1972 in film explained
The year 1972 in film involved several significant events.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
See also: List of 1972 box office number-one films in the United States. The top ten 1972 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1972| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|
| 1 | The Godfather | Paramount | $86,300,000[1] |
|---|
| 2 | The Poseidon Adventure | 20th Century Fox | $42,000,000 |
|---|
| 3 | What's Up, Doc? | Warner Bros. | $28,000,000 |
|---|
| 4 | Deliverance | $22,500,000 |
|---|
| 5 | Jeremiah Johnson | $21,900,000[2] |
|---|
| 6 | Cabaret | Allied Artists | $20,250,000 |
|---|
| 7 | Deep Throat | Bryanston | $20,000,000 |
|---|
| 8 | The Getaway | National General | $18,000,000 |
|---|
| 9 | Brother of the Wind | Sun International | $12,000,000[3] |
|---|
| 10 | Lady Sings the Blues | Paramount | $9,666,000 | |
|---|
Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso), directed by Elio Petri, Italy
The Mattei Affair (Il Caso Mattei), directed by Francesco Rosi, Italy
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy / France
1972 films
By country/region
By genre/medium
Births
- January 5 - Luciana Pedraza, Argentine actress and director
- January 9 – Deon Cole, American actor
- January 11
- January 12 - Zabryna Guevara, American actress
- January 15 – Kobe Tai, Taiwanese-American actress
- January 16 - Richard T. Jones, American actor
- January 20 - Adrian Martinez, American actor and comedian
- January 22 - Romi Park, Japanese actress and singer
- January 23 -
- January 26 - Cyia Batten, American dancer, model and actress
- January 28 - Peter McDonald, Irish actor and director
- February 1 - Tego Calderón, Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor
- February 7 - Robyn Lively, American actress
- February 9 – Crispin Freeman, American voice actor
- February 16 - Sarah Clarke, American actress
- February 20 – Gareth Unwin, English producer[4]
- February 24 - James Bachman, English comedian, actor and writer
- February 26 – Keith Ferguson, American voice actor
- February 27 - Richard Coyle, English actor
- February 28 - Rory Cochrane, American actor
- March 4 – Garth Jennings, English film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer
- March 8 - Matt Nable, Australian actor and writer
- March 9
- March 13 – Common, American actor and singer
- March 18 – Dane Cook, American comedian
- March 23 – Judith Godrèche, French actress
- March 24
- March 26 – Leslie Mann, American actress
- March 28
- March 29 - Sam Hazeldine, English actor
- March 31 – Alejandro Amenábar, Spanish director, writer and soundtrack composer
- April 3 - Catherine McCormack, English actress
- April 5 - Junko Takeuchi, Japanese actress and voice actress
- April 6 - Jason Hervey, American actor and producer
- April 8 - Sung Kang, American actor
- April 10 - Vincent Zhao, Chinese actor and martial artist
- April 15 - Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
- April 17 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
- April 18 - Eli Roth, American director, screenwriter, producer and actor
- April 20 - Carmen Electra, American actress, singer and model
- April 26 - Bronagh Gallagher, Irish actress and singer
- April 28 - Gabriel Casseus, American actor and screenwriter
- April 29 – Derek Mears, American actor and stuntman
- May 2 – Dwayne Johnson, American actor
- May 4 - John Rawls, New Zealand actor
- May 7 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson, South Korean-born American story artist and director
- May 12
- May 14 - Gabriel Mann, American actor and model
- May 16 - Khary Payton, American actor
- May 20 - Busta Rhymes, American rapper and actor
- May 22 - Max Brooks, American actor
- May 25 - Karan Johar, Indian director
- May 26 - Selenis Leyva, American actress
- May 28
- May 29 - Laverne Cox, American actress
- May 30 - Joachim Rønning, Norwegian director
