1908 in film

Events

November 18 - Release in France of The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (La Mort du duc de Guise), the first film with a screenplay by an eminent man of letters, the playwright Henri Lavedan; it is also directed by two men of the theatre, Charles Le Bargy and André Calmettes, features actors of the Comédie-Française, and is accompanied by a score from Saint-Saëns.

Thomas Edison forms the Motion Picture Patents Company, with goals of controlling production and distribution, raising theater admission prices, cooperating with censorship bodies, and preventing film stock from getting into the hands of nonmember producers.

D. W. Griffith becomes a director at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in New York City. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith will direct nearly 500 films.

In the Sultan's Power is the first film ever completely made in Los Angeles, California. It was filmed by director Francis Boggs.

The Russian Film Industry begins with Russia's first fictional narrative film Stenka Razin.

Films released in 1908

The Adventures of Dollie, directed by D. W. Griffith

After Many Years

Airy Fairy Lillian Tries On Her New Corsets

Antony and Cleopatra, directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Charles Kent

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise

Cupid's Prank, directed by Edwin S. Porter

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Dog And His Various Merits, produced by Pathé

Dreams of Toyland, directed by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper

A L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge, a French film regarded as one of the first pornographic films

Excursion To The Moon, directed by Segundo de Chomón

The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays

Fantasmagorie, directed by Émile Cohl (first fully animated film)

Fire In A Burlesque Theatre

From Show Girl To Burlesque Queen

The Haunted House, directed by Segundo de Chomón

In the Sultan's Power

Long Distance Wireless Photography, directed by Georges Melies

Macbeth, directed by J. Stuart Blackton

Magic Bricks, directed by Segundo de Chomón

Moscow Clad In Snow, produced by Pathé

Over The Hill To The Poorhouse

The Physician Of The Castle

The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln

The Tempest, directed by Percy Stow

Troubles Of A Manager Of A Burlesque Show

Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, directed by J. Searle Dawley, starring D. W. Griffith

Romeo and Juliet, directed by J. Stuart Blackton

Stenka Razin

The Taming of the Shrew, directed by D. W. Griffith

The Thieving Hand, directed by J. Stuart Blackton

Trouble Of A Grass Widower, starring Max Linder

Un dame vraiment bien (Feuillade)

A Visit To The Seaside, directed by George Albert Smith. First natural color movie in cinema.

Whaling Afloat And Ashore, directed by Robert W. Paul

Births

January 10

Bernard Lee, English actor (died 1981)

Paul Henreid - Austrian-American actor, director (died 1992)

January 11 - Lionel Stander, American actor (died 1994)

January 12 - Jean Delannoy, French director (died 2008)

January 16 - Ethel Merman, American actress, singer (died 1984)

February 4 - Gwili Andre, Danish actress (died 1959)

February 5 - Peg Entwistle, Welsh actress (died 1932)

February 7 - Buster Crabbe, American actor (d. 1983)

February 11 - Philip Dunne, American screenwriter, director, and producer (d. 1992)

February 22 - John Mills, English actor (died 2005)

March 5 - Rex Harrison, English actor (died 1990)

March 7 - Anna Magnani, Italian actress (died 1973)

March 20 - Michael Redgrave, English actor (died 1985)

April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, American actor, (died 2003)

April 5 - Bette Davis, American actress (died 1989)

April 15 - Lita Grey, American actress (died 1995)

April 19 - Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress (died 1990)

April 24 - Marceline Day, American actress (died 2000)

April 30 - Eve Arden, American actress (died 1990)

May 2 - William Bakewell, American actor (died 1993)

May 6 - Lucien Ballard - American cinematographer (died 1988)

May 20 - James Stewart, American actor (died 1997)

May 26 - Robert Morley, English actor (died 1992)

May 30 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (died 1989)

May 31 - Don Ameche, American actor (died 1993)

June 9 - Robert Cummings, American actor (died 1990)

July 12 - Milton Berle, American actor (died 2002)

July 18 - Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (died 1944)

August 30 - Fred MacMurray, American actor (died 1991)

September 13 - Mae Questel, American voice actress (died 1998)

September 15 - Penny Singleton, American actress, (died 2003)

October 5 - Joshua Logan, American director (died 1988)

October 6 - Carole Lombard, American actress (died 1942)

November 16 - Burgess Meredith, American actor (died 1997)

December 11

Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese director (died 2015)

Sally Eilers, American actress (died 1978)

December 13 - Van Heflin, Actor (died 1971)

December 18 - Celia Johnson, English actress (died 1982)

December 20 - Dennis Morgan, American actor, singer (died 1994)

December 25 - Helen Twelvetrees, American actress (died 1958)

December 28 - Lew Ayres, American actor (died 1996)

Deaths

May 23 - Peter F. Dailey, actor, singer

Film debuts

Lionel Barrymore - The Paris Hat (short)(unconfirmed) (*proper debut would be 1911)

Hobart Bosworth - The Count of Monte Cristo (short)

Sidney Drew - Cupid's Realm or A Game of Hearts (short)

Julia Swayne Gordon - Othello (short)

D.W. Griffith - actor/writer When Knighthood was in Flower (short); producer Deceived Slumming Party (short); director The Adventures of Dollie (short)

Marion Leonard - At the Crossroads of Life (short)

Owen Moore - The Guerilla (short)

Miriam Nesbitt - Saved by Love

Mack Sennett - Old Isaacs, the Pawnbroker (short)

Earle Williams - Barbara Fritchie: The Story of a Patriotic Woman (short)

Kathlyn Williams - On Thanksgiving Day (short)