1925 in film

This is an overview of 1925 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1925 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	'	MGM	$4,990,000
2'	Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ	MGM	$4,359,000
3	'	Pathé Exchange	$2,600,000
4'	'	United Artists	$2,150,000
5'	'	Universal	$1,550,000
6'	Don Q, Son of Zorro Stella Dallas	United Artists	$1,500,000
7	'	First National	$1,300,000
8'	East Lynne Little Annie Rooney	Fox Film United Artists	$1,100,000
9	The Merry Widow	MGM	$1,081,000
10	The Eagle''	United Artists	$820,000

Events

June 26: Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush premieres. It is voted the best film of the year by critics in The Film Daily annual poll
September 25: Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin rebuilt as Germany's largest cinema reopens.
November 5: MGM's war drama film The Big Parade is released. It is a massive commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing picture of the 1920s in the United States.
December 30: MGM's biblical epic Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ premieres in New York City. It is the most expensive silent film ever made, costing $4 million
Hong Shen publishes the film script Mrs. Shentu in the Shanghai magazine Eastern Miscellany. It is never filmed, but is considered a milestone in film history for being the first published film script in China. Hong also directs his first film, Young Master Feng, at Mingxing (Star) Film Company in this year.

Notable films released in 1925

For the complete list of US film releases for the year, see United States films of 1925

A

Ang Pagtitipid, directed by José Nepomuceno –
Are Parents People?, directed by Malcolm St. Clair, starring Adolphe Menjou

B

The Battleship Potemkin , directed by Sergei Eisenstein –
The Bells , directed by and starring Harry Southwell
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Ramón Novarro, May McAvoy and Francis X. Bushman
The Big Parade, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée
The Blackguard , directed by Graham Cutts –
Braveheart, directed by Alan Hale Sr., starring Rod La Rocque

C

Chess Fever , directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin –
Chronicles of the Gray House, directed by Arthur von Gerlach, starring Lil Dagover
The Circle, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Eleanor Boardman
Classified, directed by Alfred Santell, starring Corinne Griffith
Cobra, directed by Joseph Henabery, starring Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi
Corazón Aymara , directed by Pedro Sambarino –
Curses!, directed by William Goodrich and Grover Jones

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Felix the Cat
Koko the Clown
Aesop's Film Fables
Alice Comedies
* Alice Cans the Cannibals
* Alice the Toreador
* Alice Gets Stung
* Alice Solves the Puzzle
* Alice's Egg Plant
* Alice Loses Out
* Alice is Stage Struck
* Alice Wins the Derby
* Alice Picks the Champ
* Alice's Tin Pony
* Alice Chops the Suey
* Alice the Jail Bird
* Alice Plays Cupid
* Alice Rattled by Rats
* Alice in the Jungle
Koko's Song Car Tunes
Krazy Kat
''Un-Natural History''

