1946 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• November 21 – William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.
• December 20 – Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, featuring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers, and Thomas Mitchell opens in New York.

  Awards

Notable films released in 1946

A

• Angel on My Shoulder
• Anna and the King of Siam, starring Irene Dunne, Rex Harrison and Linda Darnell
• Aru yo no Tonosama

  B

• Bad Bascomb, starring Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien and Marjorie Main
• The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, starring Cornel Wilde
• The Beast with Five Fingers, starring Robert Alda and Peter Lorre
• Beauty and the Beast, directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais and Josette Day
• The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler, starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews and Harold Russell – winner of 8 Oscars
• Beware, directed by Bud Pollard, starring Louis Jordan
• The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
• Black Beauty, starring Mona Freeman and Richard Denning
• The Blue Dahlia, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
• Blue Skies, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire
• Boom in the Moon, starring Buster Keaton
• A Boy and His Dog, starring Harry Davenport

  C

• The Captive Heart, the first Prisoner of War film from World War II
• Canyon Passage, starring Dana Andrews
• Centennial Summer
• Children of Paradise
• Cluny Brown, starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones

  D

• The Dark Corner, starring Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens
• The Dark Mirror, starring Olivia de Havilland
• Deception
• Decoy, a film noir starring Jean Gillie
• Devotion
• The Diary of a Chambermaid
• Dragonwyck, starring Gene Tierney
• Dressed to Kill, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
• Duel in the Sun, starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten and Lillian Gish

  G

• Gallant Journey, directed by William A. Wellman
• Gilda, starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford
• Great Expectations, directed by David Lean, starring John Mills, Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson
• Green for Danger, starring Alastair Sim and Trevor Howard
• The Green Years

  H

• The Harvey Girls, directed by George Sidney, starring Judy Garland and John Hodiak
• Henry V
• Humoresque, starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield

  I

• I See a Dark Stranger
• It's a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore
• Ivan the Terrible

  J

• The Jolson Story, a biopic of Al Jolson starring Larry Parks

  K

• The Kid from Brooklyn
• The Killers, directed by Robert Siodmak, starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner

  L

• Little Giant, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

  M

• Make Mine Music
• Magnificent Doll, starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven
• A Matter of Life and Death, written and directed by Powell and Pressburger, starring David Niven
• Monsieur Beaucaire, starring Bob Hope
• The Murderers Are Among Us, starring Hildegard Knef
• My Darling Clementine, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Linda Darnell

  N

• Night and Day
• A Night in Casablanca with the Marx Brothers
• No Regrets for Our Youth
• Nobody Lives Forever
• Notorious, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman

  O

• The Outlaw
• The Overlanders

  P

• Paisan, directed by Roberto Rossellini
• People Are Funny, starring Jack Haley
• The Postman Always Rings Twice, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield

  R

• The Razor's Edge, starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney
• Renegade Girl, starring Ann Savage
• The Return of Monte Cristo, starring Louis Hayward
• Road to Utopia, starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope

  S

• The Seventh Veil
• She-Wolf of London. starring June Lockhart
• Shoeshine, directed by Vittorio De Sica
• Shock, directed by Alfred L. Werker, starring Vincent Price and Lynn Bari
• Sister Kenny, starring Rosalind Russell
• Somewhere In The Night, starring John Hodiak
• Song of the South by Walt Disney, combines animation and live action.
• The Spiral Staircase, starring Dorothy McGuire
• A Stolen Life, starring Bette Davis
• The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Strange Woman, starring Hedy Lamarr and George Sanders
• The Stranger, directed by and starring Orson Welles, Loretta Young and Edward G. Robinson

  T

• Terror by Night, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
• Theirs is the Glory
• Three Strangers
• Three Wise Fools, starring Margaret O'Brien and Lionel Barrymore
• The Time of Their Lives, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• To Each His Own, starring Olivia de Havilland
• Tomorrow is Forever, starring Orson Welles

  U

• Utamaro and His Five Women

  V

• The Verdict

  W

• Wake Up and Dream
• Wanted for Murder
• The Wife of Monte Cristo, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
• Without Reservations

  Y

• The Yearling, starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman

  Serials

• Daughter of Don Q
• Chick Carter, Detective
• The Crimson Ghost
• Hop Harrigan
• King of the Forest Rangers, starring Larry Thompson
• Lost City of the Jungle
• The Mysterious Mr. M
• The Phantom Rider, starring Robert Kent and Peggy Stewart
• The Scarlet Horseman
• Son of the Guardsman

  Short film series

• Shirley Temple
• The Three Stooges
• Popular Science

  Animated Short Film Series

• Mickey Mouse
• Looney Tunes
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Popeye
• Color Rhapsodies
• Donald Duck
• Pluto
• Andy Panda
• Goofy
• Bugs Bunny
• Tom and Jerry
• The Fox and the Crow
• Woody Woodpecker
• Mighty Mouse
• Droopy
• Chip and Dale
• Screwball Squirrel
• Yosemite Sam
• George and Junior

  Births

• January 5 – Diane Keaton, actress, producer and director
• January 19 – Dolly Parton, country singer and actress
• January 20 – David Lynch, director
• January 26 – Gene Siskel, film critic, Siskel and Ebert
• February 7 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor
• February 20 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• February 21 – Alan Rickman, English actor
• March 12
• *Liza Minnelli, singer and actress
• *Frank Welker, American actor, voice actor and former stand-up comedian
• March 21 – Timothy Dalton, actor
• April 19 – Tim Curry, English actor and singer
• April 25 – Talia Shire, actress
• May 1 - Joanna Lumley, British actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer and activist
• May 9 – Candice Bergen, actress
• May 20 – Cher, singer and actress
• July 6 – Sylvester Stallone, actor and director
• July 10 – Sue Lyon, actress
• July 13 – Cheech Marin, actor and comedian
• July 22 – Danny Glover, actor and director
• August 16 – Lesley Ann Warren, actress and singer
• September 15
• *Tommy Lee Jones, actor
• *Oliver Stone, director and producer
• September 28 – Jeffrey Jones, actor
• October 4 – Susan Sarandon, actress
• October 15 – John Getz, actor
• October 27 – Ivan Reitman, Slovakian-born director and producer
• October 31 – Stephen Rea, Northern Irish actor
• November 6 – Sally Field, actress
• November 20 - Samuel E. Wright, American actor and singer
• December 14 – Patty Duke, actress
• December 17 – Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
• December 18 – Steven Spielberg, director and producer
• unknown – Omar Al-Shammaa, Lebanese actor, voice actor

  Deaths

• April 1 – Noah Beery Sr., American actor
• June 23 – William S. Hart, American actor
• August 10 – Léon Gaumont, French film pioneer
• August 13 – H. G. Wells, British science fiction writer
• August 26 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter
• August 28 – Florence Turner, American actress
• September 21 – Olga Engl, Austrian actress
• November 2 – Gabriel Gabrio, French actor
• December 12 – Renée Jeanne Falconetti, French actress
• December 25 – W. C. Fields, American comedian and actor

  Film Debuts

• Kirk Douglas
• Burt Lancaster