Overview of the events of 1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)[ edit ]
The top ten 1950 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1950
Rank
Title
Distributor
Domestic rentals
1
Samson and Delilah
Paramount
$9,000,000[ 1]
2
King Solomon's Mines
MGM
$5,047,000[ 2]
3
Annie Get Your Gun
$4,708,000[ 2]
4
Cheaper by the Dozen
20th Century Fox
$4,425,000[ 3]
5
Cinderella
RKO /Walt Disney
$4,275,000[ 4]
6
Born Yesterday
Columbia
$4,100,000[ 5]
7
Father of the Bride
MGM
$4,036,000[ 2]
8
Broken Arrow
20th Century Fox
$3,600,000[ 6]
9
All About Eve
$3,100,000[ 6]
10
Three Little Words
MGM
$3,019,000[ 2]
Top ten money making stars [ edit ]
Notable films released in 1950 [ edit ]
US unless stated
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion , starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
The Admiral Was a Lady , starring Wanda Hendrix and Edmond O'Brien
All About Eve , directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz , starring Bette Davis , Anne Baxter , George Sanders , Celeste Holm , Hugh Marlowe , Marilyn Monroe – winner of 6 Oscars
Ambush , starring Robert Taylor and Arlene Dahl
Annie Get Your Gun , starring Betty Hutton , Howard Keel , Louis Calhern
Armored Car Robbery , starring Charles McGraw and William Talman
The Asphalt Jungle , directed by John Huston , starring Sterling Hayden , Louis Calhern , Sam Jaffe , James Whitmore , Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe
The Astonished Heart , starring Celia Johnson and Noël Coward – (GB )
At War with the Army , starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Babul (Father's House), starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis – (India )
Backfire , starring Virginia Mayo and Gordon MacRae
The Bandit Queen , starring Barbara Britton and Phillip Reed
The Baron of Arizona , starring Vincent Price
Beauty and the Devil (La Beauté du diable), directed by René Clair , starring Michel Simon – (France /Italy )
Beqasoor , starring Madhubala – (India )
The Big Lift , starring Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas
Bitter Springs , starring Tommy Trinder and Chips Rafferty – (Australia /GB)
The Black Forest Girl , starring Sonja Ziemann and Rudolf Prack – (West Germany)
The Black Rose , starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles – (GB/US)
The Blue Lamp , starring Jack Warner and Dirk Bogarde – (GB )
Born to Be Bad , starring Joan Fontaine and Robert Ryan
Born Yesterday , directed by George Cukor , starring Broderick Crawford , Judy Holliday and William Holden
The Breaking Point , directed by Michael Curtiz , starring John Garfield and Patricia Neal
Bright Leaf , starring Gary Cooper , Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal
Broken Arrow , starring James Stewart and Jeff Chandler
Café Paradis – (Denmark )
Caged , starring Eleanor Parker
Caiçara , directed by and starring Adolfo Celi – (Brazil )
Captain Carey, U.S.A. , starring Alan Ladd and Wanda Hendrix
Captain China , starring John Payne and Gail Russell
Champagne for Caesar , starring Ronald Colman , Celeste Holm , Vincent Price , Art Linkletter
Cheaper by the Dozen , starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy
Cinderella , a Disney animated film. Directed by Clyde Geronimi , Hamilton Luske , and Wilfred Jackson , starring Ilene Woods , Eleanor Audley , Verna Felton , Rhoda Williams , James MacDonald , Luis van Rooten , Don Barclay , Mike Douglas , and Lucille Bliss
Comanche Territory , starring Maureen O'Hara
Convicted , starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford
Crisis , starring Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer
Cyrano de Bergerac , starring José Ferrer
D.O.A. , starring Edmond O'Brien
Dallas , starring Gary Cooper
The Damned Don't Cry , starring Joan Crawford
Dance Hall , directed by Charles Crichton , starring Diana Dors and Petula Clark – (GB )
Darah dan Doa , directed and produced by Usmar Ismail – (Indonesia ), first native-produced Indonesian film
Dark City , directed by William Dieterle , starring Charlton Heston (in his first studio film), Lizabeth Scott , Viveca Lindfors , Dean Jagger , Mike Mazurki , Ed Begley
