1961 in film

Years in film
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v t e

The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.

Top grossing films (U.S.) [edit]

(* ) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards [edit]

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: West Side Story - Mirisch-B&P Enterprises, United Artists

Best Director: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins - West Side Story

Best Actor: Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg

Best Actress: Sophia Loren - Two Women

Best Supporting Actor: George Chakiris - West Side Story

Best Supporting Actress: Rita Moreno - West Side Story

Best Foreign Language Film: Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en spegel), directed by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: The Guns of Navarone

Best Actor: Maximilian Schell - Judgement at Nuremberg

Best Actress: Geraldine Page - Summer and Smoke

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture (tie): A Majority of One

Best Picture (tie): West Side Story

Best Actor: Glenn Ford - Pocketful of Miracles

Best Actress: Rosalind Russell - A Majority of One

Other

Best Director: Stanley Kramer - Judgment at Nuremberg

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Long Absence (Une aussi longue absence), directed by Henri Colpi, France

Viridiana, directed by Luis Buñuel, Spain

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Last Year at Marienbad (L'année dernière à Marienbad), directed by Alain Resnais, France

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

La Notte (The Night), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy

Notable films released in 1961 [edit]

U.S.A. unless stated

A

• The Absent-Minded Professor, starring Fred MacMurray
• Accattone, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini - (Italy)
• Ada, starring Dean Martin and Susan Hayward
• All in a Night's Work, starring Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine
• And Love Has Vanished (Dvoje) - (Yugoslavia)
• Angel Baby, starring Salome Jens and Mercedes McCambridge
• Antigone, starring Irene Papas - (Greece)
• Armored Command, starring Howard Keel and Tina Louise
• The Artillery Sergeant Kalen (Ogniomistrz Kaleń) - (Poland)
• The Assassin (L'Assassino), starring Marcello Mastroianni - (Italy)
• Atlantis, the Lost Continent, starring John Dall

B

• Babes in Toyland, starring Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands, Annette Funicello
• Bachelor in Paradise, starring Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Janis Paige, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss
• Back Street, starring Susan Hayward, John Gavin, Vera Miles
• Bandits of Orgosolo (Banditi a Orgosolo) - (Italy)
• Barabbas, starring Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano and Jack Palance - (Italy)
• The Big Bankroll, aka King of the Roaring 20's, starring David Janssen, Mickey Rooney, Diana Dors
• The Big Gamble, starring Stephen Boyd
• Black Silk (Prae Dum) - (Thailand)
• Blast of Silence, directed by and starring Allen Baron
• The Blonde from Buenos Aires (Una Americana en Buenos Aires), starring Mamie Van Doren and Jean-Pierre Aumont - (Argentina/France)
• Blue Hawaii, starring Elvis Presley (his biggest box-office success), with Joan Blackman and Angela Lansbury
• Boatmen of Thessaloniki (Солунските Атентатори) - (Yugoslavia)
• A Bomb Was Stolen (S-a furat o bombă) - (Romania)
• Bootleggers (Samogonshchiki) - (USSR)
• Breakfast at Tiffany's, directed by Blake Edwards, starring Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
• Bridge to the Sun, starring Carroll Baker and James Shigeta - (France/U.S.)
• By Love Possessed, starring Lana Turner, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., George Hamilton

C

• Carry On Regardless, starring Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey - (U.K.)
• Cash on Demand, starring Peter Cushing and André Morell - (U.K.)
• A cavallo della tigre (aka On the Tiger's Back), starring Nino Manfredi - (Italy)
• The Children's Hour, starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner and Miriam Hopkins (who also starred in the original film These Three)
• Chronicle of Flaming Years (Povest plamennykh let) - (USSR)
• The Coachman (Mabu) - (South Korea)
• The Colossus of Rhodes, directed by Sergio Leone, starring Rory Calhoun - (Italy)
• The Comancheros, starring John Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Lee Marvin, Ina Balin
• Come September, starring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida
• Cry for Happy, starring Glenn Ford, Miyoshi Umeki, Donald O'Connor
• The Curse of the Werewolf, starring Clifford Evans and Oliver Reed - (U.K.)

