The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.
§Events
- Matsunosuke Onoe, who would become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.
- James Joyce opens the Volta, the first cinema in Dublin.
§Films released in 1909
- The Adventures of Lieutenant Rose
- The Airship Destroyer (originally titled Der Luftkrieg Der Zukunft, also titled "The Aerial Torpedo", "The Battle of the Clouds" {UK} and "The Battle in the Clouds" {US})
- At the Altar
- A Corner in Wheat, directed by D. W. Griffith
- The Country Doctor, directed by D. W. Griffith
- The Cowboy Millionaire
- The Curtain Pole
- The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period
- The Diabolical Tenant (Le Locataire diabolique), directed by Georges Melies
- The Doctor's Secret, directed by Georges Melies
- The Drive for a Life - Directed by D. W. Griffith
- A Drunkard's Reformation
- Entrevista de los Presidentes DÃaz-Taft (Mexico), a documentary directed by the Alva Brothers
- The Fitzsimmons-Bill Lang Fight
- Fools of Fate
- The Golden Louis
- The Hessian Renegades
- Les Joyeux microbes
- Lady Helen's Escapade
- The Lonely Villa, directed by D. W. Griffith
- Macbeth
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton
- Mr. Flip
- Nero, Or The Fall Of Rome
- Nerone
- Oliver Twist, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
- Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
- The Red Man's View, directed by D. W. Griffith
- Resurrection
- The Sealed Room, directed by D. W. Griffith
- Those Awful Hats, directed by D. W. Griffith
- A Trap for Santa Claus, directed by D. W. Griffith
§Births
- January 1 - Dana Andrews, actor (died 1992)
- January 3 - Victor Borge, musician, actor (died 2000)
- January 8
- José Ferrer, actor (died 1992)
- Willy Millowitsch, actor (died 1999)
- January 15 - Gene Krupa, musician, actor (died 1973)
- January 22 - Ann Sothern, actress (died 2001)
- January 24 - Ann Todd, actress (died 1993)
- February 2 - Frank Albertson, actor (died 1964)
- February 9
- Carmen Miranda, singer, actress (died 1955)
- Heather Angel, actress (died 1986)
- February 11
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz - director, screenwriter, producer (died 1993)
- Max Baer - boxer, actor (died 1959)
- February 16 - Jeffrey Lynn, actor (died 1995)
- March 19 - Louis Hayward, actor (died 1995)
- March 26 - Chips Rafferty, actor (died 1971)
- April 4 - Bobby Connelly, child actor (died 1922)
- April 29 - Tom Ewell, actor (died 1994)
- May 15 - James Mason, actor (died 1984)
- May 16 - Margaret Sullavan, actress (died 1960)
- May 30 - Benny Goodman, musician, actor (died 1986)
- June 7 - Jessica Tandy, actress (died 1994)
- June 8 - Robert Carson, actor (died 1979)
- June 14 - Burl Ives, actor (died 1995)
- June 20 - Errol Flynn, actor (died 1959)
- July 1 - Madge Evans, actress (died 1981)
- July 12 - Curly Joe DeRita, actor (died 1993)
- August 25 - Michael Rennie, actor (died 1971)
- September 7 - Elia Kazan, director (died 2003)
- October 6 - Robert Carson, screenwriter (died 1983)
- October 20 - Carla Laemmle, actress (died 2014)
- November 11 - Robert Ryan, actor (died 1973)
- November 26 - Frances Dee, actress (died 2004)
- December 9 - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., actor (died 2000)
- December 12 - Karen Morley, actress (died 2003)
- December 20 - Diane Ellis, actress (died 1930)
§Deaths
- January 27 - Constant Coquelin, actor, Cyrano de Bergerac
- September 4 - Clyde Fitch, author & playwright whose works have been adapted into films.
§Film debuts
- Fatty Arbuckle - Ben's Kid (as Roscoe Arbuckle)
- Ethel Clayton - Justified (short)
- Dolores Costello (as a child) - A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Helene Costello (as a child) - Les Miserables (Part I) (short)
- Marie Dressler - Marie Dressler (short)
- Francis Ford - The Stolen Wireless
- Annette Kellerman - The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland
- James Kirkwood - The Heart of an Outlaw
- Florence La Badie - The Politician's Love Story
- Tom Mix - The Cowboy Millionaire
- Mary Pickford - The Heart of an Outlaw
- Billy Quirk - The Heart of an Outlaw
- William A. Russell - Tag Day (short)
- William Stowell - The Cowboy Millionaire
- Blanche Sweet - A Man with Three Wives
- Rose Tapley - The Way of the Cross (short)
- Clara Kimball Young - Washington Under the American Flag (short)