Births

January 1 - Matthew Beard, American actor
January 6 – Enrique Carreras, Peruvian-born director and producer
January 9 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor
January 13
*Rosemary Murphy, American actress
*Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer
January 15 - Ignacio López Tarso, Mexican actor
January 21 – Charles Aidman, American actor
January 24 – Helen Stenborg, American actress
January 26
*Joan Leslie, American actress
*Paul Newman, American actor
February 2 – Elaine Stritch, American actress
February 3
*Shelley Berman, American comedian, actor, and writer
*John Fiedler, American actor and voice actor
February 8 – Jack Lemmon, American actor
February 11 – Kim Stanley, American actress
February 17
*Ron Goodwin, English film composer
*Hal Holbrook, American actor
February 18 – George Kennedy, American actor
February 20 – Robert Altman, American director
February 21 – Sam Peckinpah, American director
February 25 – Aino Seep, Estonian singer and actress
February 26 – Selma Archerd, American actress
March 7 - Richard Vernon, British actor
March 11 – Peter R. Hunt, British director, editor and producer
March 13 – Corrado Gaipa, Italian actor and voice actor
March 17 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor
March 23 - Thelma Ruby, British actress
March 29 - Frederick Treves, English actor
April 14 – Rod Steiger, American actor
April 18 – Bob Hastings, American actor
April 19 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor
April 28 – Bruce Kirby, American character actor
May 2 – John Neville, English-Canadian actor
May 25 – Jeanne Crain, American actress
May 26 – Alec McCowen, English actor
May 28 – Martha Vickers, American model, actress
June 3 – Tony Curtis, American actor
June 4
*Joe Hale, American animator, layout artist, and producer
*Gerald Sim, English actor
June 5 - Henny Orri, Dutch actress
June 7 – John Biddle, American yachting cinematographer
June 8 – Charles Tyner, American actor
June 10 - Diana Maggi, Italian-born Argentine actress
June 13 – Kristine Miller, American actress
June 16 – Otto Muehl, Austrian experimental director
June 20 – Audie Murphy, American soldier, actor, songwriter, rancher
June 21 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress
June 25
*June Lockhart, American actress
*Virginia Patton, American actress
June 29
*John Fujioka, American actor of Japanese descent
*Cara Williams, American actress
July 1 – Farley Granger, American actor
July 6 – Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress
July 10 – Mildred Kornman, American actress
July 11 – David Graham, British actor
July 13 – Huang Zongying, Chinese actress and scriptwriter
July 14 – Pip Freedman, South African radio comedian and actor
July 15 – D. A. Pennebaker, American documentary filmmaker
July 23 – Gloria DeHaven, American actress
July 24 – Miiko Taka, American actress
July 25 – Jerry Paris, American actor and director
August 6 – Barbara Bates, American singer, actress
August 11 – Arlene Dahl, American actress
August 13
*Carlos Balá, Argentine actor
*Asao Sano, Japanese actor
August 15 – Mike Connors, American actor
August 17 - Michael Beint, English retired actor
August 22 – Honor Blackman, English actress
August 23 – Robert Mulligan, American director
August 27 - Susan Willis, American actress
August 29 - Dick Cusack, American actor and filmmaker
August 30 - Frank Ray Perilli, American actor and screenwriter
September 2 - Ronnie Stevens, English character actor and voice artist
September 3 - Anne Jackson, American actress
September 8 – Peter Sellers, English comedian and actor
September 12
*James Garbutt, British actor
*Dickie Moore, American actor
September 15 - Peggy Webber, American actress and writer
September 17 - Dorothy Loudon, American actress and singer
September 18 - Felice Orlandi, Italian-born American actor
September 21 – Noor Jehan, Indian actress
September 22 - Virginia Capers, American actress
September 29 - Steve Forrest, American actor
October 3 – Gore Vidal, American writer and actor
October 4 - Edmund Lyndeck, American actor
October 5 – Gail Davis, American actress
October 11 – Nancy Guild, American actress
October 16
*Angela Lansbury, English-American actress
*Lenka Peterson, American actress
October 29
*Geraldine Brooks, American actress
*Robert Hardy, English actor
October 31 – Lee Grant, American actress, documentarian, and director
November 4 – Doris Roberts, American actress
November 6 - Michel Bouquet, French actor
November 10 – Richard Burton, Welsh actor
November 11 - Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor, author, television host and artist
November 17 – Rock Hudson, American actor
November 22 - Carla Balenda, American actress
November 25 – June Whitfield, English comic actress
December 2 – Julie Harris, American Broadway and film actress
December 3 – Kaljo Kiisk, Estonian actor and director
December 7 – Sydney Samuelson, English cinematographer
December 8 – Sammy Davis Jr., American singer, dancer, musician and actor
December 12 – Anne V. Coates, English film editor
December 13 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor
December 18 – Peggy Cummins, Welsh-born Irish actress
December 23 – Harry Guardino, American actor
December 28 – Hildegard Knef, German actress, singer and writer

Deaths

January 24 - Wilton Taylor, American actor
February 4 - William Haggar, British cinema pioneer
February 6 - James Kenyon, English businessman and cinema pioneer
February 7 – Edward Jobson, American actor
February 25 – Louis Feuillade, French director
March 13 – Lucille Ricksen, American actress
April 8 – Thecla Åhlander, Swedish actress
April 13 – Frederik Buch, Danish actor
April 16 – David Powell, Scottish actor
July 29 – Mark Fenton, American actor
September 28 – Paul Vermoyal, French actor
October 21 – Orme Caldara, American stage and film actor
October 31 – Max Linder, French actor
November 1 – Lester Cuneo American actor
November 3 – Lucile McVey, American actress
December 8 – Marguerite Marsh, American actress
December 9 – Harry Rattenberry, American actor
December 21 – Lottie Lyell, Australian director/producer
December 22 – Mary Thurman, American actress
December 24 - James O. Barrows, American stage and screen actor
December 31 – J. Gordon Edwards American director

Film debuts

Barbara Barondess – A Kiss for Cinderella
Walter Brennan – Webs of Steel
Iron Eyes Cody – The Road to Yesterday
Gary Cooper – Dick Turpin
Harry Cording – The Shock Punch
Joan Crawford – Lady of the Night
Yola d'Avril – The Dressmaker from Paris
Dolores del Río – Joanna
Wild Bill Elliott – The Plastic Age
Stepin Fetchit – The Mysterious Stranger
Paul Fix – The Perfect Clown
Joyzelle Joyner – Ben-Hur
Jack La Rue – The Lucky Devil
René Lefèvre – Knock
Myrna Loy – Pretty Ladies
Mona Maris – The Apache
Maximilienne – Le Double Amour
Tim McCoy – The Thundering Herd
Anita Page – A Kiss for Cinderella
Bodil Rosing – Pretty Ladies
Dorothy Sebastian – Sackcloth and Scarlet
Nicholas Soussanin – The Swan
Grady Sutton – The Mad Whirl
Michael Visaroff – The Swan
Fay Wray – ''The Coast Patrol''