January 3 - first missing persons telecast (NYC)
February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films.
November 23 - British Forces Broadcasting Service begins operation
December 31 - NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater
Box office numbers were reported at the time as a percentage compared to 'normal' business at each theater. For example, For Whom the Bell Tolls performed at an extraordinary 254% while Thousands Cheer was a hit at 176%. This is why exact dollar grosses for the period are unreliable at best.
Best Picture:
Casablanca - Warner Bros.
Best Director:
Michael Curtiz -
Casablanca
Best Actor:
Paul Lukas -
Watch on the Rhine
Best Actress:
Jennifer Jones -
The Song of Bernadette
Best Supporting Actor:
Charles Coburn -
The More the Merrier
Best Supporting Actress:
Katina Paxinou -
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Best Picture:
The Song of Bernadette
Best Director:
Henry King –
The Song of Bernadette
Best Actor:
Paul Lukas –
Watch on the Rhine
Best Actress:
Jennifer Jones –
The Song of Bernadette
U.S.A. unless stated
A
Above Suspicion, starring Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray
Action in the North Atlantic, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey
The Adventures of Tartu, starring Robert Donat and Valerie Hobson - (GB)
Air Force, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Garfield
Angels of the Streets (Les anges du peche), directed by Robert Bresson - (France)
B
Background to Danger, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring George Raft and Peter Lorre
Bataan, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan
The Bells Go Down, starring Tommy Trinder and James Mason - (GB)
Bombardier, starring Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, Anne Shirley
Border Patrol, starring William Boyd, George Reeves, Robert Mitchum
C
Cabin in the Sky, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Ethel Waters
Calling Dr. Death, first of the Inner Sanctum Mysteries, starring Lon Chaney, Jr.
Clancy Street Boys, starring The East Side Kids
Coney Island, starring Betty Grable
The Constant Nymph, starring Joan Fontaine
Le Corbeau (The Raven), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay - (France)
Corvette K-225, starring Randolph Scott
O Costa do Castelo (The Costa from the Castle) - (Portugal)
Crash Dive, starring Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter
Crazy House, starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson
The Crew of the Dora (Besatzung Dora) - (Germany)
Crime Doctor, starring Warner Baxter
Cry 'Havoc', starring Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern, Joan Blondell
D
The Dancing Masters, starring Laurel and Hardy
Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer - (Denmark)
The Demi-Paradise, starring Laurence Olivier - (GB)
Desert Victory, a propaganda documentary - (GB)
Destination Tokyo, starring Cary Grant and John Garfield
Destroyer, starring Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson
Doña Bárbara, directed by Fernando de Fuentes - (Mexico)
DuBarry Was a Lady, starring Lucille Ball and Red Skelton
E-F
Edge of Darkness, starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan
L'Éternel retour (The Eternal Return), directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais - (France)
Fires Were Started, directed by Humphrey Jennings - (GB)
Five Graves to Cairo, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter
Flesh and Fantasy, starring Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Boyer
Flor Silvestre, starring Dolores del Río - (Mexico)
For Whom the Bell Tolls, directed by Sam Wood, starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman
Forever and a Day, featuring an all-star cast
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Béla Lugosi
Der Fuehrer's Face, Donald Duck's Academy Award-winning short
G
The Gang's All Here, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda
The Ghost Ship, starring Richard Dix
Girl Crazy, starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney
Guadalcanal Diary, starring Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, Preston Foster, William Bendix, Anthony Quinn
A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne
H
Hangmen Also Die!, starring Brian Donlevy and Walter Brennan
Happy Land, starring Don Ameche and Frances Dee
The Hard Way, starring Ida Lupino
Heaven Can Wait, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Gene Tierney and Don Ameche
Hello, Frisco, Hello, starring Alice Faye
Hi Diddle Diddle, starring Adolphe Menjou and Pola Negri
Hit the Ice, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Hitler's Children, directed by Edward Dmytryk
Holy Matrimony, starring Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields
Huella de luz (A Sight of Light) - (Spain)
The Human Comedy, starring Mickey Rooney
I
I Walked with a Zombie, starring Frances Dee
Immensee (aka Immensee: A German Folksong) - (Germany)
It Ain't Hay, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
It Comes Up Love, starring Gloria Jean and Donald O'Connor
J-K
Jane Eyre, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine
Journey into Fear, starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Rio, Orson Welles
The Kansan, starring Richard Dix and Jane Wyatt
Kismet, starring Ashok Kumar - (India)
L-M
Lassie Come Home, starring Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp
The Leopard Man, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dennis O'Keefe
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook - (GB)
The Mad Ghoul, starring George Zucco
Madame Curie, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
The Man in Grey, the first of the Gainsborough melodramas starring Margaret Lockwood and James Mason - (GB)
María Candelaria, starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz - (Mexico)
Millions Like Us, directed by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder - (GB)
Mission to Moscow, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Walter Huston
Mister Big, starring Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean
The More the Merrier, directed by George Stevens, starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea
Mr. Lucky, starring Cary Grant
Münchhausen - (Germany)
My Learned Friend, starring Will Hay - (GB)
N
Nasreddin in Bukhara - (U.S.S.R.)
