1950 in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020

The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.
• July 19 - Walt Disney Studios' first completely live-action film Treasure Island debuts.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: All About Eve - 20th Century-Fox

Best Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz - All About Eve

Best Actor: José Ferrer - Cyrano de Bergerac

Best Actress: Judy Holliday - Born Yesterday

Best Supporting Actor: George Sanders - All About Eve

Best Supporting Actress: Josephine Hull - Harvey

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: Sunset Boulevard

Best Actor: José Ferrer - Cyrano de Bergerac

Best Actress: Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: no award

Best Actor: Fred Astaire - Three Little Words

Best Actress: Judy Holliday - Born Yesterday

Other

Best Director: Billy Wilder - Sunset Boulevard

Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival): not held

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival)

Justice Is Done (Justice est faite), directed by André Cayatte, France

Top ten money making stars

Notable films released in 1950

U.S.A. unless stated

#

• 47 morto che parla, starring Totò - (Italy)
• 711 Ocean Drive, starring Edmond O'Brien and Joanne Dru

A

• Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• The Admiral Was a Lady, starring Wanda Hendrix and Edmond O'Brien
• All About Eve, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Marilyn Monroe - winner of 6 Oscars
• Ambush, starring Robert Taylor and Arlene Dahl
• Annie Get Your Gun, starring Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern
• Armored Car Robbery, starring Charles McGraw and William Talman
• The Asphalt Jungle, directed by John Huston, starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe
• The Astonished Heart, starring Celia Johnson and Noël Coward - (GB)
• At War with the Army, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

B

• Babul (Father's House), starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis - (India)
• Backfire, starring Virginia Mayo and Gordon MacRae
• The Bandit Queen, starring Barbara Britton and Phillip Reed
• The Baron of Arizona, starring Vincent Price
• Beauty and the Devil (La Beauté du diable), directed by René Clair, starring Michel Simon - (France/Italy)
• The Big Lift, starring Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas
• Bitter Springs, starring Tommy Trinder and Chips Rafferty - (Australia/GB)
• The Black Rose, starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles - (GB/U.S.)
• The Blue Lamp, starring Jack Warner and Dirk Bogarde - (GB)
• Born to Be Bad, starring Joan Fontaine and Robert Ryan
• Born Yesterday, directed by George Cukor, starring Broderick Crawford, Judy Holliday and William Holden
• The Breaking Point, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring John Garfield and Patricia Neal
• Bright Leaf, starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal
• Broken Arrow, starring James Stewart and Jeff Chandler

C

• Café Paradis - (Denmark)
• Caged, starring Eleanor Parker
• Caiçara, directed by and starring Adolfo Celi - (Brazil)
• Captain Carey, U.S.A., starring Alan Ladd and Wanda Hendrix
• Captain China, starring John Payne and Gail Russell
• Champagne for Caesar, starring Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, Art Linkletter
• Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy
• Cinderella, a Disney animated film. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson, starring Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, Luis van Rooten, Don Barclay, Mike Douglas, and Lucille Bliss
• Comanche Territory, starring Maureen O'Hara
• Convicted, starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford
• Crisis, starring Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer
• Cyrano de Bergerac, starring José Ferrer

D

• D.O.A., starring Edmond O'Brien
• Dallas, starring Gary Cooper
• The Damned Don't Cry, starring Joan Crawford
• Dance Hall, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Diana Dors and Petula Clark - (GB)
• Dark City, directed by William Dieterle, starring Charlton Heston (in his first studio film), Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Mike Mazurki, Ed Begley
• The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, starring June Haver and Gordon MacRae
• Death is a Caress (Døden er et kjærtegn) - (Norway)
• Deported, starring Jeff Chandler
• Destination Moon, starring John Archer
• The Devil Is a Woman (Doña Diabla) - (Mexico)
• Devil's Doorway, starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond
• Dial 1119, starring Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, William Conrad
• Dieu a besoin des hommes (God Needs Man), directed by Jean Delannoy - (France)

E

• The Eagle and the Hawk, starring Rhonda Fleming and John Payne
• Edge of Doom, starring Farley Granger and Mala Powers
• Les Enfants Terribles, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville - (France)
• Escape at Dawn (Akatsuki no dasso) - (Japan)

F

• The Fall of Berlin (Padeniye Berlina) - (USSR)
• Fancy Pants, starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball
• Father Is a Bachelor, starring William Holden and Colleen Gray
• Father of the Bride, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor
• The File on Thelma Jordon, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Fireball, starring Mickey Rooney and Pat O'Brien
• The Flame and the Arrow, starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo
• The Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio), directed by Roberto Rossellini - (Italy)
• For Heaven's Sake, starring Clifton Webb and Joan Bennett
• Frenchie, starring Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters
• The Fuller Brush Girl, starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert
• The Furies, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston

G

• Gabriela, directed by Géza von Cziffra, starring Zarah Leander - (West Germany)
• Gerald McBoing-Boing
• The Glass Menagerie, based on the play by Tennessee Williams, starring Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Lawrence and Arthur Kennedy
• Gone to Earth, starring Jennifer Jones - (GB)
• Guilty of Treason, starring Charles Bickford and Bonita Granville
• Gun Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female), starring John Dall and Peggy Cummins
• The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck
• Gunman in the Streets, starring Simone Signoret - (France)

H

• The Happiest Days of Your Life, starring Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford - (GB)
• Harriet Craig, starring Joan Crawford and Wendell Corey
• Harvey, starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull
• Highly Dangerous, starring Margaret Lockwood and Dane Clark - (GB)
• Highway 301, starring Steve Cochran and Virginia Grey
• The Hollywood Ten, documentary by John Berry
• House by the River, starring Louis Hayward and Jane Wyatt
• Hunt the Man Down, starring Gig Young and Carla Balenda

I-J

• I Was a Shoplifter, starring Scott Brady and Mona Freeman
• I'll Get By, starring June Haver, Gloria DeHaven, Steve Allen, Dennis Day
• In a Lonely Place, directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame
• The Jackie Robinson Story, starring Robinson as himself, with Ruby Dee
• Jogan, starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis - (India)
• Johnny One-Eye, starring Pat O'Brien
• Julius Caesar, starring Charlton Heston
• Justice is Done (Justice est faite) - (France)

K

• Key to the City, starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young
• The Kid (Xi lu xiang), starring 10-year-old Bruce Lee - (Hong Kong)
• Kill the Umpire, starring William Bendix, William Frawley, Una Merkel
• The Killer That Stalked New York, starring Evelyn Keyes
• Kim, starring Errol Flynn
• King Solomon's Mines, starring Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger
• Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, starring James Cagney

L

• A Lady Without Passport, starring Hedy Lamarr and John Hodiak
• Last Holiday, starring Alec Guinness - (GB)
• The Lawless, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Macdonald Carey
• Let's Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton
• Life (Jeevitham), directed by A. V. Meiyappan, starring Vyjayanthimala in her Telugu film debut - (India)
• A Life of Her Own, starring Lana Turner and Ray Milland
• The Life of Wu Xun (Wu Xun zhuan) - (China)
• Louisa, starring Ronald Reagan
• Love Happy, starring the Marx Brothers and, in a non-speaking role, Marilyn Monroe

M

• The Magnificent Yankee, starring Louis Calhern
• The Man Who Cheated Himself, starring Lee J. Cobb and Jane Wyatt
• The Men, starring Marlon Brando in his film debut, with Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb and, in a bit part, DeForest Kelley
• The Miniver Story, starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon and John Hodiak
• Mirror of Holland (Spiegel van Holland) - (Netherlands) winner of Short Film Palme d'Or
• Mister 880, starring Burt Lancaster and Edmund Gwenn
• Montana, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith
• Morning Departure (aka Operation Disaster), starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough - (GB)
• Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone, starring Marjorie Main and James Whitmore
• The Mudlark, starring Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness - (GB/U.S.)
• Mussorgsky - (U.S.S.R.)
• My Blue Heaven, starring Betty Grable
• My Friend Irma Goes West, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Mystery Street, starring Ricardo Montalbán

N

• Nancy Goes to Rio, Ann Sothern, Jane Powell, Barry Sullivan, Carmen Miranda, Louis Calhern, and Scotty Beckett
• The Nevadan, starring Randolph Scott and Dorothy Malone
• Night and the City, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney - (GB)
• No Man of Her Own, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• No Peace Under the Olive Tree (Non c'è pace tra gli ulivi), starring Raf Vallone - (Italy)
• No Way Out, starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally and Sidney Poitier

O

• Odette, starring Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard - (GB)
• Los Olvidados (film), directed by Luis Buñuel - photograph of Gabriel Figueroa - (Mx)
• Once a Thief, starring Cesar Romero and Lon Chaney, Jr.
• One Way Street, starring James Mason
• Orphée, directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais - (France)
• Outrage, directed by Ida Lupino, starring Mala Powers
• Outside the Wall, starring Richard Basehart and Marilyn Maxwell

