1963 in film

The year 1963 in film involved some significant events, including the big-budget epic Cleopatra and two films with all-star casts, How the West Was Won and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

§Events

• February 20 â€" The classic epic western How the West Was Won premieres.
• June 12 â€" Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. Its staggering production costs nearly bankrupted Twentieth Century Fox and the adulterous affair between Taylor and Burton made the publicity even worse. Cleopatra marked the only instance that a film would be the highest-grossing film of a year while still losing money, thus establishing it as, at the time, the biggest box office disaster in cinema history. The film's terrible reception harmed the reputation of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had an esteemed career for directing classics like A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, Julius Caesar, The Barefoot Contessa, Guys and Dolls, and Suddenly, Last Summer. It effectively destroyed the career of its well-known producer Walter Wanger, who never worked in Hollywood or on another film again; he died five years later at the age of 74 of a heart attack. Much of the blame of the film's failures could be pointed at Taylor's super-diva personality, her and Burton's adulterous affair, and the studio's inadequate management. It wouldn't be until two years later that Rodgers and Hammerstein's adaptation of The Sound of Music would help rescue Fox from bankruptcy by becoming one of the highest-grossing motion pictures of all time.
• November 7 â€" The classic comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World premieres and it boasts one of the finest all-star ensemble casts ever, easily the most impressive for a comedy. It is also the first comedy film ever directed by Stanley Kramer, best known for directing serious human drama films on controversial subjects like The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
• November 23 â€" Doctor Who first premieres in Great Britain. The show continues to this day, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013.
• December 25 â€" Walt Disney's production of The Sword in the Stone premieres. It is the second adaptation of T. H. White's The Once and Future King after the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical Camelot, the first cinematic adaptation of the novel, and the 13th film adaptation of the legend of King Arthur.

§Top grossing films (U.S.)

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

§Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Tom Jones â€" Woodfall, United Artists-Lopert (British)

Best Director: Tony Richardson - Tom Jones

Best Actor: Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field

Best Actress: Patricia Neal - Hud

Best Supporting Actor: Melvyn Douglas - Hud

Best Supporting Actress: Margaret Rutherford - The V.I.P.s

Best Foreign Language Film: 8½ (Otto e mezzo), directed by Federico Fellini, Italy

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: The Cardinal

Best Actor: Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field

Best Actress: Leslie Caron - The L-Shaped Room

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: Tom Jones

Best Actor: Alberto Sordi - Il diavolo

Best Actress: Shirley MacLaine - Irma la Douce

Other

Best Director: Elia Kazan - America, America

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), directed by Luchino Visconti, Italy

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Hands Over the City (Le mani sulla città), directed by Francesco Rosi, Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Il diavolo (To Bed... or Not to Bed), directed by Gian Luigi Polidoro, Italy

§Notable films released in 1963

U.S.A. unless stated.

#

• 8½, directed by Federico Fellini, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée -- Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film - (Italy)
• 55 Days at Peking, starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven

A

• An Actor's Revenge (Yukinojō Henge), directed by Kon Ichikawa - (Japan)
• Al Nasser Salah Ad-Din (Saladin), directed by Youssef Chahine - (Egypt)
• All the Way Home, starring Jean Simmons, Robert Preston, Ronnie Claire Edwards
• Alone on the Pacific (Taiheiyo hitori-botchi), directed by Kon Ichikawa - (Japan)
• America, America (a.k.a. The Anatolian Smile) by Elia Kazan
• Any Number Can Win (Mélodie en sous-sol), starring Jean Gabin and Alain Delon - (France/Italy)
• Atragon (Kaitei gunkan), directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)

B

• The Bakery Girl of Monceau (La Boulangère de Monceau), directed by Éric Rohmer, starring Barbet Schroeder - (France)
• The Balcony, starring Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy
• Bandini (Imprisoned), directed by Bimal Roy, starring Ashok Kumar - (India)
• Barren Lives (Vidas Secas) - (Brazil)
• Bay of Angels (La Baie des Anges), directed by Jacques Demy, starring Jeanne Moreau - (France)
• Beach Party, directed by William Asher, starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone
• The Big City (Mahanagar), directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Billy Liar, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie - (U.K.)
• The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Tippi Hedren (in her film debut), Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy
• Bitter Harvest, starring Janet Munro - (U.K.)
• Black Sabbath (I tre volti della paura), starring Boris Karloff - (Italy/U.K./France)
• Blood Feast, directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Il Boom, directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Alberto Sordi - (Italy)
• Bushido, Samurai Saga (Bushidô zankoku monogatari) Golden Bear winner - (Japan)
• Bye Bye Birdie, starring Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Bobby Rydell, Maureen Stapleton, Paul Lynde

