1951 in film

The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati

Top grossing films (U.S.)

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: An American in Paris - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Director: George Stevens - A Place in the Sun

Best Actor: Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen

Best Actress: Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Actor: Karl Malden - A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Actress: Kim Hunter - A Streetcar Named Desire

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: A Place in the Sun

Best Actor: Fredric March - Death of a Salesman

Best Actress: Jane Wyman - The Blue Veil

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: An American in Paris

Best Actor: Danny Kaye - On the Riviera

Best Actress: June Allyson - Too Young to Kiss

Other

Best Director: Laslo Benedek - Death of a Salesman

Special Award: Pictura: An Adventure in Art

Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival):

Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), directed by Alf Sjöberg, Sweden

Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano), directed by Vittorio De Sica, Italy

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival)

Rashômon, directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan

Top ten money making stars

Notable films released in 1951

U.S.A. unless stated

• The 13th Letter, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Linda Darnell and Charles Boyer

A

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
• Ace in the Hole (aka The Big Carnival), directed by Billy Wilder, starring Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling
• Across the Wide Missouri, starring Clark Gable
• The African Queen, directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart (Oscar for best actor) and Katharine Hepburn - (GB/U.S.A.)
• Alice in Wonderland, an animated film by Walt Disney
• Along the Great Divide, starring Kirk Douglas
• An American in Paris, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron (Oscar for best picture)
• Angels in the Outfield, starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh
• Anna, starring Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone and Vittorio Gassman - (Italy)
• Another Man's Poison, directed by Irving Rapper, starring Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, Emlyn Williams and Anthony Steel - (GB)
• Apache Drums, starring Stephen McNally and Coleen Gray
• Appointment with Danger, starring Alan Ladd, with future Dragnet (series) co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan
• As Young as You Feel, starring Monty Woolley
• Atoll K, starring Laurel and Hardy in their final film
• Awaara (Tramp), directed by and starring Raj Kapoor - (India)
• The Axe of Wandsbek (Das Beil von Wandsbek) - (East Germany)

B

• Baazi (Gamble), starring Dev Anand - (India)
• Bedtime for Bonzo, starring Ronald Reagan (with a chimpanzee)
• Bellissima, directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Anna Magnani - (Italy)
• Blackmailed, starring Mai Zetterling and Dirk Bogarde - (GB)
• The Blue Veil, starring Jane Wyman
• Bright Victory, starring Arthur Kennedy
• The Browning Version, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Michael Redgrave and Jean Kent - (GB)
• Bullfighter and the Lady, starring Robert Stack and Joy Page

C

• Callaway Went Thataway, starring Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, Howard Keel
• Call Me Mister, starring Betty Grable
• Captain Horatio Hornblower, starring Gregory Peck - (GB)
• Cattle Drive, starring Joel McCrea, Dean Stockwell and Chill Wills
• Cause for Alarm!, starring Loretta Young and Barry Sullivan
• China Corsair, starring Jon Hall
• Circle of Danger, starring Ray Milland - (GB)
• The Clouded Yellow, starring Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons - (GB)
• Come Fill the Cup, starring James Cagney and Gig Young
• Comin' Round The Mountain, starring Abbott and Costello
• Cops and Robbers (Guardie e ladri), directed by Mario Monicelli - (Italy)
• Cry Danger, starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming
• Cry, the Beloved Country, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sidney Poitier - (GB)

D

• Darling, How Could You!, starring Joan Fontaine
• Daughter of Deceit (La hija del engaño), directed by Luis Buñuel - (Mexico)
• David and Bathsheba, starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise, starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal
• Death of a Salesman, starring Fredric March
• Decision Before Dawn, starring Richard Basehart, Gary Merrill and Oskar Werner
• Deedar, starring Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Nargis - (India)
• The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, starring James Mason
• Detective Story, starring Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Lee Grant, Horace McMahon, and George Macready
• Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un curé de campagne), directed by Robert Bresson - (France)
• Distant Drums, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Gary Cooper
• Double Dynamite, starring Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx
• Dream of a Cossack (Kavalier zolotoy zvezdy), starring Sergei Bondarchuk - (U.S.S.R.)
• Daar Doer in Die Bosveld (Far Away in the Bushveld), starring Jamie Uys - (South Africa)

