1976 in film
The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1976 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:Rank | Title | Studio | Box-office gross rental |
1 | Rocky | United Artists | $55,900,000 |
2 | A Star Is Born | Warner Bros. | $37,100,000 |
3 | King Kong | Paramount Pictures | $36,900,000 |
4 | Silver Streak | 20th Century Fox | $30,018,000 |
5 | All the President's Men | Warner Bros. | $30,000,000 |
6 | The Omen | 20th Century Fox | $28,500,000 |
7 | The Bad News Bears | Paramount Pictures | $24,800,000 |
8 | The Enforcer | Warner Bros. | $24,000,000 |
9 | In Search of Noah's Ark | Sunn Classic Pictures | $23,800,000 |
10 | Midway | Universal Pictures | $21,610,435 |
Events
- January – Paramount Pictures sets up a separate motion picture division and names David V. Picker as president.
- March 22 – Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film. In one of the most lucrative business decisions in film history, Lucas declines his directing fee of $500,000 in exchange for complete ownership of merchandising and sequel rights.
- April 1 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show is officially re-released as a midnight movie at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village in New York City, starting through the run and still being shown in there as of 2013 all around the world.
- April 9 – Alfred Hitchcock's last film, Family Plot, is released.
- August 11 – John Wayne appears in his final film, The Shootist.
- August 26 – Alan Ladd Jr. is promoted from head of worldwide production to president of 20th Century Fox's film division.
- November 15 – Michael Eisner is brought in as president and CEO of Paramount Pictures.
- November 21 – Rocky, the first in the film series opens. It becomes the highest-grossing film released in the year and goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- December 5 – Bound for Glory debuts and is the first motion picture in which inventor/operator Garrett Brown used his new Steadicam for filming moving scenes, although its use had already been seen in Marathon Man and Rocky which were filmed later but released earlier.
Awards
Golden Bear :
Notable films released in 1976
unless stated#
- 7-Man Army, directed by Chang Cheh –
- 1900, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Donald Sutherland –
A
- A Queda –
- All the President's Men, directed by Alan J. Pakula, starring Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook
- The Anchorite –
- Any Day Now –
- The Ascent – – Golden Bear winner
- Assault on Precinct 13, directed by John Carpenter, starring Austin Stoker
- The Astral Factor, starring Stefanie Powers
- At the Earth's Core, starring Peter Cushing and Doug McClure –
B
- Baby Blue Marine, starring Jan-Michael Vincent
- The Bad News Bears, directed by Michael Ritchie, starring Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow, Jackie Earle Haley
- Barocco, directed by André Téchiné, starring Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Marie-France Pisier – ; Winner of three César Awards for Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Music.
- Beach Guard in Winter –
- The Best Way to Walk –
- The Big Bus, starring Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, John Beck
- The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor
- Black and White in Color, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud – – Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film
- The Blank Generation, with Patti Smith Group, Television, Ramones and Talking Heads
- Blue Puppy –
- Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, starring Marjoe Gortner and Lynda Carter
- Bound for Glory, a biopic of Woody Guthrie directed by Hal Ashby, starring David Carradine
- Breaking Point, starring Bo Svenson, Robert Culp, John Colicos
- The Bricklayers –
- Brother and Sister –
- Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, directed by Robert Altman, starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Chaplin, Burt Lancaster – Golden Bear winner
- Bugsy Malone, directed by Alan Parker, starring Scott Baio and Jodie Foster –
- Burnt Offerings, starring Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Bette Davis
C
- Caddie, starring Helen Morse –
- Canoa –
- Car Wash, starring Franklyn Ajaye and Richard Pryor
- The Career of a Chambermaid, directed by Dino Risi –
- Caro Michele, directed by Mario Monicelli –
- Carrie, directed by Brian De Palma, starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving
- The Cassandra Crossing, starring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Lee Strasberg, Martin Sheen, O. J. Simpson –
- A Child in the Crowd –
- Chinese Roulette, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder –
- Chitchor –
- The Clown Murders
- Cop –
- Coup de Grâce, directed by Volker Schlöndorff –