C

• Call Me Bwana, directed by Gordon Douglas, starring Bob Hope, Anita Ekberg, Edie Adams
• Captain Newman, M.D., directed by David Miller, starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Eddie Albert, Angie Dickinson
• The Carabineers (Les Carabiniers), directed by Jean-Luc Godard - (France)
• Carbide and Sorrel (Karbid und Sauerampfer) - (East Germany)
• The Cardinal, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Tom Tryon, Carol Lynley, Romy Schneider, John Huston
• The Caretaker, starring Alan Bates and Robert Shaw - (U.K.)
• The Caretakers, starring Joan Crawford, Robert Stack, Polly Bergen
• Carry On Cabby, starring Sid James and Hattie Jacques - (U.K.)
• Carry On Jack, starring Kenneth Williams and Bernard Cribbins - (U.K.)
• The Cassandra Cat (Až pÅ™ijde kocour) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Charade, directed by Stanley Donen, starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, James Coburn
• A Child Is Waiting, starring Judy Garland and Burt Lancaster
• Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton - (U.S.A./U.K./Switzerland)
• Codine - (France/Romania)
• Come Blow Your Horn, starring Frank Sinatra, Tony Bill, Barbara Rush, Jill St. John
• Come Fly With Me, starring Pamela Tiffin, Lois Nettleton, Dolores Hart
• The Conjugal Bed (L'ape regina), starring Ugo Tognazzi - (Italy)
• Contempt, (Le Mépris), directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Brigitte Bardot, Jack Palance, Michel Piccoli - (France)
• The Courtship of Eddie's Father, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Glenn Ford, Shirley Jones, Stella Stevens, Dina Merrill, Ron Howard
• Critic's Choice, starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball
• The Cry (KÅ™ik) - (Czechoslovakia)

D

• The Damned, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Macdonald Carey - (U.K.)
• Dementia 13, directed by Francis Ford Coppola
• Diamond Head, starring Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, France Nuyen, George Chakiris, James Darren
• Diary of a Madman, starring Vincent Price, Nancy Kovack, Elaine Devry
• Il diavolo (The Devil), starring Alberto Sordi, Golden Bear winner - (Italy)
• Dil Ek Mandir (The Heart is a Temple) - (India)
• Donovan's Reef, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne and Lee Marvin
• Drama of the Lark (Pacsirta) - (Hungary)
• Un drôle de paroissien (aka Heaven Sent), starring Bourvil - (France)

E

• El Dorado, directed by Menahem Golan, starring Topol - (Israel)
• Empress Wu Tse-Tien - (Hong Kong)
• The Empty Canvas (La noia), starring Bette Davis and Horst Buchholz - (Italy)
• The Engagement (I fidanzati), directed by Ermanno Olmi - (Italy)
• The Executioner (El Verdugo), directed by Luis García Berlanga, starring Nino Manfredi - (Spain)

F

• Father Came Too!, starring James Robertson Justice and Leslie Phillips - (U.K.)
• The Fire Within (Le feu follet), directed by Louis Malle - (France)
• Flaming Creatures, directed by Jack Smith
• Flipper, starring Chuck Connors and Luke Halpin
• Follow the Boys, starring Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, Dany Robin, Janis Paige
• For Love or Money, starring Kirk Douglas and Mitzi Gaynor
• 4 for Texas, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ursula Andress, Anita Ekberg
• From Russia with Love, the second James Bond film, starring Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendáriz, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya - (U.K.)
• Fun in Acapulco, starring Elvis Presley and Ursula Andress

