1950 in film

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Last updated March 12, 2023

The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1950 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1950
Rank	Title	Studio	Domestic rentals
1	Samson and Delilah	Paramount Pictures	$9,000,000^[1]
2	King Solomon's Mines	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$5,047,000^[2]
3	Annie Get Your Gun	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$4,708,000^[2]
4	Cheaper by the Dozen	20th Century Fox	$4,425,000^[3]
5	Cinderella	Walt Disney/RKO Radio Pictures	$4,300,000^[4]
6	Born Yesterday	Columbia Pictures	$4,100,000^[4]
7	Father of the Bride	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$4,036,000^[2]
8	Broken Arrow	20th Century Fox	$3,600,000^[5]
9	At War with the Army	Paramount Pictures	$3,300,000^[5]
10	All About Eve	20th Century Fox	$3,100,000^[5]

Events

January 13 – Three weeks after its world premiere at the Paramount and Rivoli theatres in New York City, Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah opens in Los Angeles. The film is a massive commercial success and wins the awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at the 23rd Academy Awards.
February 15 – Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts. The film is the most successful the studio has made since Dumbo , and saves the studio from four million dollars in debt.
July 19 – Walt Disney Studios' first completely live-action film Treasure Island debuts.

Awards

Category/Organization	8th Golden Globe Awards February 28, 1951		23rd Academy Awards March 29, 1951
Category/Organization	Drama	Comedy or Musical	23rd Academy Awards March 29, 1951
Best Film	Sunset Boulevard		All About Eve
Best Director	Billy Wilder Sunset Boulevard		Joseph L. Mankiewicz All About Eve
Best Actor	José Ferrer Cyrano de Bergerac	Fred Astaire Three Little Words	José Ferrer Cyrano de Bergerac
Best Actress	Gloria Swanson Sunset Boulevard	Judy Holliday Born Yesterday	Judy Holliday Born Yesterday
Best Supporting Actor	Edmund Gwenn Mister 880		George Sanders All About Eve
Best Supporting Actress	Josephine Hull Harvey
Best Screenplay, Adapted	Joseph L. Mankiewicz All About Eve		Joseph L. Mankiewicz All About Eve
Best Screenplay, Original	Joseph L. Mankiewicz All About Eve		Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D. M. Marshman Jr. Sunset Boulevard

Top ten money making stars

Rank	Actor/Actress
1.	John Wayne
2.	Bob Hope
3.	Bing Crosby
4.	Betty Grable
5.	James Stewart
6. (tie)	Bud Abbott Lou Costello
7.	Clifton Webb
8.	Esther Williams
9.	Spencer Tracy
10.	Randolph Scott

Notable films released in 1950

US unless stated

V

Variety Lights (Luci del varietà), directed by Federico Fellini – (Italy)
Vendetta , starring Faith Domergue (filmed in 1946 but not released until 1950 due to delays from Howard Hughes)
Virtue for Sale , directed by Mahmoud Zulfikar, starring Mahmoud Zulfikar, Faten Hamama – (Egypt)

W

Wabash Avenue , starring Betty Grable (a remake of Grable's 1943 film Coney Island )
Wagon Master , directed by John Ford, starring Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru and Ward Bond
Watch the Birdie , starring Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl and Ann Miller
The West Point Story , starring James Cagney and Doris Day
When Willie Comes Marching Home , starring Dan Dailey
Where Danger Lives , starring Robert Mitchum and Faith Domergue in her film debut
Where the Sidewalk Ends , directed by Otto Preminger, starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney
Winchester '73 , starring James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Stephen McNally, Dan Duryea, and with early appearances by Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis
The Woman in Question , directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Jean Kent and Dirk Bogarde – (GB)
Woman in Hiding , starring Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally
Woman on the Run , starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe
The Wooden Horse , starring Leo Genn and Anthony Steel – (GB)

Y

The Yellow Cab Man , starring Red Skelton and Gloria DeHaven
The Young and the Damned (Los Olvidados), directed by Luis Buñuel – (Mexico)
Young Man with a Horn , directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day

Z

Zhukovsky – (USSR)

