (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Tarzan and the Huntress
as Native Guard (uncredited)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Bonnie Hunt
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Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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