G

• A Gathering of Eagles, starring Rock Hudson
• Gidget Goes to Rome, starring Cindy Carol
• The Girl Hunters, starring Mickey Spillane (as Mike Hammer), with Lloyd Nolan, Shirley Eaton
• The Girl Who Knew Too Much (La ragazza che sapeva troppo), directed by Mario Bava - (Italy)
• Le glaive et la balance (aka Two are Guilty), starring Anthony Perkins - (France/Italy)
• The Great Escape, directed by John Sturges, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson, Richard Attenborough, David McCallum, Donald Pleasence
• The Green Years (Os Verdes Anos) - (Portugal)

H

• Hands Over the City (Le mani sulla città), directed by Francesco Rosi, starring Rod Steiger - Golden Lion winner - (Italy)
• The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise, starring Julie Harris - (U.K.)
• Heavens Above!, directed by the Boulting brothers, starring Peter Sellers - (U.K.)
• High and Low (天国と地獄), directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune - (Japan)
• The Householder (Gharbar), directed by James Ivory, starring Shashi Kapoor and Leela Naidu - (India)
• How to Be Loved (Jak być kochanÄ…), starring Zbigniew Cybulski - (Poland)
• Hud, directed by Martin Ritt, starring Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Brandon deWilde, Melvyn Douglas

I

• I Could Go On Singing, starring Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde - (U.K./U.S.A.)
• Ikarie XB-1 (Icarus XB-1) - (Czechoslovakia)
• L'Immortelle (The Immortal) - (France/Turkey)
• In the Cool of the Day, starring Peter Finch, Jane Fonda, Angela Lansbury
• The Incredible Journey
• The Insect Woman (Nippon konchÅ«ki), directed by Shohei Imamura - (Japan)
• Irma la Douce, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine
• It Happened at the World's Fair, starring Elvis Presley
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Provine, Edie Adams, Dick Shawn and many more

J

• Jason and the Argonauts, starring Todd Armstrong - (U.K./U.S.A.)
• Johnny Cool, starring Henry Silva and Elizabeth Montgomery
• Judex, directed by Georges Franju - (France)

K

• Kanto Wanderer (Kantō mushuku) - (Japan)
• Kings of the Sun, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Yul Brynner and George Chakiris

L

• Ladies Who Do, starring Harry H. Corbett, Robert Morley and Peggy Mount - (U.K.)
• Ladybug Ladybug, directed by Frank Perry
• The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon - Palme d'Or winner - (Italy)
• Like Two Drops of Water (Als twee druppels water), directed by Fons Rademakers - (Netherlands)
• Lilies of the Field, directed by Ralph Nelson, starring Sidney Poitier
• The List of Adrian Messenger, directed by John Huston, starring George C. Scott
• Lord of the Flies, directed by Peter Brook - (U.K.)
• The Love Eterne (Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai) - (Hong Kong)
• Love Is a Ball, starring Glenn Ford, Hope Lange, Charles Boyer, Ricardo Montalbán
• Love with the Proper Stranger, starring Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen

M

• The Man from the Diner's Club, directed by Frank Tashlin, starring Danny Kaye
• Mary, Mary, starring Debbie Reynolds, Diane McBain and Barry Nelson
• Matango (aka Attack of the Mushroom People), directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)
• A Matter of Choice, directed by Vernon Sewell, starring Anthony Steel - (U.K.)
• McLintock!, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara
• The Mind Benders, starring Dirk Bogarde and Mary Ure - (U.K.)
• Miracle of the White Stallions, starring Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer, Eddie Albert
• I mostri (aka Opiate '67), directed by Dino Risi - (Italy)
• Mother of the Bride (Omm el aroussa) - (Egypt)
• Move Over, Darling, starring Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Chuck Connors
• Mujhe Jeene Do (Let Me Live), starring Sunil Dutt - (India)
• Muriel (aka Muriel ou le Temps d'un retour), directed by Alain Resnais, starring Delphine Seyrig - (France)
• My Six Loves, starring Debbie Reynolds, Cliff Robertson, David Janssen

N

• Naked Among Wolves (Nackt unter Wölfen) - (East Germany)
• Nartanasala, starring N. T. Rama Rao and Savitri - (India)
• A New Kind of Love, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
• Nine Hours to Rama, directed by Mark Robson, starring Horst Buchholz, Diane Baker, Jose Ferrer - (UK/U.S.A.)
• Not on Your Life (El Verdugo), directed by Luis García Berlanga, starring Nino Manfredi - (Spain)
• Nunca pasa nada (Nothing Ever Happens), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem - (Spain)
• The Nutty Professor, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis, with Stella Stevens

