1972 in film

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Last updated February 17, 2025

The year 1972 in film involved several significant events. Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures celebrated their 60th anniversaries and Motion Picture Association of America clebrated their 50th anniversary.

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)

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^[1]
3	What's Up, Doc?	Warner Bros.	$28,000,000^[1]
4	Deliverance		$22,500,000^[1]
5	Jeremiah Johnson		$21,900,000^[2]
6	Cabaret	Allied Artists	$20,250,000^[2]
7	Deep Throat	Bryanston	$20,000,000^[2]
8	The Getaway	National General	$18,000,000^[2]
9	Brother of the Wind	Sun International	$12,000,000^[3]
10	Lady Sings the Blues	Paramount	$9,666,000^[2]

Awards

Category/Organization	30th Golden Globe Awards January 28, 1973		26th BAFTA Awards February 28, 1973	45th Academy Awards March 27, 1973
Category/Organization	Drama	Musical or Comedy	26th BAFTA Awards February 28, 1973	45th Academy Awards March 27, 1973
Best Film	The Godfather	Cabaret		The Godfather
Best Director	Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather		Bob Fosse Cabaret
Best Actor	Marlon Brando The Godfather	Jack Lemmon Avanti!	Gene Hackman The Poseidon Adventure The French Connection	Marlon Brando The Godfather
Best Actress	Liv Ullmann The Emigrants	Liza Minnelli Cabaret
Best Supporting Actor	Joel Grey Cabaret		Ben Johnson The Last Picture Show	Joel Grey Cabaret
Best Supporting Actress	Shelley Winters The Poseidon Adventure		Cloris Leachman The Last Picture Show	Eileen Heckart Butterflies Are Free
Best Screenplay, Adapted	Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo The Godfather		Paddy Chayefsky The Hospital Peter Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry The Last Picture Show	Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo The Godfather
Best Screenplay, Original	Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo The Godfather			Jeremy Larner The Candidate
Best Original Score	Nino Rota The Godfather			Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell Limelight Ralph Burns Cabaret
Best Original Song	"Ben" Ben		N/A	"The Morning After" The Poseidon Adventure
Best Foreign Language Film	The Emigrants The New Land		N/A	The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