The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady , starring June Haver and Gordon MacRae
Death is a Caress (Døden er et kjærtegn) – (Norway )
Deported , starring Jeff Chandler
Destination Moon , starring John Archer
The Devil Is a Woman (Doña Diabla) – (Mexico )
Devil's Doorway , starring Robert Taylor , Louis Calhern , Paula Raymond
Dial 1119 , starring Marshall Thompson , Virginia Field , William Conrad
Dieu a besoin des hommes (God Needs Man), directed by Jean Delannoy – (France )
The Fall of Berlin (Padeniye Berlina) – (USSR )
Fancy Pants , starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball
Father Is a Bachelor , starring William Holden and Colleen Gray
Father of the Bride , directed by Vincente Minnelli , starring Spencer Tracy , Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor
The File on Thelma Jordon , starring Barbara Stanwyck
The Fireball , starring Mickey Rooney and Pat O'Brien
The Flame and the Arrow , starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo
The Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio), directed by Roberto Rossellini – (Italy )
For Heaven's Sake , starring Clifton Webb and Joan Bennett
Frenchie , starring Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters
The Fuller Brush Girl , starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert
The Furies , directed by Anthony Mann , starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston
Gabriela , directed by Géza von Cziffra , starring Zarah Leander – (West Germany )
Gerald McBoing-Boing
The Glass Menagerie , based on the play by Tennessee Williams , starring Jane Wyman , Kirk Douglas , Gertrude Lawrence and Arthur Kennedy
Gone to Earth , starring Jennifer Jones – (GB )
Guilty of Treason , starring Charles Bickford and Bonita Granville
Gun Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female ), starring John Dall and Peggy Cummins
The Gunfighter , starring Gregory Peck
Gunman in the Streets , starring Simone Signoret – (France )
A Lady Without Passport , starring Hedy Lamarr and John Hodiak
Last Holiday , starring Alec Guinness – (GB )
The Lawless , directed by Joseph Losey , starring Macdonald Carey
Let's Dance , starring Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton
Life (Jeevitham), directed by A. V. Meiyappan , starring Vyjayanthimala in her Telugu film debut – (India )
A Life of Her Own , starring Lana Turner and Ray Milland
The Life of Wu Xun (Wu Xun zhuan) – (China )
Louisa , starring Ronald Reagan
Love Happy , starring the Marx Brothers and, in a small role, Marilyn Monroe
The Magnificent Yankee , starring Louis Calhern
The Man Who Cheated Himself , starring Lee J. Cobb and Jane Wyatt
The Men , starring Marlon Brando in his film debut, with Teresa Wright , Everett Sloane , Jack Webb and, in a bit part, DeForest Kelley
The Miniver Story , starring Greer Garson , Walter Pidgeon and John Hodiak
Mirror of Holland (Spiegel van Holland) – (Netherlands ) winner of Short Film Palme d'Or
Mister 880 , starring Burt Lancaster and Edmund Gwenn
Montana , starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith
Morning Departure (aka Operation Disaster), starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough – (GB)
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone , starring Marjorie Main and James Whitmore
The Mudlark , starring Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness – (GB /US )
Mussorgsky – (USSR )
My Blue Heaven , starring Betty Grable
My Friend Irma Goes West , starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Mystery Street , starring Ricardo Montalbán
Nacha Regules , directed by Luis César Amadori (Argentina)
Nancy Goes to Rio , starring Ann Sothern , Jane Powell , Barry Sullivan , Carmen Miranda , Louis Calhern , and Scotty Beckett
The Nevadan , starring Randolph Scott and Dorothy Malone
Night and the City , directed by Jules Dassin , starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney – (GB )
No Man of Her Own , starring Barbara Stanwyck
