1936 in film explained
The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1936 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1936| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|
| 1 | The Great Ziegfeld | MGM | $3,089,000[1] |
|---|
| 2 | San Francisco | $2,868,000[2] |
|---|
| 3 | The Plainsman | Paramount | $2,278,533[3] |
|---|
| 4 | After the Thin Man | MGM | $1,992,000 |
|---|
| 5 | Modern Times | United Artists | $1,800,000[4] |
|---|
| 6 | Anthony Adverse | Warner Bros. | $1,783,000[5] |
|---|
| 7 | Strike Me Pink | United Artists | $1,700,000 |
|---|
| 8 | Rose Marie | MGM | $1,695,000 |
|---|
| 9 | Swing Time | RKO | $1,624,000[6] |
|---|
| 10 | Libeled Lady | MGM | $1,601,000 | |
|---|
Events
- January 9 – Silent screen actor John Gilbert, perhaps best known for his appearances in films such as The Merry Widow and The Big Parade, dies suddenly of a heart attack at his Bel Air home, aged 38.
- February 15 – first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, is released.
- May 29 – Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.
- September 14 – Film producer Irving Thalberg, often referred by many as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood", dies from pneumonia at his home in Santa Monica, aged 37.
Academy Awards
See main article: 9th Academy Awards.
Top Ten Money Making Stars
Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars of the Year in Quigley Publishing Company's annual poll.[7]
Top Western stars
A poll of the top Western stars was also published for the first time.[8]
1936 film releases
United States unless stated.
January–March
- January 1936
- 16 January
- 17 January
- 20 January
- 22 January
- 24 January
- 28 January
- 30 January
- February 1936
- 6 February
- 7 February
- 14 February
- 15 February
- 19 February
- 20 February
- 22 February
- 25 February
- 28 February
- 29 February
- March 1936
- 1 March
- 2 March
- 6 March
- 9 March
- 13 March
- 18 March
- 20 March
- 22 March
- 28 March
- 30 March
April–June
- April 1936
- 4 April
- 10 April
- 11 April
- 16 April
- 20 April
- 24 April
- 30 April
- May 1936
- 6 May
- 8 May
- 11 May
- 17 May
- 19 May
- 20 May
- 26 May
- 28 May
- 29 May
- June 1936
- 5 June
- 6 June
- 14 June
- 15 June
- 17 June
- 20 June
- 26 June
July–September
- July 1936
- 10 July
- 16 July
- 22 July
- 24 July
- 28 July
- 29 July
- August 1936
- 10 August
- 20 August
- 26 August
- 27 August
- 28 August
- September 1936
- 1 September
- 2 September
- 4 September
- 6 September
- 9 September
- 10 September
- 11 September
- 15 September
- 23 September
- 25 September
- 26 September
- 30 September
October–December
- October 1936
- 1 October
- 6 October
- 9 October
- 15 October
- 16 October
- 20 October
- 22 October
- 27 October
- 30 October
- November 1936
- 1 November
- 6 November
- 12 November
- 13 November
- 16 November
- 20 November
- 25 November
- 26 November
- 27 November
- December 1936
- 1 December
- 2 December
- 11 December
- 12 December
- 20 December
- 21 December
- 24 December
- 25 December
- 26 December
- 31 December
Notable films released in 1936
United States unless stated.
0–9
A
- Accused, directed by Thornton Freeland, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Dolores del Río – (GB)
- Achhoot Kanya (Untouchable Maiden), directed by Franz Osten, starring Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani – (India)
- After the Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy and James Stewart
- Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch) (Mexico)
- The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, starring Cary Grant (GB)
- Anthony Adverse, starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland
- Anything Goes, starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman
- Augustus the Strong (August der Starke), directed by Paul Wegener – (Germany/Poland)
B
C
- Cain and Mabel, starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable
- Camel Through the Eye of a Needle (Velbloud uchem jehly) (Czechoslovakia)
- Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor
- Captain January, starring Shirley Temple
- The Case Against Mrs. Ames, starring Madeleine Carroll and George Brent
- Ceiling Zero, directed by Howard Hawks, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien
- César, directed by Marcel Pagnol (France)
- The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
- Charlie Chan at the Opera, starring Warner Oland and Boris Karloff
- The Children of Captain Grant
- Circus (Tsirk) (U.S.S.R.)