- May 31 - Archie Panjabi, British actress
- June 2
- Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, producer and game show host
- Wentworth Miller, American-British actor and screenwriter
- June 7 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
- June 16 - John Cho, American actor
- June 19
- June 23 – Selma Blair, American actress
- June 28
- July 3 - Matt Schulze, American actor and musician
- July 5 – Gilles Lellouche, French actor and director
- July 7 - Heather Kafka, American actress
- July 10
- Christoph Hochhäusler, German film director and screenwriter
- Peter Serafinowicz, English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter
- Sofia Vergara, Colombian American actress, television producer, presenter and model
- John Viener, American actor, voice actor, writer and comedian
- July 11 - Michael Rosenbaum, American actor, director, producer, singer and comedian
- July 12 – Nenad Jezdić, Serbian actor
- July 15 – Scott Foley, American actor, director and screenwriter
- July 23 - Marlon Wayans, American actor, comedian, writer and producer
- July 27 – Maya Rudolph, American actress and comedian
- July 28
- Elizabeth Berkley, American actress
- Evan Farmer, American actor and musician
- July 29
- August 1
- August 2 - Jacinda Barrett, Australian-American actress
- August 5
- August 7 - Dan Payne, Canadian actor
- August 13 - Michael Sinterniklaas, French voice actor
- August 15 – Ben Affleck, American actor, director and writer
- August 25 - Joe Wright, English director
- August 30 – Cameron Diaz, American actress
- September 4
- September 6
- September 7 – Matthew Sleeth, Australian director
- September 8
- September 9 – Goran Visnjic, Croatian-American actor
- September 15 - John Schwab, American actor
- September 16
- September 21
- September 24
- September 27 – Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
- October 5 - Tom Hooper, British-Australian filmmaker
- October 8
- October 9 - Cocoa Brown, American actress, writer and comedian
- October 12 - Sönke Möhring, German actor
- October 15 - Matt Keeslar, American former actor
- October 17 – Eminem, American rapper and actor
- October 18 - Christopher Knights, English voice actor, editor and cinematographer
- October 20 - Thor Freudenthal, German director, screenwriter, animator and special effects artist
- October 21 - Masakazu Morita, Japanese actor, voice actor and singer
- October 22 – Saffron Burrows, English-American actress
- October 23 - Kate del Castillo, Mexican-American actress
- October 29 - Gabrielle Union, American actress, voice artist, activist and author
- October 30
- October 31 - Assaf Cohen, American actor
- November 1
- Toni Collette, Australian actress, producer and singer-songwriter
- Jenny McCarthy, American actress
- November 2 - Steve Edge, English actor, writer and former comedian
- November 6
- Thandiwe Newton, English actress
- Rebecca Romijn, American actress
- November 7
- November 8
- November 9 - Eric Dane, American actor
- November 10 - Trevor Devall, Canadian voice actor and podcaster
- November 11
- November 13 - Takuya Kimura, Japanese actor, singer and radio personality
- November 14 – Josh Duhamel, American actor
- November 15 – Jonny Lee Miller, English actor
- November 16 - Michael Irby, American actor
- November 19
- November 21 - Rain Phoenix, American actress, musician and singer
- November 26 – Arjun Rampal, Indian actor
- November 29 - Brian Baumgartner, American actor
- December 2 - Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Norwegian actor and director
- December 4 - Yūko Miyamura, Japanese actress and voice actress
- December 7 – Jennifer Syme, American entertainment industry employee (d. 2001)
- December 14
- December 15 – Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
- December 16 - Lisa Spoonauer, American former character actress (d. 2017)
- December 18 - Jason Mantzoukas, American character actor, comedian, writer and podcaster.