No Peace Under the Olive Tree (Non c'è pace tra gli ulivi), starring Raf Vallone – (Italy )
No Way Out , starring Richard Widmark , Linda Darnell , Stephen McNally and Sidney Poitier
Panic in the Streets , directed by Elia Kazan , starring Richard Widmark , Jack Palance , Zero Mostel and Barbara Bel Geddes
Path of Hope (Il Cammino della speranza), directed by Pietro Germi , starring Raf Vallone – (Italy )
Perfect Strangers , starring Ginger Rogers
Please Believe Me , starring Deborah Kerr , Peter Lawford and Robert Walker
Post Office Box 1001 (Apartado de correos 1001) – (Spain )
Prehistoric Women , directed by Gregg C. Tallas
Prima comunione (aka Father's Dilemma), starring Aldo Fabrizi – (Italy )
Rashomon , directed by Akira Kurosawa , starring Toshiro Mifune and Masayuki Mori – (Japan )
Riding High , directed by Frank Capra , starring Bing Crosby
Right Cross , starring June Allyson and Dick Powell
Rio Grande , directed by John Ford , starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara
Rocketship X-M , starring Lloyd Bridges , Hugh O'Brian and Noah Beery Jr.
Rocky Mountain , starring Errol Flynn and Patrice Wymore
Rogues of Sherwood Forest , starring John Derek
La Ronde (The Merry-Go-Round), directed by Max Ophüls , starring Simone Signoret and Anton Walbrook – (France )
Room to Let , directed by Godfrey Grayson
Scandal (Sukyandaru), directed by Akira Kurosawa – (Japan )
The Second Face , starring Ella Raines
The Secret Fury , starring Claudette Colbert and Robert Ryan
September Affair , starring Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten
Seven Days to Noon , directed by the Boulting Brothers , starring Barry Jones – (GB )
Shadow on the Wall , starring Ann Sothern , Zachary Scott , Nancy Davis
Side Street , starring Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell
Sierra , starring Wanda Hendrix and Audie Murphy
The Sleeping City , starring Richard Conte
So Long at the Fair , starring Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde – (GB )
The Sound of Fury , starring Frank Lovejoy and Lloyd Bridges
Stage Fright , directed by Alfred Hitchcock , starring Jane Wyman , Marlene Dietrich , Michael Wilding and Richard Todd – (GB )
Stars in My Crown , starring Joel McCrea
State Secret , starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jack Hawkins – (GB )
Story of a Love Affair (Cronaca di un amore), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni – (Italy)
Stromboli , directed by Roberto Rossellini , starring Ingrid Bergman – (Italy /US )
Summer Stock , starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly , with Phil Silvers
Sunday in August (Domenica d'agosto) – (Italy )
Sunset Boulevard , directed by Billy Wilder , starring William Holden , Gloria Swanson , Erich Von Stroheim , Nancy Olson
También de Dolor se Canta (They Also Sing from Sadness), starring Pedro Infante – (Mexico )
Tea for Two , starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
Tension , starring Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter
This Life of Mine (Wo zhe yi bei zi) – (China )
Three Came Home , starring Claudette Colbert
Three Little Words , starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton
Three Secrets , starring Eleanor Parker , Patricia Neal , Ruth Roman
A Ticket to Tomahawk , starring Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey
The Titan: Story of Michelangelo , award-winning documentary by Robert J. Flaherty
To Joy (Till glädje), directed by Ingmar Bergman – (Sweden )
To Please a Lady , starring Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck
The Toast of New Orleans , starring Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza
Tomorrow Is Too Late (Domani è troppo tardi), starring Pier Angeli and Vittorio De Sica – (Italy )
The Trap (Past), directed by Martin Frič – (Czechoslovakia )
Treasure Island , starring Robert Newton – (GB/US)
Trio , starring Nigel Patrick , Wilfred Hyde-White , Jean Simmons – (GB )
Tripoli , starring Maureen O'Hara and John Payne
Two Flags West , starring Joseph Cotten and Linda Darnell
Two Weeks with Love , starring Jane Powell and Ricardo Montalbán