- Collegiate, starring Frances Langford and Betty Grable
- Come and Get It, starring Edward Arnold and Joel McCrea
- Craig's Wife, starring Rosalind Russell
- The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange), directed by Jean Renoir (France)
- Crime Over London, directed by Alfred Zeisler (GB)
D
- Daniel Boone, starring George O'Brien
- The Desert Island (Lang tao sha) (China)
- Desire, starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper
- Devdas (India)
- The Devil-Doll, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan
- Dimples, starring Shirley Temple
- Dodsworth, directed by William Wyler, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Mary Astor
- Dracula's Daughter, starring Otto Kruger and Gloria Holden
- Dusty Ermine, directed by Bernard Vorhaus (UK)
E
F
G
- The Garden of Allah, starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer
- The General Died at Dawn, starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll
- Go West, Young Man, starring Mae West, adapted by her from Lawrence Riley's 1934 stage play Personal Appearance
- Gold Diggers of 1937, directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley
- The Gorgeous Hussy, starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor
- The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
- Green Pastures, adapted from the 1923 stage play, starring Rex Ingram and Eddie Anderson
H
I
J
K
L
- Laburnum Grove, starring Edmund Gwenn and Cedric Hardwicke (GB)
- The Last of the Mohicans, starring Randolph Scott
- The Last Outlaw, starring Harry Carey
- The Lawless Nineties, starring John Wayne
- Legion of Terror, starring Bruce Cabot
- Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Vámonos con Pancho Villa) (Mexico)
- Libeled Lady, starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy
- Limelight, starring Anna Neagle (GB)
- Little Lord Fauntleroy, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello Barrymore, C. Aubrey Smith
- Lloyd's of London, starring Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll, Tyrone Power
- Love Before Breakfast, starring Carole Lombard and Preston Foster
- Love in Exile, starring Helen Vinson and Clive Brook (GB)
- Love on the Run. starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
M
- The Man Who Changed His Mind, starring Boris Karloff (GB)
- The Man Who Could Work Miracles, starring Roland Young and Ralph Richardson (GB)
- Mayerling, directed by Anatole Litvak starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux (France)
- Men Are Not Gods, starring Miriam Hopkins, Gertrude Lawrence, Rex Harrison (GB)
- A Message to Garcia, directed by George Marshall, starring Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles and Wallace Beery
- Militiaman Bruggler (Standschütze Bruggler) – (Germany)
- The Milky Way, starring Harold Lloyd
- Modern Times, written, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin, with Paulette Goddard
- The Mongolian Boy (Монгол хүү), directed by Ilya Trauberg is released as the first Mongolian film
- The Moon's Our Home, starring Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
- My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard
N
O
P
- Palm Springs, starring Frances Langford and David Niven
- Paradise Road (Ulička v ráji) (Czechoslovakia)
- Pennies from Heaven, starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans
- The Petrified Forest, starring Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis
- Poppy, starring W.C. Fields
- The Plainsman, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
- Poor Little Rich Girl, starring Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley
- The Prisoner of Shark Island, directed by John Ford, starring Warner Baxter and Gloria Stuart
- Private Number, starring Loretta Young and Robert Taylor
R
- Red River Valley, starring Gene Autry
- Redes, directed by Fred Zinnemann – (Mexico)
- Ramona, starring Don Ameche and Loretta Young
- Rembrandt, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton – (GB)
- Road Gang, starring Donald Woods
- Robin Hood, Jr. (1936), directed by Leslie Goodwins
- The Road to Glory, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Lionel Barrymore and Fredric March
- Romeo and Juliet, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone
- Rose Marie, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
S
- Sabotage, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka – (GB)
- San Francisco, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy
- Satan Met a Lady, starring Warren William and Bette Davis
- Secret Agent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring John Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll (GB)
- Show Boat, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan
- The Singing Kid, starring Al Jolson
- Silly Billies starring Wheeler & Woolsey
- Sisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan)
- Small Town Girl, directed by William Wellman, starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, James Stewart
- Sportszerelem (Hungary)
- Spy of Napoleon, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Richard Barthelmess and Dolly Haas (GB)
- The Story of Louis Pasteur, starring Paul Muni
- Stowaway, starring Shirley Temple, Robert Young, Alice Faye
- Sutter's Gold, starring Edward Arnold
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Tod Slaughter (GB)
- Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
T
- Tarzan Escapes, starring Johnny Weissmuller
- The Texas Rangers, directed by King Vidor, starring Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie
- Theodora Goes Wild, starring Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas
- These Three, starring Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea (adapted from Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour)
- Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies, starring Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke (GB)
- Thirteen Hours by Air, starring Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett
- Three Godfathers, starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan
- Till We Meet Again, starring Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael
- Too Many Parents, debut film for Frances Farmer