O

• One Got Fat, a bicycle safety film
• Operation Bikini, starring Tab Hunter, Frankie Avalon, Gary Crosby
• Optimistic Tragedy - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Organizer (I compagni), directed by Mario Monicelli, starring Marcello Mastroianni - (Italy)

P

• PT 109, starring Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy
• The Paper Man (El hombre de papel) - (Mexico)
• Paranoiac, starring Janette Scott and Oliver Reed - (U.K.)
• Passenger (Pasażerka) - (Poland)
• The Pink Panther, directed by Blake Edwards, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine
• Pour la suite du monde (For Those Who Will Follow) - (Canada)
• The Prize, starring Paul Newman and Elke Sommer
• Promises! Promises!, starring Jayne Mansfield who (in this) became first Hollywood actress to appear nude in a feature film
• The Punch and Judy Man, starring Tony Hancock - (U.K.)

R

• La Ragazza di Bube (Bébo's Girl), starring Claudia Cardinale and George Chakiris - (Italy)
• Rampage, starring Robert Mitchum and Elsa Martinelli
• The Raven, directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff
• Raven's End (Kvarteret Korpen), directed by Bo Widerberg - (Sweden)
• The Red Lanterns (Ta Kokkina fanaria) - (Greece)
• The Running Man, directed by Carol Reed, starring Laurence Harvey, Alan Bates, Lee Remick - (U.K.)

S

• The Sadist
• Sammy Going South, directed by Alexander Mackendrick - (U.K.)
• The Servant, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, James Fox - (U.K.)
• Shock Corridor, directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Peter Breck and Constance Towers
• The Silence (Tystnaden), directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Ingrid Thulin - (Sweden)
• Sleep, by Andy Warhol
• Sodom and Gomorrah, starring Stewart Granger, Anouk Aimee, Pier Angeli
• Soldier in the Rain, starring Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason
• Son of Flubber, starring Fred MacMurray
• Spencer's Mountain, starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara
• The Stripper, starring Joanne Woodward, Richard Beymer, Claire Trevor, Gypsy Rose Lee
• Summer Holiday, starring Cliff Richard, Lauri Peters and The Shadows - (U.K.)
• Summer Magic, starring Dorothy McGuire, Hayley Mills, Deborah Walley
• Sunday in New York, starring Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, Cliff Robertson, Robert Culp
• Sunshine in a Net (Slnko v sieti) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Suzanne's Career (La Carrière de Suzanne), directed by Éric Rohmer - (France)
• The Sword in the Stone - an animated Disney film

T

• Taj Mahal - (India)
• Take Her, She's Mine, starring James Stewart, Sandra Dee, Audrey Meadows
• Los Tarantos - (Spain)
• This Sporting Life, directed by Lindsay Anderson, starring Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts - (U.K.)
• The Thrill of It All, directed by Norman Jewison, starring Doris Day and James Garner
• A Ticklish Affair, directed by George Sidney, starring Shirley Jones and Gig Young
• Tom Jones, directed by Tony Richardson, starring Albert Finney and Susannah York -- winner 4 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes and 3 BAFTAs - (U.K.)
• Les Tontons flingueurs (aka Crooks in Clover), starring Lino Ventura - (France/Italy/West Germany)
• Torpedo Bay, starring James Mason and Lilli Palmer - (Italy/France)
• Toys in the Attic, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Dean Martin, Geraldine Page, Wendy Hiller, Gene Tierney, Yvette Mimieux
• Twilight of Honor, starring Richard Chamberlain

U

• The Ugly American, starring Marlon Brando
• Uncle Vanya, starring Michael Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright - (U.K.)
• Under the Yum Yum Tree, starring Jack Lemmon, Dean Jones, Carol Lynley, Edie Adams

V

• The Victors, starring George Peppard, George Hamilton, Vince Edwards, Romy Schneider, Jeanne Moreau - (U.K.)
• La visita (The Visitor), starring Sandra Milo - (Italy)
• The V.I.P.s, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith, Louis Jourdan, Margaret Rutherford, Orson Welles - (U.K.)