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 genre/medium

Births

January 5 - Luciana Pedraza, Argentine actress and director
January 9 – Deon Cole, American actor
January 11
- Marc Blucas, American actor
- Konstantin Khabensky, Russian actor and director
- Amanda Peet, American actress
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 -
- Léa Drucker, French actress
- Ewen Bremner, Scottish character actor
January 26 - Cyia Batten, American dancer, model and actress
January 28
- Peter McDonald, Irish actor and director
- Gillian Vigman, American actress, comedian and screenwriter
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
- Maz Jobrani, American comedian and 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
- Jean Louisa Kelly, American actress and singer
- Kerr Smith, American actor
March 13 – Common, American actor and singer
March 16 - Nicolas Bro, Danish actor
March 18 – Dane Cook, American comedian
March 23 – Judith Godrèche, French actress
March 24
- Charlie Creed-Miles, English actor and musician
- Tony Leondis, Greek-American animator, filmmaker and voice actor
March 26 – Leslie Mann, American actress
March 28
- Nick Frost, English actor, comedian, writer and producer
- David Vadim, Ukrainian-born American actor
- Ledisi, American singer-songwriter and actress
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 10 - Cary Guffey, American former child actor
May 12
- Christian Campbell, Canadian actor
- Rhea Seehorn, American actress and director
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
- Kate Ashfield, English actress
- Chiara Mastroianni, French actress
- Roland Møller, Danish actor
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
- Jean Dujardin, French actor
- Robin Tunney, American actress
June 23 – Selma Blair, American actress
June 28
- Brendan Hunt, American actor and writer
- Alessandro Nivola, American actor
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
- Ato Essandoh, American actor
- Wil Wheaton, American actor
August 1
- Guri Weinberg, Israeli-American actor and writer
- Charles Malik Whitfield, American actor
August 2 - Jacinda Barrett, Australian-American actress
August 5
- Darren Shahlavi, English actor, martial artist and stuntman (d. 2015)
- Reika Kirishima, Japanese actress
August 7
- Dan Payne, Canadian actor
- Greg Serano, American actor
August 10 - Angie Harmon, American actress
August 13 - Michael Sinterniklaas, French voice actor
August 15 – Ben Affleck, American actor, director and writer
August 24 - Ava DuVernay, American filmmaker, screenwriter and producer
August 25 - Joe Wright, English director
August 30 – Cameron Diaz, American actress
September 4
- Carlos Ponce, Puerto Rican actor, musician, model and television personality
- Françoise Yip, Canadian actress
September 6
- Dylan Bruno, American actor
- Idris Elba, English actor
- Mait Malmsten, Estonian actor
- Anika Noni Rose, American actress and singer
September 7 – Matthew Sleeth, Australian director
September 8
- Giovanni Frezza, Italian child actor
- Tomokazu Seki, Japanese voice actor
September 9 – Goran Visnjic, Croatian-American actor
September 15 - John Schwab, American actor
September 16
- Mike Doyle, American actor
- Alex Rice, Aboriginal-Canadian actress
September 21
- Kevin Downes, American actor, writer, producer and director
- Erin Fitzgerald, Canadian voice actress
September 24
- Kate Fleetwood, English actress
- Finty Williams, English actress
September 26 - Melanie Paxson, American actress
September 27 – Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
October 5 - Tom Hooper, British-Australian filmmaker
October 8
- Enrique Arce, Spanish actor
- Tricia Vessey, American actress, writer and producer
October 9 - Cocoa Brown, American actress, writer and comedian
October 11 - Claudia Black, Australian actress
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
- David Wilson Barnes, American actor
- Jessica Hynes, English actress, director and writer
- Steve Monroe, American actor and stand-up comedian
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
- Christopher Daniel Barnes, American actor and writer
- Jeremy and Jason London, American actors
November 8
- Gretchen Mol, American actress
- Jason Matthew Smith, American actor
November 9 - Eric Dane, American actor
November 10 - Trevor Devall, Canadian voice actor and podcaster
November 11
- Adam Beach, Canadian actor
- Tyler Christopher, American actor (d. 2023)
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
- Mohammad Rasoulof, Iranian independent filmmaker
- Michael Irby, American actor
November 19
- Nicole Forester, American actress
- Sandrine Holt, British-born Canadian actress
November 21 - Rain Phoenix, American actress, musician and singer
November 26 – Arjun Rampal, Indian actor
November 28 - Michael Blackson, Ghanian actor and comedian
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 9 - Reiko Aylesworth, American actress
December 14
- Jason Barry, Irish actor
- Miranda Hart, English actress, comedian and writer
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 22 - Poorna Jagannathan, American producer and actress
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
- Brandon Auret, South African actor
- Thomas Wilson Brown, American actor
December 29
- Jude Law, English actor
- Leonor Varela, Chilean actress