Serials

Atom Man vs. Superman , starring Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill and Lyle Talbot
Cody of the Pony Express
Desperadoes of the West , starring Tom Keene
Flying Disc Man from Mars , starring Walter Reed and Lois Collier
The Invisible Monster , starring Richard Webb and Aline Towne
The Mystery of the Snakeskin Belt ^{[ pt ]}
Pirates of the High Seas , starring Buster Crabbe

Short film series

Births

January 1 – Gerard McSorley, Irish actor
January 7 – Erin Gray, American model and actress
January 22 – Pamela Salem, British actress
January 24 – Daniel Auteuil, French actor
January 30 – Trinidad Silva, American comedian and character actor (d. 1988)
February 5 – Jonathan Freeman, American actor, voice actor, singer and puppeteer
February 12 – Michael Ironside, Canadian actor
February 17 – Prunella Gee, English actress
February 18
- John Hughes, American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- Cybill Shepherd, American actress
February 21 – Larry Drake, American actor and comedian (d. 2016)
February 22 – Julie Walters, English actress
February 23 – Mary Pat Gleason, American actress (d. 2020)
February 25 – Neil Jordan, Irish director
March 2 – Matthew Laurance, American actor and comedian
March 3 – Laura Ziskin, American producer (d. 2011)
March 11 – Jerry Zucker, American director and producer
March 13 – William H. Macy, American actor
March 18 – Brad Dourif, American actor
March 20
- William Hurt, American actor (d. 2022)
- Tom Towles, American character actor (d. 2015)
March 23 – Corinne Cléry, French actress
March 26
- Martin Short, Canadian comedian and actor
- Alan Silvestri, American film composer and conductor
March 29 – Barry Pearl, American actor
March 30 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor (d. 2022)^[6]
April 4 – Christine Lahti, American actress
April 12 – David Cassidy, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2017)
April 13
- Ron Perlman, American actor
- William Sadler, American actor
April 15 – Josiane Balasko, French actress, writer and director
April 16 – David Graf, American actor (d. 2001)
April 22 – Thierry Zéno, Belgian director (d. 2017)
April 23 - Henry Goodman, British actor
April 28 – Jay Leno, American comedian, actor, writer, producer and late-night television host
April 29 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director
May 1 – John Diehl, American character actor
May 8 – Robert Mugge, American director and producer
May 9 – Marcheline Bertrand, American actress (d. 2007)
May 12 – Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
May 13 – Joe Johnston, American director, writer and visual effects artist
May 15 – Nicholas Hammond, American-born Australian actor and writer
May 18
- Gerry Mendicino, Canadian actor
- Nick Wyman, American actor
May 22 – Peter Wildman, Canadian actor
June 1 – John M. Jackson, American film and television actor
June 5 – Daniel von Bargen, American character actor (d. 2015)
June 6 – Chantal Akerman, Belgian director (d. 2015)
June 8 – Kathy Baker, American actress
June 13 – Belinda Bauer, Australian actress
June 14 - Jeremy Sinden, English actor (d. 1996)
June 17 – Lee Tamahori, New Zealand filmmaker
June 19 – Daria Nicolodi, Italian actress and screenwriter (d. 2020)
June 24 – Nancy Allen, American actress
June 25 – Thomas Jefferson Byrd, American actor (d. 2020)
June 26 – Michael Paul Chan, American actor
July 17 – Barbara Rosenblat, British actress
July 20 – Tantoo Cardinal, Canadian actress
July 28 - Lani Minella, American voice actress, voice director and producer
July 29 – Mike Starr, American character actor
August 5 – Holly Palance, American actress
August 6 – Dorian Harewood, American actor
August 11
- Elya Baskin, Latvian-American character actor
- Adam LeFevre, American character actor
August 12 – Jim Beaver, American actor
August 13 – Jane Carr, English actress
August 14 – Peter Guinness (actor), English actor
August 16 - Marshall Manesh, Iranian-American actor
August 20 – Skip O'Brien, American actor (d. 2011)
August 27 – Charles Fleischer, American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and musician
September 7 – Julie Kavner, American film and television actress, voice actress and comedian
September 11 – Amy Madigan, American actress
September 12 – Bruce Mahler, American actor, producer and writer
September 14 – Howard Deutch, American director
September 21 – Bill Murray, American actor and comedian
September 24
- Harriet Walter, British actress
- Kristina Wayborn, Swedish actress
September 27 - Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Japanese-born American actor, producer and martial artist
September 28 – John Sayles, American director and screenwriter
September 30 – Vondie Curtis-Hall, American actor, screenwriter and director
October 1 – Randy Quaid, American actor
October 2 – Ian McNeice, English actor
October 4 – Alan Rosenberg, American actor
October 5 – Jeff Conaway, American actor and singer (d. 2011)
October 17 – Howard Rollins, American actor (d. 1996)
October 18 – Om Puri, Indian actor (d. 2017)
October 31 – John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (d. 1994)
November 13 – Jules Sylvester, British wild animal trainer, actor and television presenter
November 16 – David Leisure, American actor
November 18 – Eric Pierpoint, American actor
November 28 – Ed Harris, American actor
December 10 – Gregg Berger, American voice actor
December 12 – Duane Chase, American actor
December 13 – Wendie Malick, American-Canadian actress, previously fashion model
December 21
- Jane How, English actress
- Jeffrey Katzenberg, American filmmaker and animator
December 22 – Jeris Lee Poindexter, American actor, comedian and musician
December 29 - Jon Polito, American character actor (d. 2016)