E-F

• Early Summer (BakushÅ«), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• Encore, starring Nigel Patrick and Kay Walsh - (GB)
• The Enforcer (Murder, Inc.), starring Humphrey Bogart and Zero Mostel
• FBI Girl, starring Audrey Totter and Cesar Romero
• The Family Secret, Starring John Derek and Lee J. Cobb
• Father's Little Dividend, starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor
• The Fighting Seventh (aka (Little Big Horn), starring Lloyd Bridges
• Flying Leathernecks, starring John Wayne and Robert Ryan
• Follow the Sun, starring Glenn Ford (as Ben Hogan)
• The Forbidden Christ (Il Cristo proibito), starring Raf Vallone - (Italy)
• Fort Worth, starring Randolph Scott
• Four in a Jeep (Die Vier im Jeep), starring Ralph Meeker and Viveca Lindfors - (Switzerland)
• Fourteen Hours, starring Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Jeffrey Hunter and Grace Kelly
• The Frogmen, starring Richard Widmark and Dana Andrews
• Furrows (Surcos) - (Spain)

G-J

• Go for Broke!, starring Van Johnson
• Golden Girl, starring Mitzi Gaynor, Dale Robertson, Dennis Day
• The Golden Horde, starring Ann Blyth
• Goodbye My Fancy, starring Joan Crawford and Robert Young
• The Great Caruso, starring Mario Lanza
• Grounds for Marriage, starring Kathryn Grayson and Van Johnson
• The Guy Who Came Back, starring Paul Douglas
• Half Angel, starring Loretta Young
• Happy Go Lovely, starring David Niven and Vera-Ellen - (GB)
• He Ran All the Way, starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters
• Here Comes the Groom, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bing Crosby
• His Kind of Woman, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price and Raymond Burr
• The House in Montevideo (Das Haus in Montevideo) - (West Germany)
• The House on Telegraph Hill, starring Richard Basehart
• I Can Get It for You Wholesale, starring Susan Hayward
• I Want You, directed by Mark Robson, starring Dana Andrews
• The Idiot (Hakuchi), directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
• Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison, starring Steve Cochran
• Jim Thorpe â€" All-American, starring Burt Lancaster
• Journey Into Light, directed by Stuart Heisler, starring Sterling Hayden
• Juliette, or Key of Dreams (Juliette ou La clef des songes), directed by Marcel Carné - (France)

K-L

• Kind Lady, directed by John Sturges, starring Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Keenan Wynn, Angela Lansbury
• Kon-Tiki, a documentary directed by and starring Thor Heyerdahl - (Norway)
• The Last Outpost, starring Ronald Reagan
• Laughter in Paradise, starring Alastair Sim - (GB)
• The Lavender Hill Mob, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James and Alfie Bass, with an early appearance by Audrey Hepburn - (GB)
• The Lemon Drop Kid, starring Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell, William Frawley and Tor Johnson
• Let's Go Crazy, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers - (GB)
• Leva pÃ¥ 'Hoppet', starring Ingrid Thulin - (Sweden)
• Lightning Strikes Twice, starring Ruth Roman and Mercedes McCambridge
• Little Egypt, starring Rhonda Fleming and Mark Stevens
• The Long Dark Hall, starring Rex Harrison - (GB)
• Lost Continent, starring Cesar Romero
• Love Nest, starring June Haver and Marilyn Monroe

M

• The Magic Box, starring Robert Donat, a biopic of William Friese-Greene - (GB)
• The Magnificent Yankee, starring Louis Calhern
• Malliswari, starring N.T. Rama Rao - (India)
• The Man in the White Suit, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough and Ernest Thesiger - (GB)
• The Mating Season, starring Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins and Thelma Ritter
• The Medium, starring Marie Powers - (Italy)
• Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano), directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), directed by Alf Sjöberg - (Sweden)
• The Model and the Marriage Broker, starring Jeanne Crain, Thelma Ritter, Scott Brady, Zero Mostel
• Mr. Imperium, starring Lana Turner and Ezio Pinza

