The following is an overview of 1936 in film , including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
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The top ten 1936 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
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Highest-grossing films of 1936
Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals
1
The Great Ziegfeld
MGM
$3,089,000[1]
2
San Francisco
$2,868,000[2]
3
The Plainsman
Paramount
$2,278,533[3]
4
After the Thin Man
MGM
$1,992,000[1]
5
Modern Times
United Artists
$1,800,000[4]
6
Anthony Adverse
Warner Bros.
$1,783,000[5]
7
Strike Me Pink
United Artists
$1,700,000[4]
8
Rose Marie
MGM
$1,695,000[1]
9
Swing Time
RKO
$1,624,000[6]
10
Libeled Lady
MGM
$1,601,000[1]
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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 – 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.
Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars of the Year in Quigley Publishing Company 's annual poll.[7]
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Top Western stars
A poll of the top Western stars was also published for the first time.[8]
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United States unless stated.
A
Accused , directed by Thornton Freeland , starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Dolores del Río – (GB )
Achhoot Kanya (Untouchable Maiden) , directed by Franz Osten , starring Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani – (India )
After the Thin Man , directed by W. S. Van Dyke , starring William Powell , Myrna Loy and James Stewart
Allá en el Rancho Grande (Out on the Great Ranch) (Mexico )
The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss , starring Cary Grant (GB )
Anthony Adverse , starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland
Anything Goes , starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman
Augustus the Strong (August der Starke), directed by Paul Wegener – (Germany /Poland )
C
Cain and Mabel , starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable
Camel Through the Eye of a Needle (Velbloud uchem jehly) (Czechoslovakia )
Camille , starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor
Captain January , starring Shirley Temple
The Case Against Mrs. Ames , starring Madeleine Carroll and George Brent
Ceiling Zero , directed by Howard Hawks , starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien
César , directed by Marcel Pagnol (France )
The Charge of the Light Brigade , starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
Charlie Chan at the Opera , starring Warner Oland and Boris Karloff
The Children of Captain Grant
Circus (Tsirk) (U.S.S.R. )
Collegiate , starring Frances Langford and Betty Grable
Come and Get It , starring Edward Arnold and Joel McCrea
Craig's Wife , starring Rosalind Russell
The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Le Crime de Monsieur Lange), directed by Jean Renoir (France )
Crime Over London , directed by Alfred Zeisler (GB)
D
Kundal Lal Saigal and Jamuna in Devdas, Barua's 1936 Hindi version.
Daniel Boone , starring George O'Brien
The Desert Island (Lang tao sha) (China )
Desire , starring Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper
Devdas (India )
The Devil-Doll , directed by Tod Browning , starring Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan
Dimples , starring Shirley Temple
Dodsworth , directed by William Wyler , starring Walter Huston , Ruth Chatterton , Mary Astor
Dracula's Daughter , starring Otto Kruger and Gloria Holden
Dusty Ermine , directed by Bernard Vorhaus (UK)
G
The Garden of Allah , starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer
The General Died at Dawn , starring Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll
General Spanky , starring Spanky McFarland
Girl Friends (Podrugi) (U.S.S.R. )
Go West, Young Man , starring Mae West , adapted by her from Lawrence Riley 's 1934 stage play Personal Appearance
Gold Diggers of 1937 , directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley
The Gorgeous Hussy , starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor
The Great Ziegfeld , starring William Powell , Myrna Loy , Luise Rainer
Green Pastures , adapted from the 1923 stage play, starring Rex Ingram and Eddie Anderson
L
Laburnum Grove , starring Edmund Gwenn and Cedric Hardwicke (GB )
The Last of the Mohicans , starring Randolph Scott
The Last Outlaw , starring Harry Carey
The Lawless Nineties , starring John Wayne
Legion of Terror , starring Bruce Cabot
Let's Go With Pancho Villa (Vámonos con Pancho Villa) (Mexico )
Libeled Lady , starring Jean Harlow , William Powell , Myrna Loy , Spencer Tracy
Limelight , starring Anna Neagle (GB )
Little Lord Fauntleroy , starring Freddie Bartholomew , Dolores Costello Barrymore , C. Aubrey Smith
Lloyd's of London , starring Freddie Bartholomew , Madeleine Carroll , Tyrone Power
Love Before Breakfast , starring Carole Lombard and Preston Foster
Love in Exile , starring Helen Vinson and Clive Brook (GB)
Love on the Run . starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