Deaths

January 2 – Emil Jannings, 65, Swiss-born German actor, The Blue Angel , The Last Laugh
January 12 – John M. Stahl, 63, American film director and producer, Leave Her to Heaven , Imitation of Life
January 22
- Alan Hale Sr., 57, American actor, director, The Adventures of Robin Hood , Santa Fe Trail
- Corinne Luchaire, 28, French actress, Prison Without Bars , Conflict
March 10 – Marguerite De La Motte, 47, American actress, The Mark of Zorro , The Iron Mask
March 18 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, 74, American writer, creator of Tarzan
March 25 – Frank Buck, 66, American actor and animal expert, Bring 'Em Back Alive , Africa Screams
April 7 – Walter Huston, 67, American Academy Award-winning actor, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Dodsworth
April 26 – Hobart Cavanaugh, 63, American actor, I Cover the Waterfront , A Letter to Three Wives
May 1 – Ernst Laemmle, 49, German director and screenwriter, The Phantom of the Opera , The Palm Beach Story
June 22 – Jane Cowl, 66, American actress, No Man of Her Own , Payment on Demand
July 17 – Antonie Nedošinská, 65, Czech actress, Falešná kočička aneb Když si žena umíní , Capek's Tales
September 13 – Sara Allgood, 69, Irish actress, How Green Was My Valley , The Lodger
October 23 – Al Jolson, 64, Lithuanian-born American actor, singer, entertainer, The Jazz Singer , Rhapsody in Blue , The Singing Fool
October 29 – Maurice Costello, 73, American actor, Du Barry Was a Lady , Tin Pan Alley
December 4 – James Kevin McGuinness, 56, Irish-American producer and screenwriter, Madame X , Rio Grande
December 28 – William Garwood, 66, American silent-film actor and director, The Cowboy Millionaire , Proxy Husband

Film debuts

References

↑ Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 356–357. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
1 2 3 'The Eddie Mannix Ledger', Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles
↑ "All-Time Top Grosses". Variety. January 4, 1961. p. 49. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
1 2 Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
1 2 3 Top 20 Films of 1950 by Domestic Revenue
↑ "Robbie Coltrane obituary". the Guardian. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.

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[Finler356-1] Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 356–357. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.

[Mannix-2] 1 2 3 'The Eddie Mannix Ledger', Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles

[Variety61-3] "All-Time Top Grosses". Variety. January 4, 1961. p. 49. Retrieved April 24, 2019.

[Finler-4] 1 2 Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.

[1950DomesticRevenue-5] 1 2 3 Top 20 Films of 1950 by Domestic Revenue

[6] "Robbie Coltrane obituary". the Guardian. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.

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