1936 in film

The following is an overview of 1936 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. The highest grossing international film of the year was San Francisco, earning more than $5 million worldwide.

Fandom movies:1936

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1936 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Rank	Title	Distributor	Domestic rentals
1	The Great Ziegfeld	MGM	$3,089,000
2	San Francisco	MGM	$2,868,000
3	The Plainsman	Paramount	$2,278,533
4	After the Thin Man	MGM	$1,992,000
5	Modern Times	United Artists	$1,800,000
6	Anthony Adverse	Warner Bros.	$1,783,000
7	Strike Me Pink	United Artists	$1,700,000
8	Rose Marie	MGM	$1,695,000
9	Swing Time	RKO	$1,624,000
10	Libeled Lady	MGM	$1,601,000

Events

January 9 – Silent screen actor John Gilbert, perhaps best known for his appearances in films such as The Merry Widow and The Big Parade, dies suddenly of a heart attack at his Bel Air home, aged 38.
February 15 – The first Republic serial, Darkest Africa, is released.
May 29 – Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film, Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.
September 14 – Film producer Irving Thalberg, often referred by many as the "Boy Wonder of Hollywood", dies from pneumonia at his home in Santa Monica, aged 37.

Academy Awards

Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director: Frank Capra – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Best Actor: Paul Muni – The Story of Louis Pasteur
Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld
Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – Come and Get It
Best Supporting Actress: Gale Sondergaard – ''Anthony Adverse''

Top Ten Money Making Stars

Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars of the Year in Quigley Publishing Company's annual poll.

Rank	Actor/Actress
1.	Shirley Temple
2.	Clark Gable
3.	Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
4.	Robert Taylor
5.	Joe E. Brown
6.	Dick Powell
7.	Joan Crawford
8.	Claudette Colbert
9.	Jeanette MacDonald
10.	Gary Cooper

Top Western stars

A poll of the top Western stars was also published for the first time.

Rank	Actor/Actress
1.	Buck Jones
2.	George O'Brien
3.	Gene Autry
4.	William Boyd
5.	Ken Maynard
6.	Dick Foran
7.	John Wayne
8.	Tim McCoy
9.	Hoot Gibson
10.	Buster Crabbe

Notable films

United States unless stated.

1936 film releases

United States unless stated.

January–March

January 1936
*16 January
**Ceiling Zero
**Strike Me Pink
*17 January
**Augustus the Strong
*20 January
**The Invisible Ray
*22 January
**Collegiate
*24 January
**Anything Goes
*28 January
**Rose Marie
*30 January
**Next Time We Love
February 1936
*6 February
**The Petrified Forest
*7 February
**The Milky Way
*14 February
**The Bohemian Girl
**It Had to Happen
*15 February
**The Lawless Nineties
*19 February
**Girl Friends
*20 February
**Follow the Fleet
**Things to Come
*22 February
**The Story of Louis Pasteur
*25 February
**Modern Times
*28 February
**The Prisoner of Shark Island
**Wife vs. Secretary
*29 February
**Mayerling
**The Walking Dead
March 1936
*1 March
**Sutter's Gold
*2 March
**Man of the Frontier
*6 March
**Little Lord Fauntleroy
**Three Godfathers
*9 March
**Love Before Breakfast
*13 March
**The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
*18 March
**These Three
*20 March
**Silly Billies
*22 March
**The Great Ziegfeld
*28 March
**Road Gang
*30 March
**''Too Many Parents''

April–June

April 1936
*4 April
**Till We Meet Again
*10 April
**A Message to Garcia
**The Moon's Our Home
**Small Town Girl
*11 April
**Desire
**The Singing Kid
*16 April
**Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
*20 April
**By the Bluest of Seas
*24 April
**Captain January
*30 April
**Thirteen Hours by Air
May 1936
*6 May
**It's Love Again
*8 May
**The Case Against Mrs. Ames
*11 May
**Dracula's Daughter
*17 May
**Show Boat
*19 May
**Love in Exile
*20 May
**Broken Blossoms
*26 May
**Hearts in Bondage
*28 May
**Osaka Elegy
*29 May
**Fury
June 1936
*5 June
**Private Number
*6 June
**Bullets or Ballots
*14 June
**The Last Outlaw
*15 June
**Secret Agent
*17 June
**Poppy
*20 June
**Hearts Divided
*26 June
**''San Francisco''

