1946 in film

The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.

List of years in film (table)
… 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 …
In television 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 In radio 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1946 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1946

Rank	Title	Studio	Box-office gross rental
1	The Best Years of Our Lives	RKO Radio Pictures/Samuel Goldwyn Productions	$10,170,000[1]
2	Duel in the Sun	Selznick International Pictures	$8,700,000[1]
3	The Jolson Story	Columbia Pictures	$7,600,000[2]
4	Blue Skies	Paramount Pictures	$5,700,000[2]
5	Saratoga Trunk	Warner Bros.	$5,148,000[3]
6	The Outlaw [nb 1]	RKO Radio Pictures	$5,100,000[2]
7	The Razor's Edge	20th Century Fox	$5,000,000[2]
8	Notorious	RKO Radio Pictures	$4,800,000[2]
9	The Yearling	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	$4,768,000[4]
10	Road to Utopia	Paramount Pictures	$4,500,000[2]

1. "The Outlaw" was filmed in 1941 and was first released in theaters in February 1943, but was quickly withdrawn due to violations of the Production Code. It was re-released in April 1946 and became a box office success.

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

Category/Organization	4th Golden Globe Awards February 26, 1947	19th Academy Awards March 13, 1947
Best Film	The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Director	Frank Capra It's a Wonderful Life	William Wyler The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Actor	Gregory Peck The Yearling	Fredric March The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Actress	Rosalind Russell Sister Kenny	Olivia de Havilland To Each His Own
Best Supporting Actor	Clifton Webb The Razor's Edge	Harold Russell The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Supporting Actress	Anne Baxter The Razor's Edge

Notable films released in 1946

United States unless stated

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 (La Belle et la Bête), 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 (U.S. release)
• 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 (U.S. release)
• 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 (Die Mörder sind unter uns), 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 (Waga seishun ni kuinashi)
• Nobody Lives Forever
• Notorious, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman

O

• The Outlaw (re-release)
• 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 (U.S. release)
• She-Wolf of London. starring June Lockhart
• Shoeshine (Sciuscià), 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
• Two Sisters from Boston, starring Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante and Peter Lawford.

U

• Utamaro and His Five Women (Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna)

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 (1932–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
• Popular Science (1935–1950)

Animated Short Film Series

• Mickey Mouse (1928–1952)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Donald Duck (1936–1956)
• Pluto (1937–1951)
• Andy Panda (1939–1949)
• Goofy (1939–1953)
• Bugs Bunny (1940–1962)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
• Mighty Mouse (1942–1955)
• Droopy (1943–1958)
• Chip and Dale (1943–1956)
• Screwball Squirrel (1944–1946)
• Yosemite Sam (1945–1963)
• George and Junior (1946–1948)

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 (d. 1999)
• February 2 - Blake Clark, American stand-up comedian, actor and voice actor
• February 7 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (d. 2011)
• February 20 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• February 21
  • Anthony Daniels, English actor, voice actor and mine artist
  • Alan Rickman, English actor (d. 2016)[5]
• March 12
  • Liza Minnelli, singer and actress
  • Frank Welker, American actor, voice actor and former stand-up comedian
• March 21 – Timothy Dalton, actor
• March 28 - Dianne Wiest, American actress
• April 12 - Ed O'Neil, American actor and comedian
• 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 (d. 2019)
• 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 (d. 2016)
• 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

References

1. "All-Time Top-Grossers", Variety 18 January 1950 p 18
2. Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story. Wallflower Press. pp. 356–357. ISBN 978-1-903364-66-6.
3. Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 26 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
4. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
5. "Alan Rickman obituary". the Guardian. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2021.