M
The Man Who Changed His Mind , starring Boris Karloff (GB )
The Man Who Could Work Miracles , starring Roland Young and Ralph Richardson (GB )
Mayerling , directed by Anatole Litvak starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux (France )
Men Are Not Gods , starring Miriam Hopkins , Gertrude Lawrence , Rex Harrison (GB )
A Message to Garcia , directed by George Marshall , starring Barbara Stanwyck , John Boles and Wallace Beery
Militiaman Bruggler (Standschütze Bruggler) – (Germany )
The Milky Way , starring Harold Lloyd
Modern Times , written, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin , with Paulette Goddard
The Mongolian Boy (Монгол хүү), directed by Ilya Trauberg is released as the first Mongolian film
The Moon's Our Home , starring Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town , directed by Frank Capra , starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
My Man Godfrey , directed by Gregory La Cava , starring William Powell and Carole Lombard
P
Palm Springs , starring Frances Langford and David Niven
Paradise Road (Ulička v ráji) (Czechoslovakia )
Pennies from Heaven , starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans
The Petrified Forest , starring Leslie Howard , Humphrey Bogart , Bette Davis
Poppy , starring W.C. Fields
The Plainsman , starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
Poor Little Rich Girl , starring Shirley Temple , Alice Faye , Jack Haley
The Prisoner of Shark Island , directed by John Ford , starring Warner Baxter and Gloria Stuart
Private Number , starring Loretta Young and Robert Taylor
R
Red River Valley , starring Gene Autry
Redes , directed by Fred Zinnemann – (Mexico )
Ramona , starring Don Ameche and Loretta Young
Rebellion , starring Tom Keene and Rita Hayworth
Reefer Madness , (aka Tell Your Children ), a cult exploitation film
Rembrandt , directed by Alexander Korda , starring Charles Laughton – (GB )
Road Gang , starring Donald Woods
Robin Hood, Jr. (1936), directed by Leslie Goodwins
The Road to Glory , directed by Howard Hawks , starring Lionel Barrymore and Fredric March
Romeo and Juliet , starring Norma Shearer , Leslie Howard , John Barrymore , Basil Rathbone
Rose Marie , starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
S
Sabotage , directed by Alfred Hitchcock , starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka – (GB )
San Francisco , starring Clark Gable , Jeanette MacDonald , Spencer Tracy
Satan Met a Lady , starring Warren William and Bette Davis
Secret Agent , directed by Alfred Hitchcock , starring John Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll (GB )
Show Boat , starring Irene Dunne , Allan Jones , Charles Winninger , Paul Robeson , Helen Morgan
The Singing Kid , starring Al Jolson
Silly Billies starring Wheeler & Woolsey
Sisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan )
Small Town Girl , directed by William Wellman , starring Janet Gaynor , Robert Taylor , James Stewart
Sportszerelem (Hungary )
Spy of Napoleon , directed by Maurice Elvey , starring Richard Barthelmess and Dolly Haas (GB )
The Story of Louis Pasteur , starring Paul Muni
Stowaway , starring Shirley Temple , Robert Young , Alice Faye
Sutter's Gold , starring Edward Arnold
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , starring Tod Slaughter (GB )
Swing Time , starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
T
Tarzan Escapes , starring Johnny Weissmuller
The Texas Rangers , directed by King Vidor , starring Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie
Theodora Goes Wild , starring Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas
These Three , starring Miriam Hopkins , Merle Oberon , Joel McCrea (adapted from Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour )
Things to Come , directed by William Cameron Menzies , starring Raymond Massey , Ralph Richardson , Cedric Hardwicke (GB )
Thirteen Hours by Air , starring Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett
Three Godfathers , starring Chester Morris , Lewis Stone , Walter Brennan
Till We Meet Again , starring Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael
Too Many Parents , debut film for Frances Farmer
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine , starring Sylvia Sidney , Fred MacMurray , Henry Fonda
Tudor Rose , starring Cedric Hardwicke , Nova Pilbeam , John Mills (GB )
W
The Walking Dead , directed by Michael Curtiz , starring Boris Karloff
Where There's a Will , starring Will Hay – (GB)
Whom the Gods Love , directed by Basil Dean , starring Stephen Haggard , Victoria Hopper – (GB)
Wife vs. Secretary , starring Clark Gable , Jean Harlow , Myrna Loy
Windbag the Sailor , starring Will Hay (GB )
A Woman Rebels , starring Katharine Hepburn and Herbert Marshall
January 9 – K Callan , American author and actress
January 18 – Tim Barlow , English actor (d. 2023)
January 22 – Nyree Dawn Porter , English actress (d. 2001)
January 27 – Troy Donahue , American actor (d. 2001)
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 (d. 2018)
February 12
February 14
February 17 – Jim Brown , American actor (d. 2023)