W

• Walking the Streets of Moscow (Ya shagayu po Moskve) - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Wheeler Dealers, starring James Garner and Lee Remick
• Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?, starring Dean Martin, Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jill St. John
• Who's Minding the Store?, starring Jerry Lewis, Agnes Moorehead, Jill St. John
• Wives and Lovers, starring Janet Leigh
• The Wrong Arm of the Law, starring Peter Sellers - (U.K.)

X

• X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, directed by Roger Corman, starring Ray Milland

Y

• The Yellow Canary, starring Pat Boone
• Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film - (Italy)
• Young Aphrodites (Mikres Afrodites) - (Greece)
• Youth of the Beast (YajÅ« no seishun), directed by Seijun Suzuki - (Japan)

Z

§Short Film Series

• Looney Tunes (1930â€"1969)
• Terrytoons (1930â€"1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931â€"1969)
• Yosemite Sam (1945-1963)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953â€"1968)

§Births

• January 14 â€" Steven Soderbergh, director
• February 17 â€" Michael Jordan, actor
• March 18 â€" Vanessa L. Williams, actress, singer and former beauty queen
• March 20 â€" David Thewlis, English actor
• March 27 â€" Quentin Tarantino, director
• April 26 â€" Jet Li, actor
• May 11 â€" Natasha Richardson, actress (d. 2009)
• May 25 â€" Mike Myers, actor
• June 6 â€" Jason Isaacs, English actor
• June 9 â€" Johnny Depp, US actor
• June 10 â€" Jeanne Tripplehorn, US actress
• June 12 â€" Tim DeKay, actor & producer
• June 15 â€" Helen Hunt, US actress and director
• July 30 â€" Lisa Kudrow, US actress
• August 5 â€" Mark Strong, English actor
• August 7 â€" Harold Perrineau, actor
• August 14 â€" Emmanuelle Béart, French actress
• October 6 â€" Elisabeth Shue, US actress
• October 12 â€" Dave Legeno, actor
• November 5 â€" Tatum O'Neal, US actress
• November 27 â€" Vladimir Mashkov, Russian actor
• December 15 â€" Helen Slater, US actress
• December 18 â€" Brad Pitt, actor
• December 19 â€" Til Schweiger, actor

§Deaths

• January 2
  • Dick Powell, 58, American actor, director, Murder, My Sweet, The Bad and the Beautiful
  • Jack Carson, 52, Canadian actor, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Arsenic and Old Lace
• January 6 - Frank Tuttle, 70, American director, This Gun for Hire, Waikiki Wedding
• January 28 - John Farrow, 58, Australian director, Hondo, The Big Clock
• February 8 - George Dolenz, 55, Hungarian actor, Vendetta, My Cousin Rachel
• February 18 - Monte Blue, 76, American actor, Key Largo, White Shadows in the South Seas
• April 4 - Jason Robards, Sr., 70, American actor, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Isle of the Dead
• May 6 - Monty Woolley, 74, American actor, The Bishop's Wife, Since You Went Away
• June 7 - ZaSu Pitts, 69, American actress, Greed, Life with Father
• June 18 - Pedro Armendáriz, 51, Mexican actor, The Fugitive, Fort Apache
• July 25 - Leota Lane, 59, American singer, actress, Three Hollywood Girls
• August 14 - Clifford Odets, 57, American playwright and screenwriter, Sweet Smell of Success, None but the Lonely Heart
• August 17 - Richard Barthelmess, 68, American actor, Broken Blossoms, Only Angels Have Wings
• October 29 - Adolphe Menjou, 73, American actor, Paths of Glory, A Star is Born
• October 31 - Henry Daniell, 69, British actor, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, The Great Dictator
• November 1 - Elsa Maxwell, 82, American gossip columnist, Rhapsody in Blue, Stage Door Canteen
• December 2 - Sabu, 39, Indian actor, Jungle Book, The Thief of Bagdad
• December 5 - Tom London, 74, American actor, Calamity Jane, High Noon

§Film debuts

• Alan Alda - Gone are the Days!
• Mel Brooks - The Critic
• James Caan - Irma la Douce
• Héctor Elizondo - The Fat Black Pussycat
• Kurt Russell - It Happened at the World's Fair
• Lynn Redgrave - Tom Jones
• Donald Sutherland - The World Ten Times Over

§References