- A Cricket in the Ear, directed by Georgi K. Stoyanov, starring Pavel Popandov, Tatyana Lolova, Itzhak Fintzi –
D
- Deadly Hero, starring Don Murray and James Earl Jones
- The Desert of the Tartars, starring Vittorio Gassman –
- The Devil's Playground, directed by Fred Schepisi –
- Diary of the Dead, starring Geraldine Fitzgerald and Héctor Elizondo
- The Divine Nymph, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Terence Stamp –
- Dixie Dynamite, starring Warren Oates
- Dogs, starring David McCallum, George Wyner and Linda Gray
- Don's Party, directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Ray Barrett, John Hargreaves and Pat Bishop –
- Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, starring Sônia Braga –
- Les douze travaux d'Asterix –
- Drum , starring Warren Oates and Yaphet Kotto
E-F
- The Eagle Has Landed, starring Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland –
- Eat My Dust, starring Ron Howard and Christopher Norris
- Embryo, directed by Ralph Nelson, starring Rock Hudson and Barbara Carrera
- The Enforcer, starring Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Tyne Daly
- Escape from the Dark, starring Alastair Sim –
- F comme Fairbanks, starring Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou –
- Face to Face, directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson –
- Family Plot, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, William Devane
- Farsighted for Two Diopters, directed by Petar B. Vasilev, starring Georgi Partsalev –
- Fellini's Casanova, directed by Federico Fellini, starring Donald Sutherland –
- The Fifth Seal, directed by Zoltán Fábri –
- The First Nudie Musical, directed by Bruce Kimmel, starring Cindy Williams, Stephen Nathan, Diana Canova
- The Food of the Gods, starring Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Ida Lupino
- Freaky Friday, directed by Gary Nelson, starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster
- From Noon till Three, starring Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland
- The Front, directed by Martin Ritt, starring Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Andrea Marcovicci, Herschel Bernardi, Michael Murphy
- Fumō Chitai –
- Futureworld, starring Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner
G-H
- Gable and Lombard, starring James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh
- Gator, starring Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed
- Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona –
- God Told Me To, starring Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis
- Griffin and Phoenix, starring Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh
- Grizzly, starring Christopher George
- The Gumball Rally, starring Michael Sarrazin
- Gus, starring Don Knotts and Ed Asner
- Harlan County, USA – a documentary film
- Harry and Walter Go to New York, starring James Caan, Elliott Gould, Diane Keaton, Michael Caine
- Heart of Glass, directed by Werner Herzog –
- The House with Laughing Windows –
I-K
- Illustrious Corpses, directed by Francesco Rosi, starring Lino Ventura –
- The Inheritance, starring Anthony Quinn and Dominique Sanda –
- In the Realm of the Senses, directed by Nagisa Oshima –
- L'innocente, directed by Luchino Visconti –
- The Inugamis, directed by Kon Ichikawa –
- I Will, I Will... for Now, directed by Norman Panama, starring Elliott Gould, Diane Keaton, Victoria Principal
- Jackson County Jail, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Yvette Mimieux
- J. D.'s Revenge, starring Glynn Turman and Louis Gossett Jr.
- Je t'aime moi non plus, directed by Serge Gainsbourg, starring Jane Birkin and Joe Dallesandro –
- Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 –
- The Judge and the Assassin, directed by Bertrand Tavernier, starring Philippe Noiret and Isabelle Huppert –
- Kabhie Kabhie, starring Shashi Kapoor –
- Kalicharan –
- The Killer Inside Me, starring Stacy Keach
- The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, directed by John Cassavetes, starring Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel
- King Kong, directed by John Guillermin, starring Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin
- King Kung Fu, directed by and starring Lance D. Hayes
- Kings of the Road, directed by Wim Wenders –
L
- The Last Hard Men, starring Charlton Heston and James Coburn
- The Last Supper –
- The Last Tycoon, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson
- Leadbelly, a biopic directed by Gordon Parks
- Lipstick, starring Margaux Hemingway, Mariel Hemingway, Chris Sarandon
- The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen
- Logan's Run, directed by Michael Anderson, starring Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter
M
- , directed by William Grefe, starring Richard Jaeckel