P-Q

• Panic in the Streets, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Zero Mostel and Barbara Bel Geddes
• Path of Hope (Il Cammino della speranza), directed by Pietro Germi, starring Raf Vallone - (Italy)
• Perfect Strangers, starring Ginger Rogers
• Please Believe Me, starring Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford and Robert Walker
• Post Office Box 1001 (Apartado de correos 1001) - (Spain)
• Prehistoric Women, directed by Gregg C. Tallas
• Prima comunione (aka Father's Dilemma), starring Aldo Fabrizi - (Italy)
• Quicksand, starring Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre

R

• Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune and Masayuki Mori - (Japan)
• Riding High, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bing Crosby
• Right Cross, starring June Allyson and Dick Powell
• Rio Grande, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara
• Rocketship X-M, starring Lloyd Bridges, Hugh O'Brian and Noah Beery, Jr.
• Rocky Mountain, starring Errol Flynn and Patrice Wymore
• La Ronde (The Merry-Go-Round), directed by Max Ophüls, starring Simone Signoret and Anton Walbrook - (France)

S

• Scandal (Sukyandaru), directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
• The Second Face, starring Ella Raines
• The Secret Fury, starring Claudette Colbert and Robert Ryan
• September Affair, starring Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten
• Seven Days to Noon, directed by the Boulting Brothers, starring Barry Jones - (GB)
• Shadow on the Wall, starring Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Nancy Davis
• Side Street, starring Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell
• Sierra, starring Wanda Hendrix and Audie Murphy
• The Sleeping City, starring Richard Conte
• So Long at the Fair, starring Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde - (GB)
• The Sound of Fury, starring Frank Lovejoy and Lloyd Bridges
• Stage Fright, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd - (GB)
• Stars in My Crown, starring Joel McCrea
• State Secret, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jack Hawkins - (GB)
• Story of a Love Affair (Cronaca di un amore), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni - (Italy)
• Stromboli, directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman - (Italy/U.S.)
• Summer Stock, starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, with Phil Silvers
• Sunday in August (Domenica d'agosto) - (Italy)
• Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder, starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim, Nancy Olson

T

• También de Dolor se Canta (They Also Sing from Sadness), starring Pedro Infante - (Mexico)
• Tea for Two, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
• Tension, starring Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter
• This Life of Mine (Wo zhe yi bei zi) - (China)
• Three Came Home, starring Claudette Colbert
• Three Little Words, starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton
• Three Secrets, starring Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, Ruth Roman
• A Ticket to Tomahawk, starring Anne Baxter and Dan Dailey
• The Titan: Story of Michelangelo, award-winning documentary by Robert J. Flaherty
• To Joy (Till glädje), directed by Ingmar Bergman - (Sweden)
• To Please a Lady, starring Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck
• The Toast of New Orleans, starring Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza
• Tomorrow Is Too Late (Domani è troppo tardi), starring Pier Angeli and Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• The Trap (Past), directed by Martin Frič - (Czechoslovakia)
• Treasure Island, starring Robert Newton - (GB/U.S.)
• Trio, starring Nigel Patrick, Wilfred Hyde-White, Jean Simmons - (GB)
• Tripoli, starring Maureen O'Hara and John Payne
• Two Flags West, starring Joseph Cotten and Linda Darnell
• Two Weeks with Love, starring Jane Powell and Ricardo Montalban

U-V

• El último caballo (The Last Horse) - (Spain)
• The Underworld Story, starring Dan Duryea
• Union Station, starring William Holden
• Until We Meet Again (Mata au hi made) - (Japan)
• Variety Lights (Luci del varietà), directed by Federico Fellini - (Italy)
• Vendetta, starring Faith Domergue (filmed in 1946 but not released until 1950 due to delays from Howard Hughes)

W

• Wabash Avenue, starring Betty Grable (a remake of Grable's 1943 film Coney Island)
• Wagon Master, directed by John Ford, starring Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru and Ward Bond
• Watch the Birdie, starring Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl and Ann Miller
• The West Point Story, starring James Cagney and Doris Day
• When Willie Comes Marching Home, starring Dan Dailey
• Where Danger Lives, starring Robert Mitchum and Faith Domergue in her film debut
• Where the Sidewalk Ends, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney
• Winchester '73, starring James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Stephen McNally, Dan Duryea, and with early appearances by Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis
• The Woman in Question, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Jean Kent and Dirk Bogarde - (GB)
• Woman in Hiding, starring Ida Lupino, Howard Duff and Stephen McNally
• Woman on the Run, starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe
• The Wooden Horse, starring Leo Genn and Anthony Steel - (GB)

Y-Z

• The Yellow Cab Man, starring Red Skelton and Gloria DeHaven
• The Young and the Damned (Los Olvidados), directed by Luis Buñuel - (Mexico)
• Young Man with a Horn, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day
• Zhukovsky - (U.S.S.R.)