Deaths

Month	Date	Name	Age	Country	Profession	Notable films
January	1	Maurice Chevalier	83	France	Actor, Singer	Gigi Can-Can
	8	Wesley Ruggles	82	US	Director, Producer	I'm No Angel Arizona
	17	Rochelle Hudson	55	US	Actress	Rebel Without a Cause Les Miserables
	18	George Mitchell	66	US	Actor	The Andromeda Strain Kid Galahad
	19	Richard Fraser	58	Scotland	Actor	The Picture of Dorian Gray The Fatal Witness
	22	Alec Coppel	64	Australia	Screenwriter	The Captain's Paradise Vertigo
	24	Jerome Cowan	74	US	Actor	The Maltese Falcon Miracle on 34th Street
	27	Herbert Hübner	82	Germany	Actor	Storm in a Water Glass Robert and Bertram
	29	Hugh McDermott	65	Scotland	Actor	David Livingstone Devil Girl from Mars
February	2	Jessie Royce Landis	75	US	Actress	North by Northwest To Catch a Thief
	7	Walter Lang	75	US	Director	The King and I The Little Princess
	19	John Grierson	73	Scotland	Director, Producer	The Song of Ceylon The Brave Don't Cry
	20	Walter Winchell	74	US	Commentator	Wake Up and Live Love and Hisses
	21	Bronislava Nijinska	64	Poland	Choreographer	A Midsummer Night's Dream
March	3	Harold Young	74	US	Director, Editor	The Scarlet Pimpernel The Mummy's Tomb
	19	Albert Mannheimer	59	US	Screenwriter	Born Yesterday Bloodhounds of Broadway
	20	Marilyn Maxwell	51	US	Actress	Champion The Lemon Drop Kid
	29	J. Arthur Rank	83	England	Executive	So Well Remembered Quartet
	29	Hal Roach Jr.	53	US	Director, Producer	One Million B.C.
	30	Peter Whitney	55	US	Actor	The Big Heat In the Heat of the Night
April	5	Brian Donlevy	71	Ireland	Actor	Kiss of Death Wake Island
	5	Isabel Jewell	64	US	Actress	Gone with the Wind Lost Horizon
	7	Betty Blythe	78	US	Actress	The Queen of Sheba She
	13	Dorothy Dalton	78	US	Actress	Behind Masks The Woman Who Walked Alone
	20	Jorge Mistral	51	Spain	Actor	Andalusia Express The White Sister
	25	George Sanders	65	England	Actor	All About Eve Rebecca
	25	Alfred J. Goulding	87	Australia	Director	Step Lively A Chump at Oxford
	27	Bobby Howes	76	England	Producer, Director	Sweet Devil Yes, Madam?
	28	Harry Joe Brown	81	US	Producer, Director	Captain Blood Knickerbocker Holiday
	30	Gia Scala	38	England	Actor	The Guns of Navarone Don't Go Near the Water
May	3	Bruce Cabot	68	US	Actor	King Kong Diamonds Are Forever
	4	Elsa Ratassepp	79	Estonia	Actress	Libahunt
	5	Frank Tashlin	59	US	Director	Son of Paleface Artists and Models
	7	Henri Diamant-Berger	76	France	Director, producer, screenwriter	Les Trois Mousquetaires Monsieur Fabre
	12	Steve Ihnat	37	Czechoslovakia	Actor	Madigan Zig Zag
	13	Dan Blocker	43	US	Actor	Lady in Cement Come Blow Your Horn
	15	Nigel Green	47	South Africa	Actor	The Ipcress File Zulu
	18	Sidney Franklin	79	US	Director, Producer	Duel in the Sun The Good Earth
	22	Margaret Rutherford	80	England	Actress	The V.I.P.s Murder, She Said
	23	Richard Day	76	Canada	Art director	How Green Was My Valley On the Waterfront
	24	Asta Nielsen	90	Denmark	Actress	Hamlet: The Drama of Vengeance Impossible Love
	25	Charles C. Coleman	70	US	Director	Homicide Bureau The Shadow
June	17	Jean Brochard	79	France	Actor	The Law Is the Law Les Diaboliques
	17	Gale Henry	79	US	Actress	Two-Time Mama Darkened Rooms
	20	Sidney Lanfield	74	US	Director	The Hound of the Baskervilles The Lemon Drop Kid
	22	Paul Czinner	82	Hungary	Director, screenwriter	Dreaming Lips Ariane, jeune fille russe
	25	Nicholas Hannen	74	England	Director	The Dictator Richard III
	27	Thomy Bourdelle	81	France	Actor	The Return of Don Camillo The Call of Silence
July	3	Hal Walker	76	US	Director	Sailor Beware At War with the Army
	6	Brandon deWilde	30	US	Actor	Shane Hud
	10	Emrys Jones	56	England	Actor	One of Our Aircraft Is Missing Nicholas Nickleby
	10	Harmon Jones	61	Canada	Director	Pride of St. Louis The Kid from Left Field
	19	Sally Benson	74	US	Screenwriter	Shadow of a Doubt Viva Las Vegas
	28	Helen Traubel	73	US	Actress, Singer	Deep in My Heart The Ladies Man
August	7	Joi Lansing	43	US	Actress	Touch of Evil A Hole in the Head
	7	Tom Neal	58	US	Actor	Jungle Girl Detour
	14	Oscar Levant	65	US	Actor	An American in Paris The Band Wagon
	16	Pierre Brasseur	66	France	Actor	Les Enfants du Paradis Eyes Without a Face
	19	Roger Furse	68	England	Costume and production designer	Henry V Hamlet
	24	D. Ross Lederman	77	US	Director	Key Witness The Body Disappears
	27	Gaby André	52	France	Actress	Verdi, the King of Melody Highway 301
September	11	Max Fleischer	89	US	Animator, Director, Producer	Popeye the Sailor Betty Boop for President
	12	William Boyd	77	US	Actor	Hop-Along Cassidy The Volga Boatman
	14	Lane Chandler	73	US	Actor	Open Range The Cheyenne Cyclone
	17	Akim Tamiroff	72	Russia	Actor	Touch of Evil Ocean's 11
	29	Max Nosseck	70	Germany	Director	Black Beauty Dillinger
	29	Edward Sloman	86	US	Actor	Gun Smoke The Lost Zeppelin
	30	Edgar G. Ulmer	68	Austria	Director	The Black Cat Detour
October	4	Colin Gordon	61	England	Actor	The Pink Panther Casino Royale
	9	Miriam Hopkins	69	US	Actress	Trouble in Paradise Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
	16	Leo G. Carroll	85	England	Actor	North by Northwest Strangers on a Train
	22	Jack Melford	73	England	Actor	A Shot in the Dark Lust for a Vampire
	24	Claire Windsor	80	US	Actor	The Blot Captain Lash
	28	Mitchell Leisen	74	US	Director	Midnight Kitty
November	5	Reginald Owen	85	England	Actor	Mary Poppins A Christmas Carol
	7	Tod Andrews	57	Russia	Actor	From Hell It Came Beneath the Planet of the Apes
	10	Francis Chagrin	66	Romania	Composer	The Intruder The Colditz Story
	16	Vera Karalli	83	Russia	Actress	A Woman's Revenge The King of Paris
	23	Marie Wilson	56	US	Actress	Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation My Friend Irma
	29	Eve Southern	72	US	Actress	Clothes Make the Woman Morocco (film)
	30	William P. S. Earle	89	US	Director	The Way of a Maid Love's Masquerade
December	6	Janet Munro	38	England	Actress	Swiss Family Robinson Darby O'Gill and the Little People
	9	William Dieterle	79	Germany	Director	The Life of Emile Zola The Story of Louis Pasteur
	9	Louella Parsons	91	US	Columnist, Screenwriter	Hollywood Hotel Starlift
	15	Edward Earle	90	Canada	Actor	The Law of the Yukon Spite Marriage
	19	Jacques Deval	77	France	Director, Screenwriter	Women's Club Tovaritch