February 29 – Alex Rocco , American actor (d. 2015)
March 1 – Georgina Spelvin , born Shelley Graham, American pornographic film actress
March 5 – Dean Stockwell , American actor (d. 2021)
March 8 – Sue Ane Langdon , American actress
March 9 – Marty Ingels , American actor, comedian, comedy sketch writer and theatrical agent (d. 2015)
March 19 – Ursula Andress , Swiss actress
March 23 – Luisa Mattioli , Italian actress (d. 2021)
April 9 – Avery Schreiber , American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
April 12 – Charles Napier , American character actor (d. 2011)
April 19 – Andy Romano , American actor (d. 2022)
May 1 – Danièle Huillet , French director (d. 2006)
May 4 – Eleanor Coppola , American documentary filmmaker, artist, and writer (d. 2024)
May 9
May 12 – Millie Perkins , American former actress
May 14 – Bobby Darin , American singer, songwriter, actor (d. 1973 )
May 17 – Dennis Hopper , American actor and performance artist (d. 2010)
May 20 – Anthony Zerbe , American actor
May 23 – Charles Kimbrough , American actor (d. 2023)
May 27 – Louis Gossett Jr. , American actor (d. 2024)
May 28 – John Wilder , American producer, writer and former actor
May 30 – Keir Dullea , American actor
June 3 – Larry McMurtry , American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2021)
June 4 – Bruce Dern , American actor
June 8 – James Darren , American actor, director and singer (d. 2024)
June 19 - Takeshi Aono , Japanese voice actor and narrator (d. 2012)
June 22 – Kris Kristofferson , American retired actor, musician and songwriter
June 24
June 27 – Shirley Anne Field , English actress (d. 2023)
July 1 – Ron Masak , American actor (d. 2022)
July 5 – Shirley Knight , American actress (d. 2020)
July 9 – Dick Richards , American director, producer and screenwriter
July 9 - Richard Wilson , Scottish actor, theatre director and broadcaster
July 24
July 25 - August Schellenberg , Canadian actor (d. 2013)
August 5 - John Saxon , American actor (d. 2020)
August 15 - Pat Priest , American actress
August 16 - Anita Gillette , American actress
August 17 – Floyd Westerman , American musician, political activist, and actor (d. 2007)
August 18 – Robert Redford , American actor and director
August 20 – Philip Voss , British actor (d. 2020)
August 25 – Hugh Hudson , English director (d. 2023)
September 7 – Bruce Gray , Canadian actor (d. 2017)
September 11 - Charles Dierkop , American character actor (d. 2024)
September 14 - Walter Koenig , American actor and screenwriter
September 19 - Anna Karen , British-South African actress (d. 2022)
September 20
September 21 - Burr DeBenning , American character actor (d. 2003)
September 24 - Jim Henson , American puppeteer, animator, actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
October 8 - Leonid Kuravlyov , Russian actor (d. 2022)
October 9 – Brian Blessed , English actor
October 16
October 19 - Tony Lo Bianco , Italian-American actor (d. 2024)
October 23 - Philip Kaufman , American director and screenwriter
October 24 – David Nelson , American actor, director and producer (d. 2011)
October 26 - Shelley Morrison , American actress (d. 2019)
October 28 - Joe Spinell , American character actor (d. 1989)
November 4 - Jan Tříska , Czech actor (d. 2017)
November 9 – Teddy Infuhr , American child actor (d. 2007)
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 (d. 2018)
December 1 - Melissa Jaffer , Australian actress
December 3
December 5 - John Erwin , American voice actor
December 6 - David Ossman , American writer and comedian
December 8 – David Carradine , American actor and martial artist (d. 2009)
December 10 – Howard Smith , American journalist, director and producer (d. 2014)
December 13 - Cliff Emmich , American actor (d. 2022)
December 18 - Gary Gray , American child actor (d. 2006)
December 22 – Hector Elizondo , American actor
December 23
December 25 – Ismail Merchant , Indian film producer (d. 2005)
December 29 – Mary Tyler Moore , American actress (d. 2017)
January 9
January 24 – Harry T. Morey , American actor (b. 1873)
February 20 – Max Schreck , German actor (b. 1879)
February 28 – Justus Hagman , Swedish actor (b. 1859)
April 6 – Väinö Lehmus , Finnish actor (b. 1886)
June 7 - Jobyna Howland , American actress (b. 1880)
June 17 – Henry B. Walthall , American actor (b. 1878)
July 11 - James Murray , American actor (b. 1901)
September 14 – Irving Thalberg , American film producer (b. 1899)
October 10 - William H. Tooker , American actor
October 17 – Suzanne Bianchetti , French actress (b. 1889)
The Eddie Mannix Ledger , Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study .
Turk, Edward Baron (1998). Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald . University of California Press. pp. 364-365 . ISBN 0-520-21202-9 .
Birchard, Robert S. (2004). Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood . University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813123240 .
Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 16 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
Richard Jewel (1994) 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , Vol. 14 No. 1, p.55