Serials

• Atom Man vs. Superman, starring Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill and Lyle Talbot
• Cody of the Pony Express
• Desperadoes of the West, starring Tom Keene
• Flying Disc Man from Mars, starring Walter Reed and Lois Collier
• The Invisible Monster, starring Richard Webb and Aline Towne
• The Mystery of the Snakeskin Belt
• Pirates of the High Seas, starring Buster Crabbe

Short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928–1952)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
• Donald Duck (1936–1956)
• Pluto (1937–1951)
• Goofy (1939–1953)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940–1962)
• The Fox and the Crow (1941-1950)
• Mighty Mouse (1942–1955)
• Chip and Dale (1943–1956)
• Yosemite Sam (1945–1963)
• Noveltoons (1943–1967)

Births

• January 24 - Daniel Auteuil, French actor
• January 30 - Trinidad Silva, actor (died 1988)
• February 12 - Michael Ironside, Canadian actor
• February 18
  • Cybill Shepherd, actress
  • John Hughes, director, producer and screenwriter (died 2009)
• February 22 - Julie Walters, English actress
• February 25 - Neil Jordan, Irish director
• March 11 - Jerry Zucker, director and producer
• March 13 - William H. Macy, actor
• March 18 - Brad Dourif, actor
• March 20 - William Hurt, actor
• March 26
  • Alan Silvestri, American film composer and conductor
  • Martin Short, Canadian comedian and actor
• March 30 - Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor
• April 4 - Christine Lahti, actress
• April 13 - Ron Perlman, actor
• April 16 - David Graf, actor (died 2001)
• April 22 - Thierry Zéno, Belgian director
• April 29 - Phillip Noyce, Australian director
• May 8 - Robert Mugge, American director and producer
• May 12 - Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
• May 22 - Peter Wildman, Canadian actor
• June 6 - Chantal Akerman, Belgian director
• June 8 - Kathy Baker, actress
• June 13 - Belinda Bauer, Australian actress
• June 24 - Nancy Allen, actress
• September 7 - Julie Kavner, film and television actress, voice actress and comedian
• September 21 - Bill Murray, actor and comedian
• September 28 - John Sayles, director and screenwriter
• October 1 - Randy Quaid, actor
• October 17 - Howard Rollins, actor (died 1996)
• October 18 - Om Puri, Indian actor (died 2016)
• October 31 - John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (died 1994)
• November 28 - Ed Harris, actor

Deaths

• January 2 - Emil Jannings, 65, Swiss-born German actor, The Blue Angel, The Last Laugh
• January 12 - John M. Stahl, 63, American film director and producer, Leave Her to Heaven, Imitation of Life
• January 22 - Corinne Luchaire, 28, French actress, Prison Without Bars, Conflict
• March 10 - Marguerite De La Motte, 47, American actress, The Mark of Zorro, The Iron Mask
• March 25 - Frank Buck, 66, American actor and animal expert, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Africa Screams
• April 7 - Walter Huston, 67, American Academy Award-winning actor, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Dodsworth
• May 1 - Ernst Laemmle, 49, German director and screenwriter, The Phantom of the Opera, The Palm Beach Story
• June 22 - Jane Cowl, 66, American actress, No Man of Her Own, Payment on Demand
• July 17 - Antonie Nedošinská, 65, Czech actress, Falešná kočička aneb Když si žena umíní, Capek's Tales
• September 13 - Sara Allgood, 69, Irish actress, How Green Was My Valley, The Lodger
• October 23 - Al Jolson, 64, Lithuanian-born American actor, singer, entertainer, The Jazz Singer, Rhapsody in Blue, The Singing Fool
• October 29 - Maurice Costello, 73, American actor, Du Barry Was a Lady, Tin Pan Alley
• December 4 - James Kevin McGuinness, 56, Irish producer and screenwriter, Madame X, Rio Grande
• December 28 - William Garwood, 66, American silent-film actor and director, The Cowboy Millionaire, Proxy Husband

Film debuts

• Marlon Brando - The Men
• Tippi Hedren - The Petty Girl
• Sophia Loren - Totò Tarzan
• Peter Sellers - The Black Rose
• Robert Wagner - The Happy Years