- The Man on the Roof, directed by Bo Widerberg –
- The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark –
- Marecek, Pass Me the Pen! –
- Marathon Man, directed by John Schlesinger, starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, Marthe Keller, William Devane
- The Marquise of O, directed by Éric Rohmer –
- Massacre at Central High, directed by Rene Daalder
- Master of the Flying Guillotine, starring Jimmy Wang –
- A Matter of Time, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Ingrid Bergman, Liza Minnelli, Charles Boyer, Isabella Rossellini –
- Max Havelaar, directed by Fons Rademakers –
- The Memory of Justice, a documentary film by Marcel Ophüls –
- Midway, starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Toshiro Mifune, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, Hal Holbrook
- Mikey and Nicky, directed by Elaine May, starring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk
- The Missouri Breaks, directed by Arthur Penn, starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson
- Mohammad, Messenger of God, directed by Moustapha Akkad, starring Anthony Quinn –
- Mother, Jugs & Speed, directed by Peter Yates, starring Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel
- Mr. Klein, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Alain Delon and Jeanne Moreau –
- Murder by Death, starring Peter Sellers, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Alec Guinness, Peter Falk, Eileen Brennan, Elsa Lanchester, James Coco, Truman Capote
- The Mysterious Monsters, starring Peter Graves and Peter Hurkos
N
- Network, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall
- The Next Man, starring Sean Connery
- Next Stop, Greenwich Village, starring Shelley Winters, Lenny Baker, Ellen Greene
- Nickelodeon, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, Tatum O'Neal, John Ritter, Stella Stevens
- Nightmare in Badham County, starring Deborah Raffin and Chuck Connors
- No Deposit, No Return, starring David Niven, Darren McGavin, Don Knotts, Barbara Feldon, Kim Richards
O-P-Q
- Obsession, directed by Brian De Palma, starring Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold, John Lithgow
- Ode to Billy Joe, directed by Max Baer Jr., starring Robby Benson, Glynnis O'Connor, James Best
- The Omen, directed by Richard Donner, starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Leo McKern –
- One Summer Love, aka Dragonfly, directed by Gilbert Cates, starring Susan Sarandon and Beau Bridges
- The Outlaw Josey Wales, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Chief Dan George, Sam Bottoms, Sondra Locke, John Vernon
- Oz or 20th Century Oz, a Rock 'N' Roll Road Movie, starring Bruce Spence, Joy Dunstan –
- The Pink Panther Strikes Again, starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down –
R
- Raise Ravens, directed by Carlos Saura, starring Geraldine Chaplin –
- The Rat Savior –
- Rich Man, Poor Man, television mini-series, starring Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss
- The Ritz, directed by Richard Lester, starring Rita Moreno, Jerry Stiller, Jack Weston
- Robin and Marian, directed by Richard Lester, starring Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw –
- Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Sylvester Stallone, Burgess Meredith, Carl Weathers, Talia Shire, Burt Young
S
- The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, starring Kris Kristofferson and Sarah Miles
- Salon Kitty, directed by Tinto Brass, starring Helmut Berger and Ingrid Thulin –
- The Scar , directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Sebastiane, directed by Derek Jarman –
- Seclusion Near a Forest, directed by Jiří Menzel –
- The Sell Out, starring Richard Widmark
- Seven Beauties, starring Fernando Rey –
- The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, directed by Herbert Ross, starring Nicol Williamson, Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin, Laurence Olivier –
- Shadow of Angels, starring Ingrid Caven and Rainer Werner Fassbinder –
- The Shaggy D.A., starring Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette
- The Shootist, directed by Don Siegel, starring John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Richard Boone, Harry Morgan, James Stewart
- Shout at the Devil, starring Lee Marvin, Roger Moore –
- Silent Movie, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, with Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise, Bernadette Peters
- Silver Streak, directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh, Ned Beatty, Ray Walston, Patrick McGoohan
- Sister Street Fighter – Fifth Level Fist –
- Sky Riders, starring James Coburn, Susannah York, Robert Culp
- The Slipper and the Rose, directed by Bryan Forbes, starring Gemma Craven and Richard Chamberlain –