- December 19 – Alyssa Milano, American actress
- December 20 - Marc Silk, English voice actor
- December 23 – Christian Potenza, Canadian actor and voice actor
- December 24 – Carmen Moore, Canadian actress
- December 25 - Patrick Brennan, American actor
- December 26 – Shane Meadows, English independent film director
- December 27 - Thomas Wilson Brown, American actor
- December 29
Deaths
| Month | Date | Name | Age | Country | Profession | Notable films |
| January | 1 | | 83 | France | Actor, Singer | |
| 8 | | 82 | US | Director, Producer | |
| 17 | | 55 | US | Actress | |
| 18 | | 66 | US | Actor | |
| 19 | | 58 | Scotland | Actor | |
| 22 | | 64 | Australia | Screenwriter | |
| 24 | | 74 | US | Actor | |
| 27 | | 82 | Germany | Actor | |
| 29 | | 65 | Scotland | Actor | |
| February | 2 | | 75 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | | 75 | US | Director | |
| 19 | | 73 | Scotland | Director, Producer | |
| 20 | | 74 | US | Commentator | |
| 21 | | 64 | Poland | Choreographer | |
| March | 3 | | 74 | US | Director, Editor | |
| 19 | | 59 | US | Screenwriter | |
| 20 | | 51 | US | Actress | |
| 29 | | 83 | England | Executive | |
| 29 | | 53 | US | Director, Producer | |
| 30 | | 55 | US | Actor | |
| April | 5 | | 71 | Ireland | Actor | |
| 5 | | 64 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | | 78 | US | Actress | |
| 13 | | 78 | US | Actress | |
| 20 | | 51 | Spain | Actor | |
| 25 | | 65 | England | Actor | |
| 25 | | 87 | Australia | Director | |
| 27 | | 76 | England | Producer, Director | |
| 28 | | 81 | US | Producer, Director | |
| 30 | | 38 | England | Actor | |
| May | 3 | | 68 | US | Actor | |
| 4 | | 79 | Estonia | Actress | Libahunt | |
| 5 | | 59 | US | Director | |
| 7 | | 76 | France | Director, producer, screenwriter | |
| 12 | | 37 | Czechoslovakia | Actor | |
| 13 | | 43 | US | Actor | |
| 15 | | 47 | South Africa | Actor | |
| 18 | | 79 | US | Director, Producer | |
| 22 | | 80 | England | Actress | |
| 23 | | 76 | Canada | Art director | |
| 24 | | 90 | Denmark | Actress | |
| 25 | | 70 | US | Director | |
| June | 17 | | 79 | France | Actor | |
| 17 | | 79 | US | Actress | |
| 20 | | 74 | US | Director | |
| 22 | | 82 | Hungary | Director, screenwriter | |
| 25 | | 74 | England | Director | |
| 27 | | 81 | France | Actor | |
| July | 3 | | 76 | US | Director | |
| 6 | | 30 | US | Actor | |
| 10 | | 56 | England | Actor | |
| 10 | | 61 | Canada | Director | |
| 19 | | 74 | US | Screenwriter | |
| 28 | | 73 | US | Actress, Singer | |
| August | 7 | | 43 | US | Actress | |
| 7 | | 58 | US | Actor | |
| 14 | | 65 | US | Actor | |
| 16 | | 66 | France | Actor | |
| 19 | | 68 | England | Costume and production designer | |
| 24 | | 77 | US | Director | |
| 27 | | 52 | France | Actress | |
| September | 11 | | 89 | US | Animator, Director, Producer | |
| 12 | | 77 | US | Actor | |
| 14 | | 73 | US | Actor | |
| 17 | | 72 | Russia | Actor | |
| 29 | | 70 | Germany | Director | |
| 29 | | 86 | US | Actor | |
| 30 | | 68 | Austria | Director | |
| October | 4 | | 61 | England | Actor | |
| 9 | | 69 | US | Actress | |
| 16 | | 85 | England | Actor | |
| 22 | | 73 | England | Actor | |
| 24 | | 80 | US | Actor | |
| 28 | | 74 | US | Director | |
| November | 5 | | 85 | England | Actor | |
| 7 | | 57 | Russia | Actor | |
| 10 | | 66 | Romania | Composer | |
| 16 | | 83 | Russia | Actress | |
| 23 | | 56 | US | Actress | |
| 29 | | 72 | US | Actress | |
| 30 | | 89 | US | Director | |
| December | 6 | | 38 | England | Actress | |
| 9 | | 79 | Germany | Director | |
| 9 | | 91 | US | Columnist, Screenwriter | |
| 15 | | 90 | Canada | Actor | |
| 19 | | 77 | France | Director, Screenwriter | |
|
Film debuts
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Book: Finler, Joel Waldo . 2003 . The Hollywood Story . Wallflower Press . 978-1-903364-66-6 . 358–359.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080615024149/http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1972.shtml Top 20 Films of 1972 by Domestic Revenue
- News: Variety. All-Time Film Rental Champs. October 15, 1990. M148. Lawrence. Cohn.
- http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/83/nominees.html 83rd Academy Awards Official Website.
