1959 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• January 23 – Republic Pictures releases its last production, Plunderers of Painted Flats.
• January 29 – Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty premieres, their most expensive film to date and the first animated film to be shot in Super Technirama 70. It initially ends up losing money for the studio due to its high production costs. However, it would eventually gain a cult following and is now considered one of Disney's great classics.
• April 30 – François Truffaut's The 400 Blows opens the 1959 Cannes Film Festival bringing international attention to the French New Wave.
• June 4 – The Three Stooges release their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters.
• June 7 – A contract between Paramount and Jerry Lewis Productions is signed specifying a payment of $10 million plus 60% of the profits for 14 films over a seven-year period. This contract made Lewis the highest paid individual Hollywood talent to date and was unprecedented in that he had unlimited creative control, including final cut, and the return of film rights after 30 years.
• July 1 - Herbert J. Yates, founder of Republic Pictures, sells his controlling stake in the company.
• July – Les Cousins, another film of the French New Wave, wins the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.
• July 22 – Joseph E. Levine promotes the release of Hercules in the United States starring Steve Reeves which popularizes the sword and sandals genre.
• August 4 – The Big Fisherman is the first film released in Super Panavision 70.
• September 30 – The film of Mise Éire, made by George Morrison for Gael Linn, is premiered to close the Cork Film Festival, the first feature-length Irish language film.
• October 7 – Rock Hudson, who is later voted top in the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll for the year, appears in Pillow Talk alongside Doris Day for the first time.
• October 14 – Legendary Australian-born actor Errol Flynn dies of a heart attack in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 50.
• November 18 – William Wyler's film Ben-Hur, the most expensive film of all time with a budget of $15,175,000, premieres at Loew's State Theater in New York City. It went on to win a record 11 Academy Awards.
• December 2 – The battle of the smellies starts with the release of the documentary Behind the Great Wall in AromaRama, with scents pumped into the theater during the film.

  Awards

Notable films released in 1959

#

• 4D Man, starring Robert Lansing and Lee Meriwether
• The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, starring Lou Costello and Dorothy Provine
• The 39 Steps, starring Kenneth More –
• The 400 Blows, directed by François Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud –

  A

• The Adventures of Buratino –
• Al Capone, starring Rod Steiger
• Alias Jesse James, starring Bob Hope
• The Alligator People, starring Beverly Garland
• Anari, starring Raj Kapoor –
• Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger, starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott
• The Angry Hills, starring Robert Mitchum and Gia Scala
• The Angry Red Planet, starring Gerald Mohr
• Argument About Basia –

  B

• Bad Girls Don't Cry, starring Rosanna Schiaffino –
• Ballad of a Soldier, directed by Grigory Chukhray –
• The Bat, starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead
• Battle Beyond the Sun –
• Battle in Outer Space, directed by Ishirō Honda –
• The Battle of the Sexes, starring Peter Sellers –
• The Beat Generation, starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren
• Ben-Hur, directed by William Wyler, starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins – winner of 11 Academy Awards and 4 Golden Globes
• The Best of Everything, starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Stephen Boyd, Joan Crawford
• The Big Circus, starring Victor Mature, Rhonda Fleming, Red Buttons, Gilbert Roland, Kathryn Grant
• The Big Fisherman, starring Howard Keel
• The Big Operator, starring Mickey Rooney, Steve Cochran, Mamie Van Doren
• The Birth of Japan, starring Toshiro Mifune –
• Black Orpheus, directed by Marcel Camus – winner of Palme d'Or, Golden Globe, Oscar and Bafta –
• Blessings of the Land, starring Rosa Rosal –
• Breakout, starring Hazel Court
• The Bridge, directed by Bernhard Wicki –
• A Bucket of Blood, directed by Roger Corman
• But Not for Me, directed by Walter Lang, starring Clark Gable, Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb

  C

• The Captain's Table, starring John Gregson and Peggy Cummins –
• Career, starring Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Franciosa
• Carlton-Browne of the F.O., starring Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, John Le Mesurier –
• Carry On Nurse, starring Shirley Eaton and Kenneth Connor –
• Carry On Teacher, starring Kenneth Connor and Leslie Phillips –
• The Chasers –
• City of Fear, score by Jerry Goldsmith
• Come Dance with Me, starring Brigitte Bardot –
• Compulsion, starring Orson Welles, Bradford Dillman, Dean Stockwell, Diane Varsi, E. G. Marshall
• Court Martial –
• Les Cousins, directed by Claude Chabrol –
• The Crimson Kimono, directed by Samuel Fuller, starring James Shigeta
• La Cucaracha, starring María Félix and Dolores del Río –

  D

• Danger Within, starring Richard Todd, Bernard Lee, Richard Attenborough –
• Darby O'Gill and the Little People, starring Sean Connery
• Date With Death, starring Gerald Mohr
• Day of the Outlaw, starring Robert Ryan, Tina Louise, Burl Ives
• The Death Ship, starring Horst Buchholz –
• Destiny of a Man, directed by Sergei Bondarchuk –
• The Devil's Disciple, starring Laurence Olivier, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas –
• The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by George Stevens, starring Millie Perkins, Joseph Schildkraut, Shelley Winters, Richard Beymer, Diane Baker, Ed Wynn
• Dil Deke Dekho, starring Shammi Kapoor –
• Donald in Mathmagic Land
• Don't Give Up The Ship, starring Jerry Lewis
• Dust on the Brain –

  E–F

• Expresso Bongo, starring Laurence Harvey and Cliff Richard –
• The FBI Story, starring James Stewart
• Face of a Fugitive, starring Fred MacMurray
• The Facts of Murder, directed by and starring Pietro Germi with Claudia Cardinale –
• La fièvre monte à El Pao, directed by Luis Buñuel –
• Fires on the Plain, directed by Kon Ichikawa –
• The Five Pennies, starring Danny Kaye
• Floating Weeds, directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• Follow a Star, starring Norman Wisdom, Ron Moody, Hattie Jacques –
• The Fugitive Kind, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward

  G

• The Gazebo, starring Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner
• Il Generale della Rovere, directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Vittorio De Sica –
• The Giant Behemoth, starring Gene Evans and André Morell
• Gidget, starring Sandra Dee
• Girls Town, starring Mamie Van Doren
• Good Morning, directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• La grande guerra, directed by Mario Monicelli, starring Alberto Sordi and Vittorio Gassman –
• The Gunfight at Dodge City, starring Joel McCrea

  H

• The Hanging Tree, directed by Delmer Daves, starring Gary Cooper, Karl Malden, George C. Scott
• The Hangman, starring Robert Taylor and Tina Louise
• Hannibal, starring Victor Mature and Rita Gam
• Happy Anniversary, starring David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor
• The Heart of a Man, starring Frankie Vaughan and Anne Heywood –
• Hiroshima Mon Amour, directed by Alain Resnais –
• A Hole in the Head, starring Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Carolyn Jones, Eddie Hodges
• Holiday for Lovers, starring Jane Wyman, Clifton Webb, Jill St. John
• A Home for Tanya –
• Honeymoon, directed by Michael Powell –
• The Horse Soldiers, starring John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers
• The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee –
• House on Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price

  I

• I'm All Right Jack, directed by the Boulting Brothers, starring Peter Sellers and Ian Carmichael –
• Imitation of Life, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner, Juanita Moore
• The Immoral Mr. Teas, directed by Russ Meyer
• The Indian Tomb, directed by Fritz Lang –
• It Happened to Jane, starring Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs
• It Started with a Kiss, starring Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford

  J

• The Jazz Singer, a television film starring Jerry Lewis
• Jet Over the Atlantic, starring Guy Madison and Virginia Mayo
• Jet Storm, starring Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baker, Diane Cilento, Mai Zetterling –
• John Paul Jones, starring Robert Stack
• The Journey, starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring James Mason and Pat Boone