- Small Change, directed by François Truffaut –
- The Smurfs and the Magic Flute –
- Snuff –
- The Song Remains the Same, featuring Led Zeppelin –
- Soy un delincuente –
- Sparkle, starring Irene Cara
- A Star Is Born, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson
- Stay Hungry, directed by Bob Rafelson, starring Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, Arnold Schwarzenegger
- St. Ives, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Charles Bronson
- Storm Boy, starring David Gulpilil –
- Swashbuckler, starring Robert Shaw
- The Swiss Conspiracy, starring David Janssen and Elke Sommer
- Sybil'', starring Joanne Woodward and Sally Field
T
- Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle, Jodie Foster
- The Tenant, directed by and starring Roman Polanski, with Isabelle Adjani and Melvyn Douglas –
- That's Entertainment, Part II, documentary featuring Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly
- Tatlong taong walang Diyos –
- To Fly!, a documentary film
- To the Devil a Daughter, starring Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Nastassja Kinski –
- Todo modo, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Marcello Mastroianni –
- Tosun Paşa –
- The Town That Dreaded Sundown, starring Ben Johnson and Dawn Wells
- Trackdown, starring James Mitchum
- Tracks, directed by Henry Jaglom, starring Dennis Hopper
- Treasure of Matecumbe, starring Joan Hackett, Robert Foxworth, Peter Ustinov
- The Twist, directed by Claude Chabrol, starring Bruce Dern, Stéphane Audran, Charles Aznavour, Ann-Margret –
- Two-Minute Warning, starring Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, David Janssen, Jack Klugman, Gena Rowlands, Walter Pidgeon, Beau Bridges
U-V
- Ugly, Dirty and Bad, directed by Ettore Scola, starring Nino Manfredi –
- Up!, directed by Russ Meyer, featuring Raven De La Croix
- Vigilante Force, starring Kris Kristofferson and Victoria Principal
- Voyage of the Damned, starring Faye Dunaway, Lee Grant, James Mason, Katharine Ross, Max von Sydow, Orson Welles, Oskar Werner –
W-Z
- W.C. Fields and Me, starring Rod Steiger, Valerie Perrine, Jack Cassidy
- Wan Pipel –
- Welcome to L.A., directed by Alan Rudolph, starring Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Sally Kellerman, Harvey Keitel
- The White Ship –
- Who Can Kill a Child? –
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, starring Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Bruce Dern, Art Carney
1976 film releases
January–March
- February 1976
- *4 February
- **Next Stop, Greenwich Village
- *8 February
- **Taxi Driver
- *13 February
- **Jack and the Beanstalk
- *27 February
- **Griffin and Phoenix
- March 1976
- *11 March
- **Gable and Lombard
- **Robin and Marian
- *12 March
- **I Will, I Will... for Now
- *18 March
- **The Man Who Fell to Earth
- *26 March
- **Ride a Wild Pony
- **Sky Riders
- *31 March
- **W.C. Fields and Me
April–June
- April 1976
- *1 April
- **The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox
- *5 April
- **The Blue Bird
- *7 April
- **The Bad News Bears
- **Sparkle
- *9 April
- **All the President's Men
- **Family Plot
- *11 April
- **The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
- *23 April
- **Stay Hungry
- May 1976
- *19 May
- **The Missouri Breaks
- *21 May
- **1900
- **Embryo
- *26 May
- **Mother, Jugs & Speed
- June 1976
- *1 June
- **The Last Hard Men
- *2 June
- **Breaking Point
- *11 June
- **The Cars That Ate Paris
- **The Tenant
- *17 June
- **Harry and Walter Go to New York
- **Silent Movie
- *18 June
- **Midway
- *20 June
- **Once Upon a Girl
- *23 June
- **The Big Bus
- **The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday
- **Logan's Run
- **Murder by Death
- *24 June
- **Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
- *25 June
- **The Omen
- *26 June
- ** Bugsy Malone
- *30 June
- **The Outlaw Josey Wales
July–September
- July 1976
- Moving Violation
- *1 July
- **Treasure of Matecumbe
- *7 July
- **Gus
- *9 July
- **Mad Dog Morgan
- *16 July
- **The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
- *28 July
- **Futureworld
- *29 July
- **Swashbuckler
- *30 July
- **Squirm
- *31 July
- **St. Ives
- August 1976
- *1 August
- **Obsession
- *4 August
- **The Return of a Man Called Horse
- *8 August
- **From Noon till Three
- *20 August
- **The Shootist
- *25 August
- **Gator
- September 1976
- High Velocity
- *9 September
- **Vigilante Force
- *15 September
- **In the Realm of the Senses
- *17 September
- **The Front
- *22 September
- **Mad Dog Morgan
October–December
- October 1976
- *8 October
- **Marathon Man
- *18 October
- **Burnt Offerings
- *20 October
- **The Song Remains the Same
- *22 October
- **Car Wash
- **God Told Me To
- November 1976
- *3 November
- **Carrie
- *5 November
- **John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13..