July–September

July 1936
*10 July
**The Devil-Doll
*16 July
**Green Pastures
*22 July
**Satan Met a Lady
*24 July
**Poor Little Rich Girl
*28 July
**The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss
*29 July
**Anthony Adverse
August 1936
*10 August
**Where There's a Will
*20 August
**Romeo and Juliet
*26 August
**East Meets West
*27 August
**Swing Time
*28 August
**The Gorgeous Hussy
**Militiaman Bruggler
**The Texas Rangers
September 1936
*1 September
**Tudor Rose
*2 September
**The General Died at Dawn
*4 September
**The Last of the Mohicans
**The Road to Glory
*6 September
**My Man Godfrey
*9 September
**Spy of Napoleon
*10 September
**Dusty Ermine
*11 September
**The Man Who Changed His Mind
*15 September
**The Children of Captain Grant
*23 September
**Dodsworth
*25 September
**Craig's Wife
**Ramona
*26 September
**Cain and Mabel
*30 September
**''Yiddle with his Fiddle''

October–December

October 1936
*1 October
**Everything Is Thunder
*6 October
**Allá en el Rancho Grande
*9 October
**Libeled Lady
*15 October
**The Garden of Allah
**Sisters of the Gion
*16 October
**15 Maiden Lane
**Daniel Boone
**Dimples
**Hopalong Cassidy Returns
*20 October
**The Charge of the Light Brigade
*22 October
**Crime Over London
*27 October
**César
**Rebellion
*30 October
**Our Relations
November 1936
*1 November
**Legion of Terror
*6 November
**Come and Get It
**Rembrandt
**Tarzan Escapes
**A Woman Rebels
*12 November
**Theodora Goes Wild
*13 November
**Go West, Young Man
*16 November
**Intermezzo
**Laburnum Grove
**The Plainsman
*20 November
**Love on the Run
*25 November
**Lloyd's of London
**Pennies from Heaven
*26 November
**Men Are Not Gods
*27 November
**Born to Dance
December 1936
*1 December
**The Bold Caballero
*2 December
**Sabotage
*11 December
**General Spanky
**Les bas-fonds
*12 December
**Camille
*20 December
**Empty Saddles
*21 December
**Forget Me Not
*24 December
**The Jungle Princess
*25 December
**After the Thin Man
**Stowaway
*26 December
**Gold Diggers of 1937
*31 December
**''Let's Go With Pancho Villa''

Serials

Ace Drummond, starring John (Dusty) King
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
The Clutching Hand
Custer's Last Stand
Darkest Africa, starring Clyde Beatty
Flash Gordon, starring Buster Crabbe
The Phantom Rider
Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, starring Ray Mala
Shadow of Chinatown
Undersea Kingdom, starring Ray Corrigan
''The Vigilantes Are Coming''