No Place for a Lady, starring William Gargan and Phyllis Brooks
No Time for Love, starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray
The North Star, starring Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews
Northern Pursuit, starring Errol Flynn
O
Old Acquaintance, starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins
Ossessione (Obsession), directed by Luchino Visconti - (Italy)
The Outlaw, controversial western directed by Howard Hughes, starring Jane Russell
The Ox-Bow Incident, directed by William Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan, Dana Andrews
P
Phantom of the Opera, starring Claude Rains
Prelude to War, directed by Frank Capra
Princess O'Rourke, starring Olivia de Havilland and Robert Cummings
Q-S
The Return of the Vampire, starring Béla Lugosi
Riding High, starring Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell
Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart
Saludos Amigos, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Goofy
Sanshiro Sugata, directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
The Seventh Victim, starring Tom Conway
Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
Sherlock Holmes in Washington, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
The Shipbuilders, directed by John Baxter - (GB)
The Silver Fleet, starring Ralph Richardson and Googie Withers - (GB)
The Sky's the Limit, starring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie
So Proudly We Hail!, starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake
Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
The Song of Bernadette, starring Jennifer Jones
Squadron Leader X, starring Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak - (GB)
Star Spangled Rhythm, featuring an all-star cast
Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers
A Stranger in Town, starring Frank Morgan
T-V
Tender Comrade, starring Ginger Rogers and Robert Ryan
Thank Your Lucky Stars, starring Eddie Cantor
Theatre Royal, starring Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen - (GB)
They Came to Blow Up America, starring George Sanders
This is the Army, directed by Michael Curtiz
This Land Is Mine, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara
Thousands Cheer, starring Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, Mary Astor
Titanic - (Germany)
Top Man, starring Donald O'Connor
Ukraine in Flames (Bitva za nashu Sovetskuyu Ukrainu) - (U.S.S.R.)
Victory Through Air Power, a propaganda film by Disney
Le Voyageur de la Toussaint - (France)
W-Z
War of the Wildcats (a.k.a. In Old Oklahoma), starring John Wayne
Watch on the Rhine, starring Paul Lukas and Bette Davis
We Dive at Dawn, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring John Mills - (GB)
We've Never Been Licked, starring Richard Quine and Noah Beery, Jr.
Whistling in Brooklyn, starring Red Skelton
Yellow Canary, starring Anna Neagle and Richard Greene - (GB)
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
The Adventures of Smilin' Jack
Batman, starring Lewis Wilson
Daredevils of the West, starring Allan Lane, directed by John English
Don Winslow of the Coast Guard
G-Men vs the Black Dragon, starring Rod Cameron, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
The Masked Marvel, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
The Phantom, starring Tom Tyler
Secret Service in Darkest Africa, starring Rod Cameron, directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
Laurel and Hardy (1921-1945)
Our Gang (1922–1944)
The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Scrappy (1931–1941)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1934–1956)
Daffy Duck (1937 – 1966)
Goofy (1939–1955)
Andy Panda (1939–1949)
Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
Swing Symphonies (1941–1945)
The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943–1949)
Chip 'n Dale (1943–1956)
Droopy (1943–1958)
January 13 - Richard Moll, actor
January 24 - Sharon Tate, actress and model (died 1969)
January 25 - Tobe Hooper, director and screenwriter
January 28 - John Beck, actor
February 3 - Blythe Danner, actress
February 9 - Joe Pesci, actor
February 20 - Mike Leigh, English director
February 25 - George Harrison, English musician and songwriter (died 2001)
March 8 - Lynn Redgrave, English actress (died 2010)
March 15 - David Cronenberg, Canadian director and screenwriter
March 31 - Christopher Walken, actor
April 20 - Edie Sedgwick, actress, socialite, model and heiress (died 1971)
June 13 - Malcolm McDowell, English actor
June 23 - Patrick Bokanowski, French director
July 3 - Kurtwood Smith, actor
July 21 - Edward Herrmann, actor (died 2014)
August 15 - Barbara Bouchet, German-American actress
August 17 - Robert De Niro, actor
August 27 - Tuesday Weld, actress
September 21 - Jerry Bruckheimer, producer
September 28 - J. T. Walsh, actor (died 1998)
October 4 - John Bindon, English actor and bodyguard
October 8 - Chevy Chase, actor and comedian
October 22 - Catherine Deneuve, French actress
November 12 - Wallace Shawn, American actor
November 28 - Randy Newman, American singer, film composer
December 13 - Arturo Ripstein, Mexican director
December 21 - Jack Nance, actor (died 1996)
December 23 - Harry Shearer, actor
December 31 - Ben Kingsley, English actor
February 14 - Dora Gerson, 43, German actress, Caravan of Death, On the Brink of Paradise
February 19 - Lynne Overman, 58, American actress, Little Miss Marker, Union Pacific, Dixie
April 3 - Conrad Veidt, 50, German actor, Casablanca, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Thief of Baghdad, The Spy in Black
June 1 - Leslie Howard, 50, Academy Award-nominated British actor, Gone with the Wind, Pygmalion, The Petrified Forest, Of Human Bondage
June 30 - Carlo Wieth, 57, Danish actor
Robert Mitchum - The Human Comedy
Shelley Winters - There's Something About a Soldier
Natalie Wood - The Moon Is Down