N-O

• New Mexico, starring Lew Ayres and Marilyn Maxwell
• The Night Before Christmas (Noch pered Rozhdestvom) - (U.S.S.R.)
• No Highway in the Sky (No Highway), starring James Stewart, Glynis Johns and Marlene Dietrich - (GB)
• Olivia, directed by Jacqueline Audry - (France)
• On Dangerous Ground, starring Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan
• On Moonlight Bay, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
• On the Riviera, starring Danny Kaye
• One Summer of Happiness (Hon dansade en sommar) - (Sweden)
• Only the Valiant, starring Gregory Peck

P-Q

• Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, starring Ava Gardner and James Mason - (GB)
• Paris Vice Squad (Identité judiciaire) - (France)
• Payment on Demand, starring Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan
• Penny Points to Paradise, starring Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan - (GB)
• The People Against O'Hara, starring Spencer Tracy
• People Will Talk, starring Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Hume Cronyn and Finlay Currie
• A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters and Raymond Burr
• Pool of London, directed by Basil Dearden - (GB)
• The Prowler, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes
• Quo Vadis, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov and Leo Genn

R

• The Racket, starring Robert Mitchum
• The Raging Tide, starring Richard Conte and Shelley Winters
• Rawhide, starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward
• The Red Badge of Courage, directed by John Huston, starring Audie Murphy
• Red Mountain, starring Alan Ladd and Lizabeth Scott
• Repast (Meshi), directed by Mikio Naruse, written by the novelist Yasunari Kawabata - (Japan)
• El revoltoso (The Rebellious) - (Mexico)
• Rhubarb, starring Ray Milland, Jan Sterling, William Frawley and Leonard Nimoy
• Rich, Young and Pretty, starring Jane Powell
• The River (Le Fleuve), directed by Jean Renoir - (France/India/U.S.A.)
• Royal Wedding, starring Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford and Jane Powell

S

• ...Sans laisser d'adresse (No Forwarding Address), starring Bernard Blier and Danièle Delorme - (France)
• Santa Fe, starring Randolph Scott
• Saturday's Hero, starring John Derek and Donna Reed
• Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), starring Alastair Sim - (GB)
• The Secret of Convict Lake, starring Glenn Ford and Gene Tierney
• Show Boat, a remake of the hit musical, starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, and Ava Gardner, with songs by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern
• Silver City, starring Edmond O'Brien and Yvonne De Carlo
• Sirocco, starring Humphrey Bogart and Marta Toren
• Spring Season (Bahar), first Hindi film of Vyjayanthimala and the producer A. V. Meiyappan - (India)
• Starlift, starring Janice Rule and Ruth Roman
• The Steel Helmet, directed by Samuel Fuller
• Storm Warning, starring Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan and Doris Day
• The Strange Door, starring Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff
• Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Farley Granger and Robert Walker
• A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Vivien Leigh (Oscar for best actress), Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden
• Strictly Dishonorable, starring Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh
• The Strip, starring Mickey Rooney and Sally Forrest
• Sugarfoot, starring Randolph Scott
• Summer Interlude (Sommarlek), directed by Ingmar Bergman - (Sweden)
• Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves
• Susana (aka The Devil and the Flesh), directed by Luis Buñuel - (Mexico)

T-V

• Take Care of My Little Girl, directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Jeanne Crain and Mitzi Gaynor
• A Tale of Five Cities (Passaporto per l'oriente) - (Italy/GB)
• The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) - (Japan)
• The Tales of Hoffmann, a cinematic opera directed by Powell and Pressburger and starring Moira Shearer - (GB)
• The Tall Target, starring Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson and Ruby Dee
• That Happy Couple (Esa pareja feliz), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga - (Spain)
• That's My Boy, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• The Thing from Another World, produced by Howard Hawks, starring Kenneth Tobey and James Arness as the title creature
• Three Guys Named Mike, starring Jane Wyman
• Thunder on the Hill, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Claudette Colbert and Ann Blyth
• Tom Brown's Schooldays, starring John Howard Davies and Robert Newton - (GB)
• Tomahawk, starring Van Heflin and Yvonne De Carlo
• Two of a Kind, starring Edmond O'Brien and Lizabeth Scott
• Two Tickets to Broadway, starring Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Gloria DeHaven
• Vengeance Valley, starring Burt Lancaster and Joanne Dru
• Victimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin) - (Mexico)