  K–L

• Kaagaz Ke Phool, directed by and starring Guru Dutt –
• Kapò, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, starring Susan Strasberg –
• Killers of Kilimanjaro, starring Robert Taylor, Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey
• The Last Angry Man, starring Paul Muni
• Last Train from Gun Hill, starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman
• The Law, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Yves Montand –
• El Lazarillo de Tormes, winner of Golden Bear –
• Le Signe du Lion, directed by Éric Rohmer –
• The Legend of Tom Dooley, starring Michael Landon
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Roger Vadim, starring Jeanne Moreau –
• Letter Never Sent –
• Libel, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Dirk Bogarde and Olivia de Havilland –
• Li'l Abner, directed by Melvin Frank, starring Peter Palmer, Leslie Parrish, Stella Stevens, Julie Newmar, Stubby Kaye
• Look Back in Anger'', directed by Tony Richardson, starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom –

  M

• Magic Boy – Japanese animated film
• Make Mine a Million, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Arthur Askey and Sid James –
• The Man in the Net, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Alan Ladd and Carolyn Jones
• The Man Who Could Cheat Death, starring Anton Diffring and Hazel Court
• Model for Murder, starring Keith Andes and Hazel Court
• The Master and His Servants –
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, an animated puppet film by Jiří Trnka –
• The Miracle, starring Carroll Baker and Roger Moore
• Mise Éire –
• The Mouse That Roared, starring Peter Sellers and Jean Seberg –
• The Mummy, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee –
• My Second Brother, directed by Shōhei Imamura –

  N

• Nazarín, directed by Luis Buñuel –
• Never So Few, starring Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Steve McQueen
• Night Train –
• The Nightingale's Prayer –
• No Name on the Bullet, starring Audie Murphy
• North by Northwest, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
• North West Frontier, aka Flame Over India, starring Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall –
• The Nun's Story, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Audrey Hepburn

  O

• Odd Obsession, directed by Kon Ichikawa –
• Odds Against Tomorrow, starring Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan
• On the Beach, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins
• Operation Petticoat, starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis
• Our Man in Havana, directed by Carol Reed, starring Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Noël Coward, Ernie Kovacs –
• The Overcoat –

  P

• Paigham, directed by S. S. Vasan, starring Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Raaj Kumar, B. Saroja Devi –
• Pickpocket, directed by Robert Bresson –
• Pillow Talk, starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson
• El Pisito, directed bt Marco Ferreri –
• Plan 9 from Outer Space, directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr., starring Tor Johnson, Vampira, Bela Lugosi
• Porgy and Bess, a musical directed by Otto Preminger, starring Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier, music by George and Ira Gershwin
• Pork Chop Hill, starring Gregory Peck

  Q–R

• The Rest Is Silence, starring Hardy Krüger –
• Ride Lonesome, starring Randolph Scott
• Rio Bravo, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan, Angie Dickinson
• The Rookie, starring Julie Newmar, Tommy Noonan, Peter Marshall
• Room at the Top, directed by Jack Clayton, starring Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey –
• The Roots of Heaven, directed by John Huston, starring Errol Flynn, Trevor Howard, Juliette Gréco, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles

  S

• Sampo –
• Sapphire, directed by Basil Dearden –
• Say One for Me, starring Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner
• The Scapegoat, starring Alec Guinness and Bette Davis –
• Serious Charge, starring Anthony Quayle –
• Shadows, directed by John Cassavetes
• The Shaggy Dog, starring Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen, Tommy Kirk
• The Shakedown, starring Donald Pleasence and Hazel Court
• Shake Hands with the Devil, starring James Cagney –
• Sleeping Beauty
• Solomon and Sheba, starring Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida
• Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien, George Raft
• SOS Pacific, starring Richard Attenborough –
• The Sound and the Fury, starring Yul Brynner and Joanne Woodward
• Stars –
• A Stranger in My Arms, starring Jeff Chandler, June Allyson, Mary Astor, Sandra Dee
• Suddenly, Last Summer, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn
• A Summer Place, starring Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee

  T

• Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, directed by John Guillermin, starring Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle, Sean Connery
• Telegrame –
• Ten Seconds to Hell, directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Jack Palance
• Terror Is a Man, starring Francis Lederer –
• That Kind of Woman, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Sophia Loren and Tab Hunter
• There Will Be No Leave Today, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky –
• These Thousand Hills, starring Richard Egan, Don Murray, Lee Remick
• They Came to Cordura, starring Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin, Richard Conte, Dick York, Tab Hunter
• Third Man on the Mountain, starring Michael Rennie
• Tiger Bay, starring John Mills and Hayley Mills –
• The Tiger of Eschnapur, directed by Fritz Lang –
• The Tingler, starring Vincent Price
• Tommy the Toreador, starring Tommy Steele –
• Too Many Crooks, starring Terry-Thomas and George Cole –
• Train Without a Timetable –
• The Trap, starring Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, Earl Holliman, Tina Louise

  U–V

• Up Periscope, starring James Garner and Edmond O'Brien
• Il vedovo, directed by Dino Risi, starring Alberto Sordi –
• La vida alrededor –
• Violent Summer, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant –

  W–X

• Warlock, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Anthony Quinn, Dorothy Malone, Dolores Michaels, DeForest Kelley
• The Wasp Woman, starring Susan Cabot
• We Are Altogether Crazy –
• Westbound, starring Randolph Scott and Virginia Mayo
• When the Woman Butts In –
• The Wild and the Innocent, starring Audie Murphy, Joanne Dru, Sandra Dee
• Woman Obsessed, starring Susan Hayward
• The Wonderful Country, starring Robert Mitchum and Julie London
• The World, the Flesh and the Devil, starring Harry Belafonte and Inger Stevens
• The World of Apu, directed by Satyajit Ray –
• The Wreck of the Mary Deare, starring Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston –

  Y–Z

• Yellowstone Kelly, starring Clint Walker and Edd Byrnes
• Yesterday's Enemy, directed by Val Guest, starring Stanley Baker –
• The Young Philadelphians, starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Brian Keith, Alexis Smith, Robert Vaughn
• Zorro, the Avenger

  Short film series

• Looney Tunes
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Bugs Bunny
• Yosemite Sam
• Speedy Gonzales
• The Three Stooges

  Births

• January 5 – Clancy Brown, American actor and voice actor
• January 17 – Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese former actress and singer
• January 22 – Linda Blair, American actress
• February 2 – Laine Mägi, Estonian actress and dancer
• February 4 – Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
• February 22 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
• March 5 – Darío Grandinetti, Argentinian actor
• March 6 – Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
• March 7 – Donna Murphy, American actress and singer
• March 8 – Aidan Quinn, Irish-American actor
• March 15 – Renny Harlin, Finnish director and producer
• March 18
• *Luc Besson, French director and producer
• *Irene Cara, American actress and singer
• March 22 – Matthew Modine, American actor
• March 23 – Catherine Keener, American actress
• April 3 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor
• April 4 - Phil Morris, American actor and voice actor
• April 15 – Emma Thompson, English actress
• April 17 – Sean Bean, English actor
• April 20 – Clint Howard, American actor
• May 16 – Mare Winningham, American actress
• May 29 – Rupert Everett, English actor
• June 11 – Hugh Laurie, English actor
• June 22 – Wayne Federman, American actor and comedian
• June 30 – Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor
• July 26 – Kevin Spacey, American actor
• July 29 – Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
• August 10 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress
• August 14 – Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
• August 29 – Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
• September 14 – Haviland Morris, American actress
• September 23 – Jason Alexander, American actor
• October 3 – Greg Proops, American Actor, stand-up comedian, voice artist and television host
• October 21 – Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
• October 23 – Weird Al Yankovic, American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, satirist, actor, music video director, and author
• November 14 – Paul McGann, English actor
• November 19 – Allison Janney, American actress
• November 20 – Sean Young, American actress
• November 28 – Judd Nelson, American actor
• December 13 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor
• December 29 – Patricia Clarkson, American actress
• December 30 - Tracey Ullman, British-American actress, comedian, singer, writer, producer and director
• December 31 – Val Kilmer, American actor

