1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.
Events
- May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda. The two were married in 1927.
- A reproduction of "America's First Movie Studio", Thomas Edison's Black Maria, is constructed
- September 29 - A Star is Born premieres and marks Judy Garland's comeback after her termination from her contract at MGM.
- November 3 - The movie Godzilla premieres in Japan. It became a huge success and became the first in series of Godzilla movies, the longest running film series in history.
Top grossing films (U.S.)
| Rank |
Title |
Studio |
Actors |
Gross |
| 1. |
White Christmas
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea* |
Paramount
Disney |
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen
Kirk Douglas, James Mason, and Peter Lorre |
$12,000,000 |
| 2. |
Rear Window |
Paramount/Universal |
Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly |
$9,867,000 |
| 3. |
Carmen Jones |
20th Century Fox |
Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, and Pearl Bailey |
$9,812,000 |
| 4. |
The Caine Mutiny |
Columbia |
Humphrey Bogart and Fred MacMurray |
$8,700,000 |
| 5. |
The Country Girl |
Paramount |
Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and William Holden |
$7,963,000 |
| 6. |
The Barefoot Contessa |
MGM |
Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, and Edmond O'Brien |
$7,298,000 |
| 7. |
A Star Is Born
The High and the Mighty |
Warner Brothers |
Judy Garland and James Mason
John Wayne and Robert Stack |
$6,850,000 |
| 8. |
Magnificent Obsession |
Universal |
Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson |
$5,200,000 |
| 9. |
The Long, Long Trailer |
MGM |
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz |
$5,000,000 |
| 10. |
River of No Return |
20th Century Fox |
Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum |
$4,750,000 |
| 11. |
On the Waterfront |
Columbia |
Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, and Eva Marie Saint |
$4,500,000 |
| 12. |
Sabrina |
Paramount |
Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden |
$4,248,000 |
| 13. |
The Last Time I Saw Paris |
MGM |
Elizabeth Taylor |
$4,175,000 |
| 14. |
Francis Joins the WACS |
Universal |
Donald O'Connor and Mamie Van Doren |
|
| 15. |
Pushover |
Columbia |
Kim Novak and Fred MacMurray |
|
| 16. |
Elephant Walk |
MGM |
Elizabeth Taylor |
|
| 17. |
Dial M for Murder |
Warner Bros. |
Ray Milland and Grace Kelly |
|
| 18. |
Johnny Guitar |
Republic Pictures |
Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden |
|
| 19. |
There's No Business Like Show Business |
20th Century Fox |
Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, Marilyn Monroe, and Johnnie Ray |
|
| 20. |
Phffft! |
Columbia |
Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Kim Novak |
|
(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)
Awards
Academy Awards:
- Best Picture: On the Waterfront - Horizon-American, Columbia
- Best Director: Elia Kazan - On The Waterfront
- Best Actor: Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront
- Best Actress: Grace Kelly - The Country Girl
- Best Supporting Actor: Edmond O'Brien - The Barefoot Contessa
- Best Supporting Actress: Eva Marie Saint - On The Waterfront
Golden Globe Awards:
- Drama:
- Best Picture: On the Waterfront
- Best Actor: Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront
- Best Actress: Grace Kelly - The Country Girl
- Musical or comedy:
- Best Picture: Carmen Jones
- Best Actor: James Mason - A Star Is Born
- Best Actress: Judy Garland - A Star Is Born
- Other
- Best Director: Elia Kazan - On the Waterfront
- Best Foreign Film: Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi), Japan
- Best Foreign Film: No Way Back (Weg Ohne Umkehr), West Germany
- Best Foreign Film: The Lady of the Camellias (La Mujer de las camelias), Argentina
- Best Foreign Film: Genevieve, United Kingdom
Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival):
- Jigokumon 地獄門, (Gate of Hell), directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):
- Romeo and Juliet (Romeo e Giulietta), directed by Renato Castellani, Italy / U.K.
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
- Hobson's Choice, directed by David Lean, United Kingdom
Films released in 1954
U.S.A. unless stated
A
B
- The Barefoot Contessa, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Rossano Brazzi
- Beau Brummell, starring Stewart Granger, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Ustinov
- Beautiful Stranger - (U.K./U.S.)
- The Belles of St Trinian's, starring Alistair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole - (U.K.)
- Betrayed, fourth and final film co-starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner
- The Black Knight - (U.K./U.S.)
- The Black Shield of Falworth, starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
- Black Tuesday
- Black Widow, starring Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney
- Boot Polish - (India)
- Bread, Love and Dreams (U.S. release)
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri, starring William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney
- Brigadoon, starring Gene Kelly and Van Johnson
- Broken Lance, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, Katy Jurado
C
- The Caine Mutiny, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Humphrey Bogart, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray
- Carmen Jones, starring Dorothy Dandridge (first African-American to be Oscar-nominated for Best Actress)
- Casanova's Big Night, starring Bob Hope
- The Country Girl, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, William Holden
- Creature from the Black Lagoon
- Crime Wave, starring Sterling Hayden
- The Crucified Lovers (Chikamatsu Monogatari), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, starring Kazuo Hasegawa - (Japan)
D
E-F
- The Egyptian, starring Jean Simmons and Gene Tierney
- Elephant Walk, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch
- Executive Suite, starring William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March, Louis Calhern, Walter Pidgeon
- Father Brown, starring Alec Guinness - (U.K.)