- The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, starring Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda
- Tudor Rose, starring Cedric Hardwicke, Nova Pilbeam, John Mills (GB)
W
- The Walking Dead, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Boris Karloff
- Where There's a Will, starring Will Hay – (GB)
- Whom the Gods Love, directed by Basil Dean, starring Stephen Haggard, Victoria Hopper – (GB)
- Wife vs. Secretary, starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy
- Windbag the Sailor, starring Will Hay (GB)
- A Woman Rebels, starring Katharine Hepburn and Herbert Marshall
Y
Serials
Comedy film series
Animated short film series
Births
- January 9 – K Callan, American author and actress
- January 18 – Tim Barlow, English actor (d. 2023)
- January 22 – Nyree Dawn Porter, English actress (d. 2001)
- January 27 – Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
- January 28 – Alan Alda, American actor
- February 3 – Jeanine Basinger, American film historian
- February 4 – Gary Conway, American actor and screenwriter
- February 11 – Burt Reynolds, American actor (d. 2018)
- February 12
- February 14
- February 17 – Jim Brown, American actor (d. 2023)
- February 29 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
- March 1 – Georgina Spelvin, born Shelley Graham, American pornographic film actress
- March 5 – Dean Stockwell, American actor (d. 2021)
- March 8 – Sue Ane Langdon, American actress
- March 9 – Marty Ingels, American actor, comedian, comedy sketch writer and theatrical agent (d. 2015)
- March 19 – Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
- March 23 – Luisa Mattioli, Italian actress (d. 2021)
- April 9 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
- April 12 – Charles Napier, American character actor (d. 2011)
- April 19 – Andy Romano, American actor (d. 2022)
- May 1 – Danièle Huillet, French director (d. 2006)
- May 4 – Eleanor Coppola, American documentary filmmaker, artist, and writer (d. 2024)
- May 9
- May 12 – Millie Perkins, American former actress
- May 14 – Bobby Darin, American singer, songwriter, actor (d. 1973)
- May 17 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and performance artist (d. 2010)
- May 20 – Anthony Zerbe, American actor
- May 23 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor (d. 2023)
- May 27 – Louis Gossett Jr., American actor (d. 2024)
- May 28 – John Wilder, American producer, writer and former actor
- May 30 – Keir Dullea, American actor
- June 3 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2021)
- June 4 – Bruce Dern, American actor
- June 8 – James Darren, American actor, director and singer
- June 19 - Takeshi Aono, Japanese voice actor and narrator (d. 2012)
- June 22 – Kris Kristofferson, American retired actor, musician and songwriter
- June 24
- June 27 – Shirley Anne Field, English actress (d. 2023)
- July 1 – Ron Masak, American actor (d. 2022)
- July 5 – Shirley Knight, American actress (d. 2020)
- July 9 – Dick Richards, American director, producer and screenwriter
- July 9 - Richard Wilson Scottish actor, theatre director and broadcaster
- July 24
- July 25 - August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (d. 2013)
- August 5 - John Saxon, American actor (d. 2020)
- August 15 - Pat Priest, American actress
- August 16 - Anita Gillette, American actress
- August 17 – Floyd Westerman, American musician, political activist, and actor (d. 2007)
- August 18 – Robert Redford, American actor and director
- August 20 – Philip Voss, British actor (d. 2020)
- August 25 – Hugh Hudson, English director (d. 2023)
- September 7 – Bruce Gray, Canadian actor (d. 2017)
- September 11 - Charles Dierkop, American character actor (d. 2024)
- September 14 - Walter Koenig, American actor and screenwriter
- September 19 - Anna Karen, British-South African actress (d. 2022)
- September 20
- September 21 - Burr DeBenning, American character actor (d. 2003)
- September 24 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer, animator, actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
- October 8 - Leonid Kuravlyov, Russian actor (d. 2022)
- October 9 – Brian Blessed, English actor
- October 16
- October 19 - Tony Lo Bianco, Italian-American actor (d. 2024)
- October 23 - Philip Kaufman, American director and screenwriter
- October 24 – David Nelson, American actor, director and producer (d. 2011)
- October 26 - Shelley Morrison, American actress (d. 2019)
- October 28 - Joe Spinell, American character actor (d. 1989)
- November 4 - Jan Tříska, Czech actor (d. 2017)
- November 9 – Teddy Infuhr, American child actor (d. 2007)
- November 19 - Dick Cavett, American television personality, comedian and former talk show host
- November 25 - Matt Clark, American actor
- November 27 – Joel Barcellos, Brazilian actor (d. 2018)
- December 1 - Melissa Jaffer, Australian actress
- December 3
- December 5 - John Erwin, American voice actor
- December 6 - David Ossman, American writer and comedian
- December 8 – David Carradine, American actor and martial artist (d. 2009)
- December 10 – Howard Smith, American journalist, director and producer (d. 2014)
- December 13 - Cliff Emmich, American actor (d. 2022)
- December 18 - Gary Gray, American child actor (d. 2006)
- December 22 – Hector Elizondo, American actor
- December 23
- December 25 – Ismail Merchant, Indian film producer (d. 2005)
- December 29 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (d. 2017)
Deaths
External links
Notes and References
- .
- Book: Turk, Edward Baron . 1998 . Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald . University of California Press. 0-520-21202-9. 364-365.
- Book: Birchard, Robert S.. 2004. Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. 9780813123240.
- Book: Finler, Joel Waldo . 2003 . The Hollywood Story . Wallflower Press . 978-1-903364-66-6 . 356–357.
- Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 16 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
- Richard Jewel (1994) 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 14 No. 1, p.55
- News: The Biggest Money Making Stars of 1936. Quigley Publishing Company. Motion Picture Herald. January 9, 1937. 13. April 24, 2018.
- News: Exhibitors Name Biggest Western Draws. Quigley Publishing Company. Motion Picture Herald. January 9, 1937. 18. April 24, 2018.