Film debuts

Anne Archer – The Honkers
William Atherton – The New Centurions
Margaret Avery – Cool Breeze
Elya Baskin – Telegramma
Emmanuelle Béart – And Hope to Die
Ned Beatty – Deliverance
Susan Blakely – Savages
Klaus Maria Brandauer – The Salzburg Connection
Jerry Bruckheimer (producer) – The Culpepper Cattle Co.
Robert Carradine – The Cowboys
Dominic Chianese – Fuzz
Candy Clark – Fat City
Allan Corduner – Savage Messiah
Ronny Cox – Deliverance
Blythe Danner – To Kill a Clown
Brian Doyle-Murray – Fuzz
Art Evans – Sisters
Peter Firth – Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Jodie Foster – Napoleon and Samantha
Jackie Earle Haley – The Outside Man
Bob Hoskins – Up the Front
Isabelle Huppert – Faustine et le Bel Été
Samuel L. Jackson – Together for Days
Madeline Kahn – What's Up, Doc?
Patsy Kensit – For the Love of Ada
Ben Kingsley – Fear Is the Key
Ed Lauter – Dirty Little Billy
John Lithgow – Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
David Margulies – Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
Steve Martin – Another Nice Mess
Frank McRae – Cool Breeze
Nick Nolte – Dirty Little Billy
Jürgen Prochnow – Zoff
Kathleen Quinlan – One Is a Lonely Number
Steve Railsback – The Visitors
Alan Silvestri (film composer) – The Doberman Gang
Frank Sivero – The Godfather
Stellan Skarsgård – Strandhugg i somras
Charles Martin Smith – The Culpepper Cattle Co.
Kemal Sunal – Sweet Talker
Jeffrey Tambor – The Summertime Killer
Lily Tomlin – Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers
James Woods – The Visitors
George Wyner – Lady Sings the Blues

References

1 2 3 4 Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
1 2 3 4 5 Top 20 Films of 1972 by Domestic Revenue
↑ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety . p. M148.
↑ 83rd Academy Awards Official Website.

External links

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[Finler-1] 1 2 3 4 Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.

[1972DomesticRevenue-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Top 20 Films of 1972 by Domestic Revenue

[3] Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety . p. M148.

[4] 83rd Academy Awards Official Website.

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