- *12 November
- **Two-Minute Warning
- **Welcome to L.A.
- *13 November
- **Alice, Sweet Alice
- *17 November
- **The Twelve Tasks of Asterix
- *19 November
- **The Last Tycoon
- *21 November
- **Rocky
- *27 November
- **Network nationwide 13 days after its previous Los Angeles and New York City openings.
- December 1976
- *5 December
- **Bound for Glory
- *8 December
- **A Star Is Born
- **Silver Streak
- *15 December
- **The Pink Panther Strikes Again
- *17 December
- **The Shaggy D.A.
- **Freaky Friday
- **King Kong
- *18 December
- **The Cassandra Crossing
- *20 December
- **Across the Great Divide
- *21 December
- **Nickelodeon
- *22 December
- **The Enforcer
- **Voyage of the Damned (New York City, with its Los Angeles opening on the following day, 23rd.
- *24 December
- **The Town That Dreaded Sundown
- *25 December
- **The Eagle Has Landed
Births
- January 13 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- January 6
- *Johnny Yong Bosch, American actor, voice actor
- *Danny Pintauro, American actor
- January 13 – Michael Peña, American actor
- February 3 – Isla Fisher, Australian actress
- February 5 – Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
- February 9 – Charlie Day, American actor, screenwriter, producer, comedian, director and musician
- February 11 – Brice Beckham, American actor
- February 23
- * Aaron Aziz, Singaporean actor
- *Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
- February 25 – Rashida Jones, American actress
- March 8 – Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor, voice actor, writer and producer
- March 13 – Danny Masterson, American actor
- March 16 – Paul Schneider, American actor
- March 22 – Reese Witherspoon, American actress
- March 23 – Michelle Monaghan, American actress
- March 26 – Amy Smart, American actress
- April 1
- * Troy Baker, American voice actor
- * David Oyelowo, English actor, producer, director
- April 5 – Sterling K. Brown, American actor
- April 13 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor
- April 15 – Susan Ward, American actress
- April 20 – Joey Lawrence, American actor
- April 23 – Gabriel Damon, American actor
- April 26 – Elisabet Reinsalu, Estonian actress
- April 27 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
- May 5 – Sage Stallone, American actor
- May 22 – Külli Teetamm, Estonian actress
- May 25
- *Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
- *Ethan Suplee, American film and television actor
- *J. Michael Tatum, American voice actor
- May 31 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- July 9 – Fred Savage, American actor
- July 15 – Diane Kruger, German actress
- July 19
- *Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor
- *Vinessa Shaw, American actress
- July 31 – Mela Lee, American voice actress
- August 2 – Sam Worthington, Australian actor
- August 6 – Andero Ermel, Estonian actor
- August 9 – Audrey Tautou, French actress
- August 26 – Mike Colter, American actor
- August 27 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress, model and voice artist
- September 3 – Vivek Oberoi, Indian actor
- September 5 – Carice van Houten, Dutch actress
- September 6 – Naomie Harris, English actress
- September 7 – Shannon Elizabeth, American actress
- September 20 – Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress
- September 26 – Kersti Heinloo, Estonian actress
- October 3 - Seann William Scott, American actor, comedian and producer
- October 4 – Alicia Silverstone, American actress
- October 20 - Dan Fogler, American actor, comedian and writer
- October 21 – Andrew Scott, Irish actor
- October 23 – Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
- October 31 – Piper Perabo, American actress
- November 29 – Anna Faris, American actress
- December 8 – Dominic Monaghan, English actor
- December 29 - Danny McBride, American actor, comedian and writer
Notable deaths
Film debuts
- Albert Brooks – Taxi Driver
- Bruce Campbell – It's Murder!
- Stephen Collins – All the President's Men
- Lindsay Crouse – All the President's Men
- Richard Griffiths – It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet
- Mariel Hemingway – Lipstick
- Ernie Hudson – Leadbelly
- Amy Irving – Carrie
- Jessica Lange – King Kong
- Delroy Lindo – Find the Lady
- Lena Olin – Face to Face
- Jonathan Pryce – Voyage of the Damned
- John Ratzenberger – The Ritz
- Mercedes Ruehl – Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
- Theresa Russell – The Last Tycoon
- Brooke Shields – Alice, Sweet Alice
- Debra Winger – Slumber Party '57
- Chow Yun-fat – Tou tai ren