D

• The Day the Earth Caught Fire, starring Edward Judd - (U.K.)
• The Deadly Companions, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith
• Dersu Uzala - (USSR)
• The Devil at 4 O'Clock, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy, Gregoire Aslan
• A Difficult Life (Una vita difficile), directed by Dino Risi, starring Alberto Sordi - (Italy)
• Divorce Italian Style (Divorzio all'italiana), directed by Pietro Germi, starring Marcello Mastroianni - (Italy)
• Dondi, starring David Janssen

E

• El Cid, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren - (U.S./Italy)
• The End of Summer (Kohayagawa-ke no aki), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• The End of the Cancageiros (A Morte Comanda o Cangaço) - (Brazil)
• The Errand Boy, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis
• The Exiles - documentary
• The Explosive Generation, starring William Shatner and Patty McCormack

F

• Fanny, starring Charles Boyer and Leslie Caron
• The Fascist (Il Federale), starring Ugo Tognazzi - (Italy)
• A Fever in the Blood, starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Angie Dickinson, Don Ameche, Jack Kelly, Carroll O'Connor
• Flooded Out (Los Inundados) - (Argentina)
• Flower Drum Song, starring Nancy Kwan
• Francis of Assisi, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Bradford Dillman and Dolores Hart
• The Frightened City, starring Sean Connery, John Gregson, Yvonne Romain

G

• The George Raft Story, starring Jayne Mansfield and Ray Danton
• Gidget Goes Hawaiian, starring Deborah Walley
• Girl with a Suitcase (La Ragazza con la valigia), starring Claudia Cardinale - (Italy)
• Go Naked in the World, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Franciosa - (Italy)
• Goodbye Again, starring Ingrid Bergman and Yves Montand - (France/U.S.)
• Gorgo, starring Bill Travers - (U.K.)
• The Great Impostor, starring Tony Curtis
• The Greengage Summer, starring Kenneth More and Susannah York - (U.K.)
• Gunga Jumna, starring Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala - (India)
• The Guns of Navarone, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn - (U.K.)

H

• Harry and the Butler (Harry og kammertjeneren) - (Denmark)
• Havoc in Heaven (aka The Monkey King), an animated films - (China)
• Hogs and Warships (Buta to gunkan), directed by Shōhei Imamura - (Japan)
• Homicidal, directed by William Castle
• The Honeymoon Machine, starring Steve McQueen, Brigid Bazlen, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss
• Hoodlum Priest, starring Don Murray
• The Human Condition (Ningen no jōken), directed by Masaki Kobayashi - (Japan)
• The Houseguest and My Mother (Sarangbang sonnimgwa eomeoni) - (South Korea)
• The Hustler, directed by Robert Rossen, starring Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Jackie Gleason

I

• Immortal Love (Eien no hito) - (Japan)
• The Innocents, starring Deborah Kerr - (U.K.)

J

• Judgment at Nuremberg, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Richard Widmark, William Shatner

K

• King of Kings, directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Ryan, Siobhan McKenna, Hurd Hatfield, Rita Gam, Rip Torn
• The Knife (Het Mes), directed by Fons Rademakers - (Netherlands)

L

• The Ladies Man, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis
• The Last Judgement (Il Giudizio universale), directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• The Last Sunset, starring Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone, Joseph Cotten, Carol Lynley
• The Last Time I Saw Archie, starring Robert Mitchum and Jack Webb
• The Last War (Sekai Daisensō) - (Japan)
• Last Year at Marienbad (L'Année dernière à Marienbad), directed by Alain Resnais, starring Delphine Seyrig - Golden Lion winner - (France)
• Leon Morin, Priest (Léon Morin, prêtre), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo - (France)
• Lola, directed by Jacques Demy, starring Anouk Aimée - (France)
• The Long Absence (Une aussi longue absence) - Palme d'Or winner - (France)
• The Long and the Short and the Tall, starring Laurence Harvey and Richard Harris - (U.K.)
• Look in Any Window, starring Paul Anka and Ruth Roman
• The Lovemakers (La Viaccia), starring Claudia Cardinale and Jean-Paul Belmondo - (Italy)
• Lover Come Back, starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson

M

• Mad Dog Coll (Gene Hackman's debut)
• A Majority of One, starring Rosalind Russell and Alec Guinness
• Man-Trap, starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Stella Stevens
• The Mark, starring Stuart Whitman and Maria Schell - (U.K.)
• The Mask, starring Paul Stevens - (Canada)
• The Miracle of Father Malachia (Das Wunder des Malachias), directed by Bernhard Wicki - (West Germany)
• The Misfits, directed by John Huston, starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable (in both their last screen roles) and Montgomery Clift
• Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od Aniołów) - (Poland)
• Mothra, directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)
• Murder, She Said, starring Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, James Robertson Justice, Stringer Davis - (U.K.)
• Mysterious Island, starring Michael Craig, Michael Callan, Joan Greenwood

N

• The Naked Edge, starring Gary Cooper (in his final film) and Deborah Kerr
• Nazrana (Gift), starring Raj Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala - (India)
• Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile (Nefertiti, regina del Nilo), starring Jeanne Crain and Vincent Price - (Italy)
• No Love for Johnnie, starring Peter Finch - (U.K.)
• La Notte (The Night), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau - Golden Bear winner - (Italy/France)
• Nude on the Moon, directed by Doris Wishman

O

• One-Eyed Jacks, directed by and starring Marlon Brando, with Karl Malden, Katy Jurado, Ben Johnson
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians, featuring the voices of Rod Taylor and Betty Lou Gerson
• One, Two, Three, directed by Billy Wilder, starring James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis
• The Outsider, a biography starring Tony Curtis as World War II marine Ira Hayes

P

• The Parent Trap, starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith
• Paris Belongs to Us (Paris nous appartient), directed by Jacques Rivette - (France)
• Paris Blues, starring Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Diahann Carroll
• Parrish, starring Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Claudette Colbert
• Peace to Him Who Enters (Mir vkhodyashchemu) - (USSR)
• Pigs and Battleships (Buta to gunkan), directed by Shohei Imamura - (Japan)
• The Pit and the Pendulum, with Vincent Price
• Plácido, directed by Luis García Berlanga - (Spain)
• Please, Not Now! (La Bride sur le cou), starring Brigitte Bardot - (France)
• The Pleasure of His Company, starring Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds
• Pocketful of Miracles, final film of director Frank Capra, starring Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Hope Lange, Peter Falk, Ann-Margret
• Portrait of a Mobster, starring Vic Morrow
• Il Posto (The Errand Boy), directed by Ermanno Olmi - (Italy)
• Professor Mamlock - (East Germany)

Q

• Question 7, directed by Stuart Rosenberg - (U.S./West Germany)

R

• A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee
• The Rebel, starring Tony Hancock - (U.K.)
• Return to Peyton Place, directed by José Ferrer, starring Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, Eleanor Parker
• The Right Approach, starring Martha Hyer and Juliet Prowse
• The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, starring Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty - (U.K.)

S

• Sail a Crooked Ship, starring Ernie Kovacs, Robert Wagner, Dolores Hart, Frank Gorshin
• Scarlet Sails (Алые Паруса) - (U.S.S.R.)
• The Second Time Around, starring Debbie Reynolds, Andy Griffith, Juliet Prowse
• The Secret Ways, starring Richard Widmark
• Seetha Rama Kalynam, directed by and starring N. T. Rama Rao - (India)
• Sennin Buraku (Hermit Village) - (Japan)
• The Sins of Rachel Cade, starring Angie Dickinson
• A Soldier's Prayer (Ningen no jôken), directed by Masaki Kobayashi - (Japan)
• Something Wild, starring Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker
• A Song About the Gray Pigeon (Piesen o sivém holubovi) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Splendor in the Grass, starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty
• The Steamroller and the Violin (Katok i skripka), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky - (U.S.S.R.)
• Summer and Smoke, starring Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey
• Susan Slade, starring Troy Donahue and Connie Stevens