  Deaths

• January 21
• * Cecil B. DeMille, 77, American director and producer, The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Show on Earth
• * Carl Switzer, 31, American singer and actor, Our Gang
• February 1 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, 85, American actress, King of the Zombies, In Old Chicago
• February 4 – Una O'Connor, 78, Irish actress, Witness for the Prosecution, The Adventures of Robin Hood
• February 5 – Gwili Andre, 51, Danish actress, Secrets of the French Police, No Other Woman
• February 20 – George Archainbaud, 68, French director, Thirteen Women, Girls of the Big House
• February 22 – Helen Parrish, 34, American actress, Too Many Blondes, X Marks the Spot
• March 2 – Eric Blore, 71, British actor, Top Hat, The Lady Eve, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• March 3 – Lou Costello, 52, American comedian and actor, half of Abbott and Costello comedy team, Africa Screams, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
• March 26 – Raymond Chandler, 70, American author and screenwriter, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity
• March 27 – Grant Withers, 54, American actor, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache
• April 12 – James Gleason, 76, American actor, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, The Bishop's Wife
• April 17 – Cecil Cunningham, 70, American actress, The Awful Truth, Monkey Business
• April 18 – Irving Cummings, 70, American director, Louisiana Purchase, The Dolly Sisters
• May 3 – Troy Sanders, 57, American score arranger and composer, White Christmas, Going My Way
• June 2 – Lyda Borelli, 75, Italian actress, Malombra, The Moth
• June 4 – Charles Vidor, 58, Hungarian director, Gilda, Love Me or Leave Me
• June 16 – George Reeves, 45, American actor, Gone with the Wind, So Proudly We Hail!
• June 18 – Ethel Barrymore, 79, American actress, Portrait of Jennie, The Spiral Staircase
• August 6 – Preston Sturges, 60, American writer, director, Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve
• September 6
• * Edmund Gwenn, 81, British actor, Miracle on 34th Street, Mister 880
• * Kay Kendall, 32, British actress, Genevieve, Les Girls
• September 11 – Paul Douglas, 52, American actor, A Letter to Three Wives, It Happens Every Spring
• September 13 – Adrian, 56, American costume designer, The Wizard of Oz, The Women
• September 14 – Wayne Morris, 45, American actor, Kid Galahad, Paths of Glory
• September 25 – Helen Broderick, 68, American actress, Top Hat, Swing Time
• September 30 – Taylor Holmes, 81, American actor, Kiss of Death, Sleeping Beauty
• October 3 – William Bishop, 41, American actor, Harriet Craig, Top Gun
• October 7 – Mario Lanza, 38, American singer and actor, The Great Caruso, Winged Victory
• October 14 – Errol Flynn, 50, Australian actor, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood
• October 21 – Olive Blakeney, 60, American actress, Leave It to Blanche, Don't Get Me Wrong
• October 23 – Gerda Lundequist, 88, Swedish actress, Gosta Berlings Saga
• October 30 – Noel Francis, 53, American actress, Blonde Crazy, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• November 7 – Victor McLaglen, 72, British actor, The Quiet Man, Gunga Din
• November 20 – Sylvia Lopez, 26, French actress, Hercules Unchained, Son of the Red Corsair
• November 21 – Max Baer, 50, American boxer and actor, The Prizefighter and the Lady, The Harder They Fall
• November 25 – Gérard Philipe, 36, French actor, Fan-Fan the Tulip, Beauties of the Night
• December 22 – Gilda Gray, 58, American actress, Aloma of the South Seas, Cabaret
• December 24 – Edmund Goulding, 68, American director, Grand Hotel, The Razor's Edge

  Film debuts

• Seymour Cassel – Shadows
• James Coburn – Ride Lonesome
• Mia Farrow – John Paul Jones
• Don Francks – Ivy League killers
• George Hamilton – Crime and Punishment U.S.A.
• Richard Harris – Shake Hands with the Devil
• Shirley Knight – Five Gates to Hell
• Martin Landau – Pork Chop Hill
• Millie Perkins – The Diary of Anne Frank
• Michael J. Pollard – It Happened to Jane
• Jason Robards – The Journey
• Martin Scorsese – Vesuvius VI
• George C. Scott – The Hanging Tree
• Steven Spielberg – The Last Gunfight
• Stella Stevens – Say One for Me
• Billy Dee Williams – The Last Angry Man''