W-Z

• Warpath, starring Edmond O'Brien, Forrest Tucker, Polly Bergen
• Warsaw Premiere, directed by Jan Rybkowski (Poland)
• The Well, starring Harry Morgan
• Westward the Women, starring Robert Taylor
• When Worlds Collide, starring Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Larry Keating, John Hoyt and Hayden Rorke
• Where No Vultures Fly, directed by Harry Watt, starring Anthony Steel, Dinah Sheridan, Harold Warrender and Meredith Edwards - (U.K.)
• Young Wives' Tale, starring Joan Greenwood - (GB)
• You're in the Navy Now, starring Gary Cooper
• Your Day Will Come (Lak Yawm Ya Zalem) - (Egypt)

Serials

• Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere, starring Judd Holdren
• Don Daredevil Rides Again, starring Ken Curtis and Aline Towne
• Government Agents vs Phantom Legion, starring Walter Reed
• Mysterious Island, starring Richard Crane
• Roar of the Iron Horse, starring Buster Crabbe

Short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928â€"1956)
• Looney Tunes (1930â€"1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931â€"1969)
• Popeye (1933â€"1957)
• The Three Stooges (1934â€"1959)
• Donald Duck (1936â€"1956)
• Pluto (1937-1951)
• Goofy (1939â€"1953)
• Tom and Jerry (1940â€"1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940â€"1964)
• Mighty Mouse (1942â€"1955)
• Chip and Dale (1943â€"1956)
• Yosemite Sam (1945â€"1963)

Births

• January 8 - John McTiernan, American director
• January 12 - Kirstie Alley, American actress
• January 15 - Charo, Spanish American actress, singer and comediene
• February 13 - David Naughton, American actor & singer
• February 15 - Jane Seymour, English actress
• February 16 - William Katt, American actor
• February 22 - Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
• March 17 - Kurt Russell, American actor
• April 12 - Tom Noonan, American director
• April 17 - Olivia Hussey, Argentine-born English actress
• April 21 - Tony Danza, actor
• May 30 - Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor
• July 6 - Geoffrey Rush, Australian actor
• July 8 - Anjelica Huston, American actress
• July 9 - Chris Cooper, American actor
• July 21 - Robin Williams, American actor & comedian (died 2014)
• July 24 - Lynda Carter, American actress & singer
• August 6 - Catherine Hicks, American actress
• August 14 - Carl Lumbly, American actor
• September 5 - Michael Keaton, American actor
• September 12 - Joe Pantoliano, American actor
• September 17 - Cassandra Peterson, American actress
• September 25 - Mark Hamill, American actor
• November 20 - Rodger Bumpass, American actor & voice actor
• November 27 - Kathryn Bigelow, American director
• December 1 - Treat Williams, American actor

Deaths

• January 11 â€" Charles W. Goddard, American playwright, screenwriter (born 1879)
• March 6 - Ivor Novello, Welsh actor, singer, composer (born 1893)
• March 25 - Oscar Micheaux, American director, author (born 1884)
• April 4 - Al Christie, Canadian-born director, producer (born 1881)
• May 2 - Edwin L. Marin, American director (born 1899)
• May 7 - Warner Baxter, American actor (born 1882)
• May 17 - S. Sylvan Simon, American director (born 1910)
• June 2 - Ernst Pittschau, German actor (born 1883)
• June 6 - Olive Tell, American actress (born 1894)
• June 9 - Mayo Methot, American actress (born 1904)
• July 23 - Robert J. Flaherty, American documentary filmmaker (born 1884)
• August 28 - Robert Walker, American actor (born 1918)
• August 30 - Konstantin Märska, Estonian cinematographer (born 1896)
• September 7 - Maria Montez, Dominican-born actress (born 1912)

Film Debuts

• Jeff Bridges - The Company She Keeps
• Charles Bronson - You're in the Navy Now
• Leslie Caron - An American in Paris
• John Cassavetes - Fourteen Hours
• James Dean - Fixed Bayonets!
• Lee Grant - Detective Story
• Audrey Hepburn - One Wild Oat
• Grace Kelly - Fourteen Hours
• Leonard Nimoy - Queen for a Day
• William Shatner - The Butler's Night Off
• Rod Steiger - Teresa