T

• Taste of Fear, starring Susan Strasberg - (U.K.)
• Then Nilavu (Honeymoon), starring Gemini Ganesan and Vyjayanthimala - (India)
• A Taste of Honey, directed by Tony Richardson, starring Rita Tushingham - (U.K.)
• Three Daughters (Teen Kanya), directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en spegel), directed by Ingmar Bergman - (Sweden)
• A Thunder of Drums, starring Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Luana Patten
• Town Without Pity, starring Kirk Douglas, Christine Kaufmann, E. G. Marshall, Frank Sutton, Robert Blake
• Two Living, One Dead, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Patrick McGoohan - (UK/Sweden)
• Two Rode Together, starring James Stewart and Richard Widmark

U

• Underworld U.S.A., directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Cliff Robertson

V

• Victim, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Sims - (U.K.)
• Viridiana, directed by Luis Buñuel - Palme d'Or winner - (Mexico/Spain)
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, starring Walter Pidgeon, Joan Fontaine, Robert Sterling, Peter Lorre, Barbara Eden

W

• We Were Young (A byahme mladi) - (Bulgaria)
• West Side Story, starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris
• When the Trees Were Tall (Kogda derevya byli bolshimi) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Whistle Down the Wind, directed by Bryan Forbes, starring Hayley Mills and Alan Bates - (U.K.)
• Wife Number 13 (Al zouga talattashar) - (Egypt)
• Wild in the Country, starring Elvis Presley with Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins
• A Woman Is a Woman (Une Femme est une femme), directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina - (France)

Y

• Yojimbo, directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune - (Japan)
• The Young Ones, starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows - (U.K.)
• The Young Savages, starring Burt Lancaster and Dina Merrill

Short Film Series [edit]

• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Bugs Bunny (1940–1962)
• Yosemite Sam (1945–1963)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953–1968)
• Goofy (1961)

Births [edit]

• January 13 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress
• February 11 - Carey Lowell, American actress
• February 21 - Christopher Atkins, American actor
• April 3 - Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
• April 6 - Gene Eugene, Canadian actor, lead singer of Adam Again (died 2000)
• April 14 - Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor
• April 23 - Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson, Icelandic actor
• May 6 - George Clooney American actor, writer, director, producer
• May 14 - Tim Roth, English actor
• June 9 - Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor
• July 15 - Forest Whitaker, American actor
• July 18 - Elizabeth McGovern, American actress
• July 30 - Laurence Fishburne, American actor
• August 2 - Bruce Mahoney, Irish-American actor and film director
• August 5 - Janet McTeer, English actress
• October 31 - Peter Jackson, New Zealand director
• November 4 - Ralph Macchio, American actor
• November 14 - D. B. Sweeney, American actor
• November 19 - Meg Ryan, American actress
• November 29 - Tom Sizemore, American actor

Deaths [edit]

• January 13 - Blanche Ring, 89, American singer and actress
• February 2 - Anna May Wong, 56, American actress
• February 17 - Nita Naldi, 63, American actress
• March 6 - George Formby, 56, British actor, entertainer
• March 12 - Belinda Lee, 25, British actress
• May 4 - Anita Stewart, 66, American actress
• May 13 - Gary Cooper, 60, American actor
• May 22 - Joan Davis, 53, American actress
• June 17 - Jeff Chandler, 42, American actor
• August 4 - Maurice Tourneur, 88, French film director
• August 17 - Violet Kemble-Cooper, 75, British actress
• August 27 - Gail Russell, 36, American actress
• August 30 - Charles Coburn, 84, American actor
• September 10 - Leo Carrillo, 81, American actor
• September 22 - Marion Davies, 64, American actress
• October 11 - Chico Marx, 74, American actor, member of the Marx Brothers
• October 13 - Maya Deren, 44, American experimental filmmaker
• October 18 - Tsuru Aoki, 69, Japanese-born American actress
• October 22 - Joseph Schenck, 82, Russian-born American pioneer motion picture executive
• November 15 - Elsie Ferguson, 78, American stage and film actress
• November 24 - Ruth Chatterton, 67, American actress

Film debuts [edit]

• Warren Beatty
• Louis Gossett, Jr.
• Gene Hackman
• Burt Reynolds

References [edit]