Comedy film series

Animated short film series

Births

January 9 – K Callan, American author and actress
January 18 – Tim Barlow, English actor
January 22 – Nyree Dawn Porter, English actress
January 23 – Ed Metzger, American actor and writer
January 27 – Troy Donahue, American actor
January 28 – Alan Alda, American actor
February 3 – Jeanine Basinger, American film historian
February 4 – Gary Conway, American actor and screenwriter
February 11 – Burt Reynolds, American actor
February 12
*Joe Don Baker, American actor
*Paul Shenar, American actor
February 14
*Joan O'Brien, American actor, singer
*Andrew Prine, American actor
February 17 – Jim Brown, American actor
February 29 – Alex Rocco, American actor
March 1 – Georgina Spelvin, born Shelley Graham, American pornographic film actress
March 5 – Dean Stockwell, American actor
March 8 – Sue Ane Langdon, American actress
March 9 – Marty Ingels, American actor, comedian, comedy sketch writer and theatrical agent
March 17 - Patty Maloney, American actress
March 19 – Ursula Andress, Swiss actress
March 23 – Luisa Mattioli, Italian actress
April 9 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian
April 12 – Charles Napier, American actor
April 19 – Andy Romano, American actor
April 29 - Lane Smith, American actor
May 1 – Danièle Huillet, French director
May 4 – Eleanor Coppola, American documentary filmmaker, artist, and writer
May 9
*Albert Finney, English actor
*Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
May 12 – Millie Perkins, American former actress
May 14 – Bobby Darin, American singer, songwriter, actor
May 17 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and performance artist
May 20 – Anthony Zerbe, American actor
May 23 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor
May 27 – Louis Gossett Jr., American actor
May 28 – John Wilder, American producer, writer and former actor
May 30 – Keir Dullea, American actor
June 3 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter
June 4 – Bruce Dern, American actor
June 8 – James Darren, American actor, director and singer
June 19 - Takeshi Aono, Japanese voice actor and narrator
June 22 – Kris Kristofferson, American actor, musician and songwriter
June 24
*Robert Downey Sr., American actor and director
*Paul L. Smith, American-Israeli actor and director
June 27 – Shirley Anne Field, English actress
July 1 – Ron Masak, American actor
July 5 – Shirley Knight, American actress
July 8 - William Cort, American actor
July 9
*Dick Richards, American director, producer and screenwriter
*Richard Wilson, Scottish actor, theatre director and broadcaster
July 11 - John Stride, English actor
July 24
*Ruth Buzzi, American actress, comedian and singer
*Mark Goddard, American actor
July 25 - August Schellenberg, Canadian actor
July 27 - Nathan George, American actor
July 30 - John P. Ryan, American actor
August 5 - John Saxon, American actor
August 15 - Pat Priest, American actress
August 16 - Anita Gillette, American actress
August 17 – Floyd Westerman, American musician, political activist and actor
August 18 – Robert Redford, American actor and director
August 19 - Robert Towers, American actor
August 20
*Míriam Colón, Puerto Rican actress
*Philip Voss, British actor
August 25 – Hugh Hudson, English director
September 7 – Bruce Gray, Canadian actor
September 11 - Charles Dierkop, American actor
September 14 - Walter Koenig, American actor and screenwriter
September 19 - Anna Karen, British-South African actress
September 20
*Andrew Davies, Welsh writer
*Pepper Martin, Canadian-American actor
September 21 - Burr DeBenning, American actor
September 24 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer, animator, actor, director and screenwriter
September 25 - Louisa Moritz, Cuban-American actress
October 8 - Leonid Kuravlyov, Russian actor
October 9 – Brian Blessed, English actor
October 16
*Peter Bowles, English actor
*Irina Demick, French actress
October 19 - Tony Lo Bianco, Italian-American actor
October 21 - Jack Taylor, American actor
October 23 - Philip Kaufman, American director and screenwriter
October 24 – David Nelson, American actor, director and producer
October 26 - Shelley Morrison, American actress
October 28 - Joe Spinell, American actor
November 2 - Jack Starrett, American actor and director
November 4 - Jan Tříska, Czech actor
November 9 – Teddy Infuhr, American child actor
November 11 - Gerda Nicolson, Australian actress
November 19 - Dick Cavett, American television personality, comedian and former talk show host
November 25 - Matt Clark, American actor
November 27 – Joel Barcellos, Brazilian actor
December 1 - Melissa Jaffer, Australian actress
December 3
*Mary Alice, American actress
*Sir Horace Ové, Trinidadian-born British filmmaker
December 5 - John Erwin, American voice actor
December 6 - David Ossman, American writer and comedian
December 8 – David Carradine, American actor and martial artist
December 10 – Howard Smith, American journalist, director and producer
December 13 - Cliff Emmich, American actor
December 18 - Gary Gray, American child actor
December 22 – Hector Elizondo, American actor
December 23
*Frederic Forrest, American actor
*James Stacy, American actor
December 25 – Ismail Merchant, Indian film producer
December 28 - Rhys McConnochie, New Zealand-born Australian actor
December 29 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress

Deaths

January 9
*John Gilbert, American actor
*Frank Rice, American actor
January 11 – William Morris, American actor
January 13 – Samuel Roxy Rothafel, American film exhibitor
January 24 – Harry T. Morey, American actor
February 7 – O. P. Heggie, Australian actor
February 17 – Alexander Pantages, Film producer and theater owner
February 20 – Max Schreck, German actor
February 22 – Lennox Pawle, English actor
February 28 – Justus Hagman, Swedish actor
April 6
*Edmund Breese, American actor
*Väinö Lehmus, Finnish actor
April 7 – Marilyn Miller, American actress
April 21 – Alexandra Carlisle, English actress
April 26 – Tammany Young, American actor
May 17 – Sir Philip Ben Greet, British actor
May 29 – Norman Chaney, American actor
June 7 - Jobyna Howland, American actress
June 17 – Henry B. Walthall, American actor
July 8 - Thomas Meighan, American actor
July 11 - James Murray, American actor
July 16 - Alan Crosland, American actor and director
July 17 - Stephen Roberts, American director
August 15 - John B. O'Brien, American actor and director
September 14 – Irving Thalberg, American film producer
September 20 – Edward Salisbury Field, American playwright and screenwriter
October 5 – Bernard Granville, American actor
October 10 - William H. Tooker, American actor
October 17 – Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress
October 30
*Hugh Buckler, British actor
*John Buckler, British actor
November 2 – Laird Doyle, American screenwriter
November 7 – Sam Livesey, Welsh actor
November 18 – Fay Webb, American actress
November 27 – Chester A. Lyons, American cinematographer
December 8 – David Freedman, American writer
December 9 – Lottie Pickford, American actress
December 24 – Irene Fenwick, American actress