- Fear, directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman - (Germany/Italy)
- Flame and the Flesh, starring Lana Turner
- French Cancan - (France/Italy)
G-H
- Gate of Hell (American release)
- The Glenn Miller Story starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson
- Godzilla, directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)
- The Gold of Naples (L'oro di Napoli), directed by Vittorio de Sica, starring Silvana Mangano and Sophia Loren - (Italy)
- The Good Die Young, directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Stanley Baker and Laurence Harvey - (U.K.)
- Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy, a Stop motion animated film
- Hell and High Water
- The High and the Mighty, starring John Wayne, Robert Stack, Laraine Day, Claire Trevor, Phil Harris
- Hobson's Choice, directed by David Lean, starring Charles Laughton and John Mills - (U.K.)
- Human Desire, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford
I-J
- Indiscretion of an American Wife, starring Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift (U.S. release)
- An Inspector Calls, with Alastair Sim, based on the J.B. Priestley play - (U.K.)
- It Should Happen to You, starring Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon
- Jagriti - (India)
- Johnny Guitar, starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge
- Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia), directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders - (France/Italy)
K-L
M-N
O-P
- On the Waterfront, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Marlon Brando with Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger -- winner of eight Oscars
- The Outcast
- Phffft!, starring Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak
- Prince Valiant, starring Robert Wagner, James Mason, Janet Leigh
- Pushover, starring Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak (in her film debut)
Q-R
S
- Sabrina, starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
- Salt of the Earth
- Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (Miyamoto Musashi), directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, starring Toshirō Mifune - (Japan)
- Sansho the Bailiff (Sanshō Dayũ), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, starring Kinuyo Tanaka - (Japan)
- Saskatchewan, starring Alan Ladd
- The Sea Shall Not Have Them, starring Dirk Bogarde and Michael Redgrave - (U.K.)
- Senso, directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Alida Valli and Farley Granger - (Italy)
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, directed by Stanley Donen, starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel
- Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai), directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura - (Japan)
- The Silver Chalice, starring Paul Newman (in his film debut)
- Silver Lode, starring Dan Duryea
- Sira` Fi al-Wadi, directed by Youssef Chahine - (Egypt)
- Sitting Bull
- Sound of the Mountain (Yama no Oto), directed by Mikio Naruse - (Japan)
- A Star Is Born, starring Judy Garland and James Mason, musical remake of 1937 film
- La strada (The Road), directed by Federico Fellini, starring Anthony Quinn - (Italy)
- Suddenly, starring Frank Sinatra and Sterling Hayden
- Susan Slept Here, starring Debbie Reynolds and Dick Powell
T-V
- Tanganyika
- Taza, Son of Cochise
- Them!, starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, cameos by Fess Parker and Leonard Nimoy.
- There's No Business Like Show Business, starring Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, Marilyn Monroe
- They Who Dare - (U.K.)
- Three Coins in the Fountain, starring Jean Peters, Dorothy McGuire, Maggie McNamara
- Top Banana
- Touchez pas au grisbi (Hands Off the Loot), starring Jean Gabin - (France/Italy)
- Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijū-shi no Hitomi) - (Japan)
- Vera Cruz, starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster
W-Z
Serials
Short film series
Births
- January 1 - Helen Wellington-Lloyd, actress
- January 6 - Anthony Minghella, director (d. 2008)
- January 22 - Chris Lemmon, actor & author
- January 29 - Oprah Winfrey (The Color Purple)
- Febrauary 2 - Christie Brinkley (National Lampoon's Vacation)
- February 17 - Rene Russo, actress
- February 18 - John Travolta, actor & dancer
- March 1 - Ron Howard, director & actor
- March 4 - Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress
- March 15 - Craig Wasson, actor
- March 17 - Lesley-Anne Down, English actress
- March 24 - Robert Carradine, actor
- April 7 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor
- April 9 - Dennis Quaid, actor
- April 16 - Ellen Barkin, actress
- May 7 - Amy Heckerling, director
- May 8 - David Keith, actor
- June 14 - Will Patton, actor
- June 15 - James Belushi, actor
- June 19 - Kathleen Turner, actress
- June 28 - Alice Krige, South African actress
- August 12 - Sam J. Jones, actor
- August 16 - James Cameron, Canadian-born director
- October 23 - Ang Lee, Taiwanese director
- November 7 - Kamal Haasan, actor/director/script-writer/producer/singer
- November 29 - Joel Coen, director, producer & screenwriter
- December 4 - Tony Todd, actor & producer
- December 28 - Denzel Washington, actor
Deaths
Film Debuts