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 )
January 1 – Gerard McSorley , Irish actor
January 6 - Richard Norton , Australian martial artist, actor and stunt performer
January 7 – Erin Gray , American model and actress
January 9 - David Johansen , American singer-songwriter and actor
January 16 - Debbie Allen , American actress, singer, director and producer
January 23 – Richard Dean Anderson , American actor
January 24 – Daniel Auteuil , French actor
January 27 - Alex Norton , Scottish actor
January 30
January 31 - Robert Grubb , Australian actor
February 3 - Morgan Fairchild , American actress
February 5 – Jonathan Freeman , American actor, voice actor, singer and puppeteer
February 12 – Michael Ironside , Canadian actor
February 16 - R. D. Call , American actor (d. 2020)
February 17 – Prunella Gee , English actress
February 18
February 19 - Johan Leysen , Belgian actor (d. 2023)
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
February 26 - Don Shanks , American actor and stuntman
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
March 23 – Corinne Cléry , French actress
March 26
March 29 – Barry Pearl , American actor
March 30 – Robbie Coltrane , Scottish actor (d. 2022)[ 7]
April 2 - Allan Corduner , British actor
April 4 – Christine Lahti , American actress
April 11 - Bill Irwin , American actor, clown and comedian
April 12 – David Cassidy , American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2017)
April 13
April 14 - Lynda Obst , American producer (d. 2024)
April 15 – Josiane Balasko , French actress, writer and director
April 16 – David Graf , American actor (d. 2001)
April 18 - Kenny Ortega , American filmmaker
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 7 - Randall "Tex" Cobb , American actor and martial artist
May 8
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
May 22 – Peter Wildman , Canadian actor
June 1 – John M. Jackson , American film and television actor
June 3 - Melissa Mathison , American screenwriter (d. 2015)
June 5 – Daniel von Bargen , American character actor (d. 2015)
June 6 – Chantal Akerman , Belgian-born 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 6 - Geraldine James , English actress
July 17 – Barbara Rosenblat , British actress
July 20 – Tantoo Cardinal , Canadian actress
July 24 - Johnny Lee Davenport , American actor (d. 2020)
July 27 - Nigel Plaskitt , English actor and producer
July 28 - Lani Minella , American voice actress, voice director and producer
July 29 – Mike Starr , American character actor
August 2 - Kathryn Harrold , American retired actress
August 3 - John Landis , American filmmaker and actor
August 5 – Holly Palance , American actress
August 6 – Dorian Harewood , American actor
August 10 - Rémy Girard , Canadian actor
August 11
August 12 – Jim Beaver , American actor
August 13 – Jane Carr , English actress
August 14 – Peter Guinness , English actor
August 15 - Tess Harper , American actress
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 2 - Rosanna DeSoto , American actress
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 18 - Luis Contreras , American character actor (d. 2004)
September 19 - Rudy Ramos , American actor and musician
September 21 – Bill Murray , American actor and comedian
September 24
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 10 - Jerry Tondo , Japanese-American actor
October 17 – Howard Rollins , American actor (d. 1996)
October 18 – Om Puri , Indian actor (d. 2017)
October 25 - Mark L. Taylor , American actor
October 28 - Audrie J. Neenan , American actress
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 2 - Dennis Christopher , American actor
December 4 – Obba Babatundé , American actor
December 10 – Gregg Berger , American voice actor
December 12 – Duane Chase , American actor
December 13
December 16 - Peter Van Norden , American actor
December 21
December 22 – Jeris Lee Poindexter , American actor, comedian and musician
December 29 - Jon Polito , American character actor (d. 2016)
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
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